After the scandal about manipulated ski suits in the Norwegian ski jumping team, the first sponsor draws consequences-with clear words.
It was a bang that shook the ski jumping world. On Sunday afternoon, the sports director of the Norwegian team admitted at a press conference: “We cheated”. It didn’t take long for the first sponsor to the “giant scandal”, as the Norwegian journalist Mina Finstad Berg for TV2 described him.
In an interview with the broadcaster NRK , the insurance company Help announced that the sponsoring ended with immediate effect. Help Forsikring has been a sponsor of the Norwegian national ski jumping team for six seasons.
Jan Erik Aalbu (right) admitted the fraud of the Norwegians on Sunday afternoon
Before the Nordic World Ski Championship in Trondheim, Help had already announced that it would no longer extend the partnership at the end of the contract period. The sponsoring contract would have expired on May 1st. Now, however, it ends earlier than planned.
“It is sad that the Norwegian ski jumping has lost trust within a few days,” Dag Are Börresen, head of communication from Help.
Help is the first sponsor to jump off
“We have informed the national ski jumping team and the Norwegian ski association that we will withdraw from the sponsorship contract with immediate effect and that our logo will be removed from the suits of the athletes and other materials in front of RAW Air and the Holmenkollen-Skifestival,” it said in the message.
The behavior in the Norwegian team does not fit into the company’s philosophy: “The vision of Help is: ‘Right should be right. For all’. It goes without saying that our logo will not be found on the jerseys of a team that is cheating, ”says Börresen.
With the jump of the sponsor, the association also feels the first financial consequences of the “giant scandal”.