#andreas kuettel

Former world champion Andreas Küttel has admitted that he cheated during his active career. Former Olympic team winner Daniel-André Tande was extremely happy about this revelation. Tande now hopes that the confessions will lead to a rethink at the FIS. The Norwegian also recently admitted to cheating, as did some of his former ski jumping colleagues.

“We sprayed our jumping suits with hairspray to reduce air resistance,” Küttel explained to Blick. The Swiss, who competed in the World Cup between 1995 and 2010, also revealed that many athletes used to swap their suits for a “more voluminous” one after the first jump.

The reason for this was that if a jumper had to be checked after the first jump, there was less chance of being checked again after the second jump.

In Norway, some former ski jumpers were relieved by this admission. The 2009 large hill world champion was now the first non-Norwegian to admit to cheating. Tande himself and some of his former colleagues had previously admitted to manipulation.

“I think it's great that he is now also telling us how things were handled in the past,” Tande told the Norwegian public TV station ‘NRK’.

Tande hopes for “transparent and fair ski sports”

The 31-year-old hopes that the FIS will also react to the confessions and close existing loopholes in the regulations.

However, this can only happen if more athletes confess. “Then we have a chance that the FIS will make the same rules for everyone,” said Tande.

It is important that everyone is judged equally: “At the end of the day, that's what I hope for, so that we get transparent and fair ski sport.”

Tande receives support

Anders Jacobsen, team winner at the 2015 Nordic World Ski Championships, agreed with Tande. He expects that even more athletes will dare to talk about their cheating.

Like Tande and Jacobsen, former ski jumper Johan Remen Evensen also admitted to cheating. “I know that what I have spoken about is the truth. This is the way things have been done in the ski jumping business for a long time,” said the 39-year-old.