SKI JUMPING: There are 12 events making their Olympic debut at the Sochi 2014 Games. Of those from the traditional winter sports, women’s Ski Jumping has arguably been waiting the longest and has the highest profile.
SKI JUMPING: There are 12 events making their Olympic debut at the Sochi 2014 Games. Of those from the traditional winter sports, women’s Ski Jumping has arguably been waiting the longest and has the highest profile.
Ski Jumping has been part of the Olympic programme since the inaugural Olympic Winter Games in 1924 but this year marks the first time women have been allowed to compete at the premiere competition.
Led by Deedee Corradini, the former mayor of Salt Lake City which hosted the Olympics in 2002, a group of women sued the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a Canadian court in 2009 on the basis of discrimination.
They won the case but the court decided not to enforce the law when it came to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
After a year of following the women’s progress and deliberations, the IOC announced in April 2011 that a women’s normal hill event would be introduced at the Sochi Games.
Looking likely to finish on the Olympic podium for the first time ever are US competitor Sarah Hendrickson and Japanese 17-year-old Sara Takanashi.
Both athletes are groundbreakers in the sport, with Hendrickson winning the first women’s ski jumping World Cup event in December 2011 and Takanashi becoming the youngest individual winner of an overall skiing World Cup title at the end of the 2012/13 season.
Heading into the event, Takanashi is the clear favourite for the gold with Hendrickson returning from injury.
The 19-year-old from Utah, tore knee ligaments in a fall last August and only jumped again for the first time after surgery in January.
The women’s format will be the same as the men’s competition with three rounds; a trial round, first competition round and final round. The winner is the woman who achieves the maximum score at the end of competition.
The gold medal event will take place on Tuesday 11 February, Day 4 of the Games, at RusSki Gorki Jumping Centre. There are 30 women who have qualified to fly through the sky to see who can be the first Olympic gold medallist in Ski Jumping.
The 12 new events for Sochi 2014 are:
Biathlon - mixed relay
Figure skating - team event
Freestyle skiing - men's and women's slopestyle; men's and women's halfpipe
Luge - team relay
Ski jumping - women's normal hill
Snowboard- men's and women's slopestyle; men's and women's parallel slalom
