By By Martin Laine Feb 17, 2014 in Sports The head ski wax technician for the Norwegian Olympic team claims a supplier gave a more advanced wax to other teams, but not Norway’s, and that’s why both the men’s and women’s relay teams failed to medal over the weekend. Both the men’s and women’s cross-country relay teams had been the heavy favorites to win the weekend events. Norway has long been a powerhouse in the Nordic events. The women’s team, for example, had not even lost a race since 2009. So when neither team could manage even a bronze, something was clearly amiss. Interestingly, the only Norwegian skier to have a good race, Peter Northug, had decided to use his own skis rather than those prepared by the team. To make matters worse — for Norwegian fans — neighbor and arch-rival Sweden took the gold in both events. For their part, Swedish team officials agreed that waxing was most likely the reason for the Norwegians’ poor result, with a hint that there might have been some collusion. Swedish coach Rikard Grip called his teams’ skis “fantastic,” according to a story in today’s Sweden edition of The next cross-country events aren’t scheduled until Wednesday and for the Norwegian waxing team, it’s back to square one. “We now have two days where there is no competition. We’re going to start from the bottom up,” Nystad said. “We have received confirmation that others have things we have not received,” said Knut Nystad at a press conference today in Sochi, according to an article in the Norway edition of The Local Both the men’s and women’s cross-country relay teams had been the heavy favorites to win the weekend events. Norway has long been a powerhouse in the Nordic events. The women’s team, for example, had not even lost a race since 2009. So when neither team could manage even a bronze, something was clearly amiss.Interestingly, the only Norwegian skier to have a good race, Peter Northug, had decided to use his own skis rather than those prepared by the team.To make matters worse — for Norwegian fans — neighbor and arch-rival Sweden took the gold in both events.For their part, Swedish team officials agreed that waxing was most likely the reason for the Norwegians’ poor result, with a hint that there might have been some collusion.Swedish coach Rikard Grip called his teams’ skis “fantastic,” according to a story in today’s Sweden edition of The Local . The article went on to say that Grip “acknowledged” there had been some form of cooperation in keeping Norway off the medal stand. However, Grip was not quoted directly, nor was any further information provided.The next cross-country events aren’t scheduled until Wednesday and for the Norwegian waxing team, it’s back to square one.“We now have two days where there is no competition. We’re going to start from the bottom up,” Nystad said. More about sochi 2014, nordic skiing, knut nystad More news from sochi 2014 nordic skiing knut nystad