It’s official! The women’s ski jumping event has been added to the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. For the first time in history, women from around the world will finally be able to realize their dream of competing in the Olympic ski jump after the International Olympic Committee made the announcement on April 6th, 2011 in London.
Utah has a huge local connection to all of this, as the woman in the forefront is Park City’s own Lindsey Van. Her story captured the interest of Salt Lake-based ski filmmaker, Bill Kerig, who is currently in production on the film, “Ready to Fly,” a documentary about the U.S. women’s ski jumping team’s tireless efforts to be accepted in what has always been a sport for men only.
Deedee Corradini, a former mayor of Salt Lake City, is the Women’s Ski Jumping USA president and has become an outspoken advocate for women’s ski jumping in the Olympics.
“We are elated and relieved,” said Corradini. “Sochi, Russia can proudly proclaim that it will be hosting the first gender-equal Winter Games in Olympic history.” Ski jumping (and Nordic Combined) were the only disciplines in the Winter Games that did not allow women to participate.
According to Women’s Ski Jumping USA, the IOC started to look favorably toward adding women’s ski jumping to the next Winter Olympic Games after they considered the outcome of the sport’s 2011 World Championships in Oslo in February. Senior members Gunilla Lindberg and Gerhard Heiberg, winter sports experts, both publically praised the women’s event in Oslo — a positive pre-cursor to the IOC’s announcement.
Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s Sports Director, said the main reason a women’s event was approved for Sochi 2014 is the increase in quality and depth in women’s ski jumping from the 2009 World Championships to the 2011 Worlds.
Of course, women ski jumpers are very happy.
“I am thrilled the IOC decided to add our sport. Personally, this means a lot to me. I started ski jumping when there were no international women’s competitions,” said 26-year-old Lindsey Van, the 2009 World Champion. “Women’s ski jumping has been growing over the past 10 years, but inclusion in the Olympics is what our sport needed to take the next step.
“We’ve worked really hard as athletes fighting for our sport, so this feels like a big success,” Van said.
“It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. To have it accepted feels amazing,” said veteran U.S. jumper Jessica Jerome, who finished sixth overall this season. “This decision gives our sport more validity in the sense that it can only keep growing from here.”
Other new Olympic events that will be added to the 2014 Games include the ski half-pipe (men and women), biathlon mixed relay, figure skating team event and luge team relay.
For more information about women’s ski jumping, visit www.wsjusa.com
To check out the upcoming film “Ready to Fly,” visit the website at http://www.readytoflyfilm.com/