At the mixed-team jumping premiere at the Olympic Games in Beijing, the sport kicks into the background after five disqualifications. How did this happen and what do the heroes say about it.
The first mixed team competition under the Olympic ring was supposed to be a celebratory premiere and turned into a real excitement. The fact that Slovenia lived up to its role as favorite and won well, and that Russia and Canada turned the ski jumping world upside down with silver and bronze, was a trifle. These surprises were triggered by only five disqualifications. Against all female ski jumpers, while their male colleagues were bullied. But how did this happen and how did the hero react?
At around 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. CET), the mixed team competition took its first countless turn: Sara Takanashi, who had finished second in Japan with 103 meters in the first group, was disqualified. was given. A world collapsed for the unfortunate fourth of the single. She lay on the floor, crying, unable to calm herself. Not even when Ryoyu Kobayashi leapfrogged him, himself and Yukiya Sato and Yuki Ito in the final. Even after her final jump of 98.5 metres, she was still in tears. These might have dried up with a medal as well, but that was not to be the case. Canada were missing 8.3 points at the end.
Erashko-Stolz pleaded guilty
Barely an hour after Takanashi, who had been disqualified three times out of a total of more than 200 World Cups and Summer Grand Prixs, Daniela Erashko-Stolz was the next Grand Dame of women’s ski jumping. For him too, it was the suit, more precisely the waist band, as the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) initially ratified the ‘ORF’. The 38-year-old seemed quite calm when she said on the radio: “It’s my own fault because I’m responsible for making everything perfect. I’m sorry for the team. Others jump sensationally and I hit it.”
According to sports director Mario Steicher, the Austrian was dropped from the rankings only twice in his career and this time SV did not want to fight for anything: “Too far away, you have to admit it.”
But the fact is that it left big question marks for the former Nordic United athlete: “If you have a whole year to take measurements and follow the rules to a certain extent and only then take drastic action at the Olympics, let me ask.” Would it be the right way.”
violinist shocked
When Stitcher made his statement after the contest, he already knew that no one could know at 1:15 p.m. (CET): It wouldn’t stop with these two major cases. Again not even a quarter hour later, the German team suddenly fell far behind in the rankings, without any country to overtake them. Now Katharina Althaus was also disqualified. On Instagram a few hours after the contest, she wrote: “I’ve never been in eleven years!!! Unqualified” and “I don’t have words for the decisions I made today.”
Carl Geiger was also killed. He had just completed his jump of 101.5 metres, the best jump on this difficult normal hill, which he personally couldn’t break until the second jump. “It was the first one I managed up the hill and I thought ‘Yeah, now I can help the team’. But it’s a tough number. We were good. I saw the narrative leap before I went out. I don’t understand I wonder why the three were thrown at once. They must have jumped off the same material as usual and nothing would have been done about it. I don’t know what was checked there,” Geiger wondered at ‘ZDF’ Did.
Hornacher and Hüttel upset
While Austria and Japan still made it to the finals and were able to continue their (apparently) hopeless battle for the precious metal, at this point the competition was over for Geiger & Co. Ninth place, the final round is no longer a jump and instead of the precious metal there is only despair and understanding. Men’s national coach Stephen Horngacher murmured on ‘ZDF’: “At the Olympics they suddenly start measuring different or more. To me, it’s all puppet theatre. We’ve always had problems with the men’s field and new rules are constantly being made. are.
Nevertheless, those responsible at the top, in the person of team manager Horst Hüttel, began direct talks with the other two countries concerned. “We stood with Austria and Japan and discussed the matter. We are all angry. The girls said in unison that they all jumped in the same suit as in the individual competition. And everything was fine there. This is an incomprehensible situation,” Huttle said.
Katherine Althaus, as the athlete affected, was initially unable and reluctant to comment publicly, but the official revealed: “Kathrina says she has been thoroughly checked for a longer period of time than ever before and she It seemed until nothing was found.” Along with Takanashi and Iraschko took pride in a suit that didn’t follow the rules, but Hüttel was already certain: “If you take out the three top athletes, the FIS has to question whether all Something’s going right. For our sport, it’s really big bullshit.”
misunderstanding in Norway
When Hutel vented his anger, the final round began and more messages were about to arrive from the content container. A few minutes apart, the Norwegians, Anna Odine Strom and Silje Opseth, were both disqualified. “I’m just shocked. I don’t understand anything about what happened today,” Opseth told NRK after the first disqualification of his career. Asked whether only women are specifically screened, he replied: “It seems only women were disqualified. No information.”
Horst Huttle couldn’t shake the notion that the focus was on women: “It’s a specific topic for women. But it seems as if a process has been applied, which was not there before. And if so, So you have to question the whole process, not even a man was found in it.”
Strom, who had seen the equipment check only once during nearly 100 World Cup starts, confirmed that the checks were different than usual: “We should put ourselves in a different position than usual. But sometimes that would be the case. But we can’t change anything in it, we can only learn from it. It goes on, even if it’s incredibly weird. I’m honestly a little speechless.”
Brathen asks for clarification and warns
Manuel Feitner, who won silver the day before, looked downright helpless: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s hard for me to judge whether this is the first time he’s controlled things so tightly. But I believe it.” It seems too hard to believe that Danny and the others would have taken such a risk.” Strom’s compatriot Robert Johansson had a similar experience: “I never thought I’d ever experience something like this. It just sounds messy and confusing. It was a weird day of competition.”
His team manager Claes Brede Brathen announced that he would be seeking clarification from the FIS: “We have to do it, of course we have to do it.” Nothing can be changed about the results now, “but we need to know what happened and look at them for the future of this sport.” Of course, no hero should be interested in a second such experience.
