Finnish Olympic coach sent home from over ‘alcohol issue’

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A Finnish ski jumping coach has been sent home from the Winter Olympics for an apparent off-hours infringement involving booze.

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Igor Medved was dismissed from by the Finnish Olympic Committee on Thursday after violating team rules surrounding alcohol consumption.

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The incident reportedly took place outside working hours, but still was a violation of the team’s rules.

The Finnish Olympic Committee said the 44-year-old Medved officially has left Italy.

FOC head of elite sports Janne Hanninen said that rule violations are taken “very seriously” and decided to act quickly.

“The priority is to ensure peace of mind for the athletes and the coaching staff,” Hanninen said.

Will remain under contract

According to Marleena Valtasola, the executive director of the Finnish Ski Federation, Medved will remain under contract with the team for the time being and that the issue will be discussed further after the Games in order to keep the athletes focused on competition.

“An unpleasant situation has arisen: Alcohol was consumed in violation of team rules,” Valtasola said. “We have decided that Medved will not participate in the Olympics. The other issues will be discussed with him after the Games. Now it is essential to safeguard the athletes’ concentration and restore serenity to the team and for Igor.

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“We have a solid staff in place and we are confident we can handle the situation in the best possible way.”

What did the coach say?

Medved issued an apology over his “mistake.”

“I made a mistake and am very sorry,” Medved said. “I want to apologize to the entire Finnish team, the athletes and also the fans. I wish the team peace and quiet to focus on the Olympics.”

Medved is a former competitive ski jumper who represented Slovenia from 2001-03. On the World Cup circuit, he scored three individual top-10 finishes with his best finish was third coming at Trondheim in 2001. He also notched five top-10 finishes in team competitions.

He has been coaching the sport for 16 years and was named the head coach of Finland’s team in June 2024.

Before being sent home from Italy, Medved helped Finland to a sixth-place finish in the mixed team event. Ski jumping events will continue through the weekend before wrapping up with the men’s super team final on Monday.

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