Women's Ski Jumping Gets World Cup Circuit
After being shunned for decades, and shut out of the Olympics, the ladies who launch are starting to gain international recognition.
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Women’s ski jumping just took another leap towards becoming an Olympic sport.
Last week, at their international ski conference in Turkey, the FIS voted to hold the first-ever women’s World Cup ski jumping circuit during the 2011-12 season. They also moved to petition the International Olympic Committee to include it in the 2014 games in Sochi.
Currently, ski jumping is the sole Olympic sport closed to women. Boxing, the only other male-dominated holdout, will allow women to compete at the 2012 games in London.
Ladies, like Utah-based world champion Lindsey Van, have been struggling to gain Olympic acceptance for years. They were shut out of the Vancouver Olympics because the IOC decided the sport wasn’t competitive enough, despite the fact the Van holds the record for the longest jump for any gender.