Austrian skater Daniel Tchovenig was banned from participating in the Winter Olympics final after his shoe size was found to be four millimeters above the permitted limit.
Chovenig, 23, had qualified for the final on Saturday, but expressed his deep disappointment after being disqualified for this violation.
He told the Austrian ORF network: “I used new shoes in training, and I was not completely satisfied with them, but I kept them anyway. Unfortunately, I was naive and did not check the measurements. That was very stupid on my part.”
It is noteworthy that the Austrian skier won the World Cup title last year, and was seen as one of the most prominent candidates to win this weekend, until his equipment was checked shortly after his first jump.
After scoring 137.7 points, it seemed as if he had qualified for the final, but it soon became clear that things were not so.
Ian Findlay, a commentator for TNT Sports, commented after the news broke: “Slow down, folks, there are some changes here. We have just received the news of Daniel Chouvenig’s exclusion, and the most important news is immediately after the first round: Chouvenig is excluded due to his shoe size, which exceeded the limit by four millimeters.”
He added: “He was eliminated from the competition, which is the first exclusion we have witnessed in these Olympic Games in the ski jumping competition.” (Arm News)
