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'Why only girls?': Female ski jumpers being BANNED at Olympics over 'baggy clothes' triggers reaction

Five female ski jumpers have called out officials after they were disqualified from the Winter Olympics event over their 'baggy' jumpsuits

BY DEEPESH NAIR

UPDATED FEB 9, 2022

Five female ski jumpers, representing Austria, Japan, Norway, and Germany, were disqualified from the mixed team event at Winter Olympics 2022 (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Beijing winter Olympics 2022 has spurred enough dramas so far and is continuing to deliver more controversial decisions. Five female ski jumpers were recently disqualified from the finals of mixed team competition by officials who said that their jumpsuits didn't comply with the rules. The shocking news sparked tears and left athletes and coaches struggling to describe what they had just experienced.

The disqualified ski jumpers represented the top four countries of this sport - Sara Takanashi of Japan, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz of Austria, Katharina Althaus of Germany, and Anna Odine Stroem and Silje Opseth of Norway. Their outfits were considered too baggy, supposedly giving them more airtime. However, the irony of the situation is that the suits used by the jumpers who were banned from the event had been approved for other competitions. Anger and confusion overflowed at the mixed-team ski jumping finals and the athletes were asked to step out, draining out all the efforts and pains they took to reach the global stage.

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The athletes and their coaches expressed their regrets on the decision, "The International Ski Federation destroyed everything with this operation. I think they have destroyed women’s ski jumping,” said Germany’s Katharina Althaus, according to Yahoo! Sports. “I have been checked so many times in 11 years of ski jumping, and I have never been disqualified once. I know my suit was compliant.” Althaus has competed in three Olympic Games and won a silver medal in 2018. “160 World Cup starts, 5x World Championships, 3x Olympic Games and I got DSQ for the first time,” she wrote on Instagram. “My heart is broken.”

Henrik Harlaut of Sweden during the Men's Freestyle Skiing Freeski Big Air Final on Day 5 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Big Air Shougang on February 9, 2022, in Beijing, China (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Karl Geiger, another German ski jumper, posted on social media, “We stick together no matter what! Nevertheless, I have to ask myself whether the regulations for the women were changed overnight, with so many disqualifications?!? It was neither the right time nor the right place to disqualify so many athletes from different nations.”

(L TO R) Nika Kriznar, Timi Zajc, Ursa Bogataj, and Peter Prevc of Team Slovenia celebrate after winning the gold medal during the flower ceremony for Mixed Team Ski Jumping at National Ski Jumping Centre on February 07, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Norwegian ski jumping boss Clas Brede Braathen added, “I am sorry on behalf of ski jumping. This is something we should have cleaned up before the Olympics. The sport of ski jumping has experienced one of its darker days today." Braathen stated that the sport is failing to meet the expectations and its standards due to these constant disqualifications and this could slash the progress that has been made. “I’m lost for words, really,” he said. “This is very painful for the athletes. I’m in pain on behalf of our sport. We were going to introduce a new event. The girls were to get a new event in the Olympics, and that’s how it ended. And why are only girls being disqualified?” he added.