LONDON — After a five-year wait and an unsuccessful legal battle to get into the 2010 Vancouver Games, women’s ski jumping is set to win its place on the Olympic program this week.
Women’s jumping is among six new events up for consideration by the International Olympic Committee for inclusion at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
The IOC executive board, which opens a two-day meeting in the British capital on Tuesday, will also review guidelines for gender tests in the wake of the Caster Semenya case and examine preparations for next year’s London Games.
The IOC is meeting in London in conjunction with the annual SportAccord conference, a sports industry convention attended by 1,500 delegates. The three cities bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics — Annecy, France; Munich; and Pyeonchang, South Korea — will make presentations to a key international audience just three months before the IOC vote.
Top of the agenda for IOC President Jacques Rogge and the executive board is a decision on new events for Sochi, including slopestyle in snowboard and freestyle skiing.
The IOC said in October that it “looked favourably” on the six proposed events but postponed a ruling until after the various world championships this winter. The IOC gave Rogge the mandate to make the final decision himself, but he is expected to seek the board’s approval Wednesday.
IOC officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because an announcement hasn’t been made yet, told The Associated Press that women’s jumping is virtually certain to be accepted. Several, but not all, of the other events should also go through.
Ski jumping and Nordic combined, which features ski jumping and cross-country skiing, are the only Winter Olympic events open only to men.
The IOC twice turned down women’s ski jumping for inclusion in Vancouver, saying the sport lacked enough elite competitors. Women jumpers took their case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, but failed to overturn the IOC decision.
The women seemingly sealed their case at the Nordic world championships in Oslo in early March, when competitors jumped in heavy fog and strong winds. IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway said he was impressed by the level of competition and would recommend the event’s inclusion to Rogge.
Also seeking approval are slopestyle events in snowboard and alpine freestyle, ski halfpipe, mixed relay in biathlon, and team events in figure skating and luge. A team event in alpine skiing was rejected in October, but FIS is still pushing for its inclusion.