Women box at the Olympics. They pole-vault and snowboard and play rugby. But one sport in which women do not participate is the little-known winter event known as Nordic combined.
The International Olympic Committee, which has for years made equality of participation by gender a goal, wants to change that. So a dictate to F.I.S., the global skiing federation, and national teams went out: Get those women’s Nordic combined programs going.
That was easier said than done. Nordic combined requires athletes to both ski jump and cross-country ski. Although some junior programs are out there, for the most part female Nordic combined specialists just don’t exist.