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.
