The victorious U.S. Nordic Combined team on Thursday had a polite message for their rivals -- we won fairly, so there's no use whining about the wind.

David Ljunggren

Some leading contenders attacked judges for allowing the morning ski jump session on the individual large hill to continue despite changing winds.

The gusts cut short the leaps of top athletes such as Magnus Moan of Norway and France's Jason Lamy Chappuis, who jumped at the end of the session, and meant they started the cross country race with big handicaps.

"It is a joke," an angry Moan told reporters after the jump. He finished in 15th place.

"This is an outdoor sport and I can tell you that most of the time the last five or 10 guys have the best conditions. So it trades off all the time," said U.S. silver medal winner Johnny Spillane.

"Today was definitely very difficult but it was still a competition."

This came as little consolation to World Cup leader Lamy Chappuis, who won the individual normal hill last week and was favorite for Thursday's race.

"There is still a bit of anger ... The jury wanted to go all the way at all costs so for the last five, they just gave the green flag without even looking at the wind conditions," he told reporters.

The International Ski Federation said the winds had been within permissible levels.

"In such difficult conditions not everyone can have a perfect jump. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not," technical delegate Guenter Csar told Reuters.

The event was won by American Bill Demong, who jumped before the wind changed.

"It's hard. Right now the French and the German guys are pretty bummed. We've been here too," he said.

Nicolas Michaud, head of the French team, told Reuters said the decision to continue with the jumps was a scandal.

"It wasn't worth getting up this morning. We'd have done better to stay in bed and buy a lottery ticket," he said.

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