Finnish skier suffers frozen penis during Olympics

BEJING — Finnish cross-country skier Remi Lindholm has paid a heavy price after competing in the Olympic men's mass start race, which was held in extremely cold conditions.

The cross-country skier suffered from a frozen penis, officials said.

"You can guess what was frozen when I crossed the finish line," Lindholm told Finnish outlet Iltalehti.

"It was quite unbearable pain."

He finished 28th in Saturday's race and took quick action to try to warm up his penis.

"I stuffed a heating pad on it. It helped. It took maybe 15 minutes," he added.

But the treatment may have come too late. Asked if he thought he will be able to reproduce in the future, he said: "No, I don't."

Strong wind and temperatures of around -16C led to the race starting an hour later, while it was shortened from 50 to 30km.

Due to strong winds and the resulting conditions on course, the distance of the originally planned 50km was shortened to 30km and start was postponed with one hour.