Members of the U.S. women’s ski jumping team gathered at their home base in Park City this week in eager anticipation of an announcement they have been waiting years to hear.
What they heard was music to their ears: The International Olympic Committee has decided to include women’s ski jumping in the Winter Olympics beginning with the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
Representatives of the sport unsuccessfully pleaded their case to the IOC prior to the 2010 games in Vancouver, B.C. It went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court, but officials couldn’t be convinced that female ski jumpers had reached elite enough status for Olympic competition.
This week’s decision confirms that women have arrived at the highest level of the sport. The women emphatically proved this at the Nordic World Championships earlier this year in Norway, where the top scores rivaled those of many of their male counterparts. With 13 nations represented in the top 30 competitors, and nearly 30 women consistently jumping between 80 and 97 meters, the diversity proved favorable.
The most important aspect of this week’s decision is that with all the progress women’s ski jumping has made over the past decade, Olympic status was about the only step left to take.
The IOC also voted to include men’s and women’s halfpipe skiing, a much younger but rapidly growing discipline, beginning in Sochi.
Halfpipe skiing has become increasingly popular through competitions such as the Winter X Games and Winter Dew Tour, which Utahns have been able to witness in person the last two years. Several Americans are among today’s biggest stars in the event, including Simon Dumont and Salt Lake City’s own Jen Hudak.
Halfpipe snowboarding is already among the most popular events at the Winter Games, and adding skiing to the bill will only help get more young people interested in the Olympics, which the IOC has stated as a primary goal.
The next step toward attracting the youth would be to approve slopestyle skiing and snowboarding for the Olympics. The IOC postponed a decision on those two events until another meeting in May. If they’re really serious about captivating young people, they will approve these disciplines as well.
All in all, the IOC made two great decisions this week. They finally let women into what had previously been the good ol’ boys club of ski jumping, and they made a move that will help inspire future generations of freeskiers and advance the sport in the biggest way possible.
