Olympics proud of gender statistics while one discipline remains male-only

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were widely praised for achieving full gender parity, marking the first Games with an equal 50/50 split between male and female competitors. The current Winter Games in Milan-Cortina are close behind, with women accounting for 47% of participating athletes. While the Olympics continue expanding into new or revived sports — such as breaking (breakdancing), ski mountaineering and lacrosse — one discipline still remains closed to women: Nordic combined.

Nordic combined, which merges cross-country skiing and ski jumping, is the only Olympic sport in which female athletes are barred from competing. It has been part of the Winter Games since the inaugural edition in Chamonix in 1924, but participation has always been limited to men — despite the existence of women’s World Cup and World Championship competitions.

Several campaigns have pushed for the inclusion of women in Olympic Nordic combined, yet none have succeeded so far.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has partly justified its refusal by pointing to broader concerns about the sport’s viability. Participation among men has declined significantly: only 36 athletes are set to compete at the current Games, compared to 55 in Beijing in 2022. The discipline has also struggled with competitive imbalance, with Germany, Austria and Finland claiming all but two gold medals since 1924.

In fact, the IOC is expected to review the sport’s overall Olympic future in June and could consider removing it entirely. Some argue that expanding women’s participation might instead provide a lifeline. While the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) only launched a women’s World Cup in 2020, more than 200 female athletes are now competing at the elite level.

Addressing the rationale for excluding women, the IOC told The Tab that Nordic combined suffers from a limited athlete pool, challenges in achieving broader international representation — particularly beyond Europe — and relatively low popularity. It also recorded the lowest television audience figures during the previous Games.

However, the IOC confirmed that the discipline will undergo a “full evaluation” after the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. Following that review, it will “make a decision on the inclusion of Nordic Combined for men and women in the programme of the Olympic Winter Games French Alps 2030”.

The committee explained that the potential addition of women’s Nordic combined depends on several criteria. These include increased participation in World Cup and World Championship events, as well as growth in the sport’s “overall popularity” across broadcast audiences, digital platforms, public engagement and media coverage.

By Nazrin Sadigova