SKI JUMPING. The women made it. The female ski jumpers will fight for Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Olympic Winter Games 2014. On Wednesday the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Belgian Jacques Rogge, officially included women’s ski jumping in the Olympic program.

Daniela Iraschko of Austria poses with the gold medal won in the Ladies Ski Jumping Individual HS106 competition during the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at Holmenkollen on February 25, 2011 in Oslo, Norway. (February 24, 2011 - Photo by Pool/Getty Images Europe)

A decisive factor for the positive assessment was the competition at the World Championships in Oslo. There the women showed a high-class fight for the medals despite the extreme fog and with Daniela Iraschko from Austria the best athlete of the whole season won. Before the eyes of Swedish IOC-member Gunilla Lindberg, a great event was held at the Midtstubakken at the Holmenkollen that received a lot of positive feedback of the decision makers.

The women fought for their right to participate for years and already before the Games 2010 in Vancouver they took their case to the Supreme Court in Canada because they felt discriminated. Besides boxing, ski jumping is the only sport that is represented by men only at the Olympics. But the court ruled that it was not responsible for the matter, the decision about including a sport lies solely with the IOC.

And there they met brick walls. Also a plea for clemency was not successful. The women were denied to take part because of technical reasons. The IOC said that the differences in the level of performance is too big and the base not broad enough. At the same time hopes were raised. If the competition at the World Championships in Oslo will be convincing, the sport will be included in the Olympic program. The women were disappointed. If this one competition would not be good, four years of work would have been in vain.

The women wanted the whole development of the recent past, the whole season, to be considered. But the fears were unfounded. At the end the difficult conditions at the Holmenkollen were even helpful because they could prove how brave and strong they are.

The Olympic dream of the female ski jumpers will become true in Sochi 2014.

FISskijumping.com
06.04.2011 15:29

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