Why You Should Cheer On Those Daredevil Women Ski Jumpers

For over a decade, athletes have petitioned to add women's ski jump to the Olympic roster, where men's ski jump has been an official Olympic sport since 1924. The reasons why women's ski jumping has been blocked have been varied, but most people point to the myth that ski jumping can hurt women's reproductive systems as a big reason why the sport hasn't gotten wider recognition. In 2005, the International Ski Federation president said that women's ski jumping “seems not to be appropriate from a medical point of view.” That didn't stop the Olympic committee from asking a few top female athletes, including Jessica Jerome and Lindsey Van (who are both representing Team USA in Sochi), to test out the ski jumping ramp before the competition started at the 2002 Olympics in Utah.

American Lindsey Van is a women's ski jumping pioneer — she was the very first women's world champion, and started competing as a child before there was even a girls' division — and has been one of the most vocal athletes against what she calls the inequality and discrimination of being denied a spot in the Olympics. In 2008 she and other female ski jumpers sued the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee for the right to compete in the 2010 Games, but women's ski jumping still wasn't added until Sochi. At 29, she says she'll be competing at Sochi "at not my peak," although she did just win the US national championships in October. Now that Lindsey has finally reached her goal of getting women's ski jumping into the Olympics, we're excited to watch her compete.

Ready to cheer on your favorite ski-jumping female? The women's qualifying competition starts Feb 11 (today) at 12:30 p.m. EST, followed by the finals at 1:15 p.m. EST — check when they will be broadcast on NBC tape delay here.