By Mitch Phillips
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Which is the only Winter Olympics discipline where women do not compete at the Games? It might be a good quiz question, but for female Nordic combined athletes their absence is anything but a fun fact and remains a source of burning resentment.
The discipline that brings together ski jumping and cross-country skiing has been ever-present at the Winter Olympics since they began in 1924 and the Beijing programme that begins on Wednesday will feature three events – but only for men.
What makes the absence of women in Nordic combined at the Games doubly frustrating for those knocking on the door is the fact they compete in ski jumping (since 2014) and cross-country (since 1952) – just not the discipline that pulls them together.
A Nordic combined World Cup circuit was launched at the end of 2020 and inaugural champion Tara Geraghty-Moats has become a vocal critic of its Olympic absence as she prepares to watch the male combiners battle on the biggest sporting stage of them all.
The American voiced her frustration in a social media post ahead of the Games when she said: “There is no ‘together’ in the Olympic movement if people are discriminated against based on skin color, gender or religion.
“There are 44 Nordic combined women who have met FIS criteria to go to the Olympics – 44 women who will not have an Olympic event to compete in, because of their gender.
“The IOC (International Olympic Committee) lets transgendered people into the Olympics in all sports, but not women into all sports.
“I wonder if the IOC withheld 44 athletes’ credentials because of skin color, religious beliefs, or country affiliation would the world stand quietly by and accept it?
“I am respectfully requesting the IOC conduct itself in accordance with its own published vision, values and mission. But I would like to say that right here and now the Olympic values are not being upheld.”
‘APPROPRIATE STEP’
Geraghty-Moats’ views have hardened considerably since she took part in the Winter Youth Olympic Games two years ago, saying at the time that that discipline was an “appropriate step that the sport is ready for.
“The Winter Olympics are a very, very special event and not something that a sport can just be added to,” she said.
“The reason we hold the Olympics in such high regard is that the level of excellence is unmatched, so you can’t just add a sport that’s undeveloped.”
That lack of establishment of the discipline was behind the decision in 2018 not to add it to the Beijing programme.
The theory – the same one applied to delaying the entry of female ski jumpers – was that there was not enough depth at the elite end and that any Olympic medals would be devalued in comparison to those awarded in more competitive arenas.
Skiing’ s governing body the FIS told Reuters: “We have spent the last few years developing women’s Nordic combined so it is at a level that it can be included on the Olympic programme. It has been on the World Cup circuit for the last two seasons and it is a goal of FIS that women’s Nordic combined will be added to the Olympic programme in the future.”
After rejecting the request four years ago, the IOC’s sports director Kit McConnell said: “While it is important to promote equality we felt that women’s Nordic combined still needed to develop its universality and the level of the athletes and the attractiveness and following of it.”
The IOC says that the Beijing Games feature more female athletes and women’s events than any other Winter Olympics, with female quota positions increasing from 41% to 45.44%.
The IOC could discuss the addition of Nordic combined for the next Games in Milan-Cortina at their Executive Board meeting in June this year when the 2026 programme is finalised.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris)
