All of the nations with athletes participating in the annual World Cup event are traditionally represented with their flags. Skiers barrel down the lower portion of the famed Holmenkollen ski jump, carrying the flags, but Austria's had gone missing.
"Everything was okay during Thursday's rehearsal, and all the flags were in place," a frustrated Randi Ødegård, who's on the event's organizing staff, told Aftenposten.no. By Sunday morning, Austria's had been stolen.
"We tried to get a new flag before the festival began, and we almost managed," Ødegård said. There wasn't enough time, however, to mount it in place.
Austrian fans could be cheered somewhat by the solid ski-jumping performances of their athletes. Thomas Morgenstern, Andreas Kofler and Andreas Widholzl placed second, third and fourth respectively. Martin Koch finished sixth.
The annual Holmenkollen ski jumping competition was won by Adam Malysz of Poland. Norwegian jumpers, several of whom won medals at the recent Olympics in Torino, barely made it into the top 10.
