Finnish Cross-Country Skier Suffers Frozen Penis During Olympics

Olympic athletes don't earn a medal for 28th place, but most of them will remember their Olympic experience forever no matter where they finish in their respective competition. Just being there is accomplishment enough for all but the truly elite.

Finnish cross-country skier Remi Lindholm will remember his race at the Beijing Olympics for a different reason, one that will cause people with or without a certain sexual appendage to cringe—his penis froze.

Yep, Lindholm, who spent about 76 minutes in the frigid temperatures and wind, needed a heat pack to thaw out his frozen phallus at the conclusion of the race, which was shortened from 50 kilometers to 30 due to the conditions. He finished 28th.

"You can guess which body part was a little bit frozen when I finished...it was one of the worst competitions I've been in. It was just about battling through," he told Finnish media, according to Reuters.

Lindholm added that the pain was unbearable when his penis began to warm up. But he should have known what was coming, because it's not the first time he's suffered this fate. It happened during a race in Finland last year, according to Yahoo! Sports.

It's probable that Lindholm was lucky enough to have received treatment before frostbite set in. Before it gets to that point, a condition known as frostnip develops, which causes no permanent damage to the skin, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms at this stage may include cold skin and a prickling feeling. After that, expect numbness and inflamed or discolored skin.

Beyond that, when frostbite sets in, the skin gets waxy and looks hard, in addition to taking on a bluish-gray tinge. Severe frostbite can result in tissue death, and nobody wants any penile tissue to die—not even in pursuit of gold.