With the games not yet at the halfway mark, 12 of Norway's 74 participants has been so ill or injured that they have had to either miss an event or return home. On Wednesday Norway had to pull out of the Nordic Combined team event after four of their five candidates fell ill.
Magnus Moan failed to dress properly, preferring to speak to journalists in sub-freezing temperatures after winning a bronze medal on Saturday.
"Magnus and Petter Tande are now the sickest, but also Ole Morten Græsli and Kristian Hammer are also ill. Only Håvard Klemetsen is healthy," said physician Lars Engebretsen about the decimated Nordic combined team.
Engebretsen said that he should have intervened on Saturday and asked Moan to dress warmly after his medal-winning performance. The doctor said that illness always hits some athletes at major events.
"But it is unusual that there are so many and it is unusual that a whole group that has medal potential is hit," Engebretsen said.
Major medal hope Marit Bjørgen has been unable to compete in her cross-country disciplines. Her stomach problems have been shared by other Norwegian athletes, but respiratory infections, throat infections and just fierce colds have hobbled others.
Another ill gold medal hope, cross-country skier Frode Estil, was isolated from teammates on Wednesday due to illness, but was reportedly training as usual.
