What I read: Women aren’t allowed to compete in one sport in the Winter Olympics as athlete details heartbreaking truth
What is Nordic Combined?
“Nordic combined is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The competition begins with a jump from a hill – rather them than me – before doing a 10km cross-country race later that same day. Whoever wins the first jump competition starts the race with a time of 00:00:00, whereas all other athletes start with a time disadvantage based on their scores in the first jump.Then, like how most races work, the first to cross the line wins.”
Why no women? Some say not enough audience, others say not enough countries could take part, or not enough women are ready for the event… there are many different reasons given, but it seems to me the principle of equal access in sports ought to trump those reasons. If both men and women can’t compete, then we ought not to include the sport in the Olympics.
Read, I Should Be Competing at the Olympics—But My Sport Excludes Women: Only men are allowed to participate in Nordic combined skiing, but I’m not done fighting for my place by Annika Malacinski (Self)
“In 2022, I was somewhere over the Atlantic, flying home from a training camp in Slovenia and watching a live broadcast as the president of the International Olympic Committee announced decisions for the 2026 Games. I kept refreshing the livestream as it buffered and froze (the overpriced Wi-Fi was pretty wonky), waiting for him to reveal the plans for Nordic combined. I was barely blinking, barely breathing. Minutes felt like hours. I kept checking, thinking maybe I’d missed something. But the truth is it would not have mattered if I had missed his announcement. Of course, I didn’t miss it. Even worse, l knew what the IOC president would say even before he completed the sentence: Women wouldn’t be included in Nordic combined racing in the 2026 Winter Games.”
Maybe it’s about to change?
Read: One Olympic sport still excludes women. This week’s viewing numbers could change that (NPR)
“Sports federations, advocacy groups and athletes all say Nordic combined, while niche, has grown in recent years — especially at the youth level — and are lobbying for the IOC to include it in 2030.
The IOC says it will conduct a full evaluation after the 2026 Olympics in order to make a “decision on the inclusion of Nordic Combined for men and women” in 2030 — meaning it’s possible Nordic combined could be removed from the roster altogether. It is expected to make a decision at its annual meeting in June.”
