Winter Olympic Games
Events > Olympics > Winter > Women
Women & the Winter Olympics
Women were barred from competing at the ancient Olympics, and were only allowed to enter limited events in the early days of the summer Olympic Games. At the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924, there were only 11 women participants out of the total 258 competitors. In fact there was only two events for women, the women's figure skating and mixed pairs. Women athletes could compete in only figure skating until 1948 when skiing was opened as a competitive sport for women.
At 2010 the Winter Olympics, women will compete in these 13 sports:
- Biathlon
- Figure Skating
- Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating
- Snow Boarding, Alpine Skiing, Freestyle Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing
- Ice Hockey
- Curling
- Bobsled, Skeleton and Luge
There is a total of 15 sports at the 2010 Winter Olympics - Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping are for males only.
There are 86 gold medals up for grabs at the 2010 Winter Olympics. 45 of these are for men's events, 38 for women events, and 3 for mixed events (where both men and women compete) - in Figure Skating (mixed ice dancing and mixed pairs) and Mixed Doubles Luge (though see below).
Women's Luge
The International Luge Federation passed a new rule before the 1994 Lillehammer Games allowing men and women to race together in the doubles event. However, although technically women can compete in doubles luge, but it's almost never practiced. This is a little surprising as women generally do well in the event because of their size - one of the keys is to create as little resistance as possible. Having a woman on your team can also be advantageous as there are weight restrictions on the sled to ensure a fair race.
Women's Ski Jumping
There was a push in the courts to include women's ski jumping at the 2010 Vancouver Games. This was ultimately unsuccessful, and the event is now being considered for the 2014 Games. Current top performers in women's ski jumping went to Canadian courts claiming discrimination. However, a spokesperson for the IOC stated that "the decision not to include women's ski jumping was taken purely on technical merit". There apparently are not enough Olympic-level female ski jumpers in the world
