February 12th, 2010 
Tracy Matlack 
Lindsey Vonn
Lindsey Vonn holds the record — among both men and women — for the longest jump off of Whistler, B.C.’s normal ski jump, built for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. She is the first American woman to win back-to-back overall World Cup championships, doing so in 2008 and 2009. She has also won World Cup discipline championships in downhill (also back-to-back) and Super G (the first American woman to do so). With 31 World Cup wins in four disciplines (downhill, Super G, slalom and super combined) and two World Championship gold medals, along with two World Championship silver medals, she has become the most successful American woman skier in World Cup history.
Regrettably, the women’s ski jumping world champion will be nowhere in sight when the competition begins in the 2010 winter Olympics. Lindsey trains six days a week, 11 months a year and has been jumping for the past 19 years, but she won’t be competing. What a travesty!
Why you ask? Because Olympic ski jumping has no place for women – they aren’t allowed to compete. But, it’s not for lack of trying. Women ski jumpers have petitioned to join every Winter Olympics since Nagano in 1998, and each time they have been denied by the International Olympics Committee (IOC). In fact, ski jumping is the only Olympic discipline to remain men-only. (Technically, Nordic combined is also limited to males, but that’s because it includes ski jumping.) Women are now recognized and included in the summer Olympic’s boxing. Why boxing, but not ski jumping?
According to NPR, Lindsey is quoted as saying, “[It's] just pretty painful to watch [men] I grew up training with be able to have that opportunity and me sit there knowing that I don’t even have that opportunity because I’m not a male,” says Vonn, of Park City, Utah, who has been ski jumping since she was 7. “It’s depressing to tell young girls that you don’t have the same opportunities just because they’re girls.”
The great news is that we get to watch Lindsey compete in other sports this Olympics, such as women’s downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G and women’s super-combined. One day I hope to see Lindsey flying off the mountain in the women’s ski jump competition!
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Nice information. I wonder where I can watch free videos about the 2010 Winter Olympics?
Hi, thanks for the comment! Have you tried looking in Youtube.com? They have all sorts of videos covering the Olympics.
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