The world champion calls for equal opportunities with men. At home, the athlete approves the act.
Getting to the Olympic Games is the dream of most professional athletes. By default, everyone should have the right to participate in the world tournament – the main thing is that they are the strongest in their disciplines. However, in reality, the IOC still creates artificial hurdles and restrictions for some athletes, and not just for political reasons. For their rights, it seems, women still have to fight.
To draw attention to the problem, the Norwegian skier even staged a brilliant performance and … shaved.
At home, the champion was immediately supported.
No exceptions
Norwegian athlete Guda Westwall Hansen, competing in the Nordic combined, at the tournament in Beitostolen delighted the audience not only with a stubborn fight for prizes, but also with a painted beard. His facial hair, as expected, wasn’t meant to protect against the cold, but to signal a serious problem.
“If I looked like this, then the 2026 Olympics would become a reality for me,” the Norwegian athlete explained to TV2.
The organizers of Hansen’s Painted Beard were not only sympathetic, but themselves actively displayed creativity to support girls rejected by Olympic officials. There was an “X” icon on the launch pad, which meant “no exceptions”. The “bearded” skier at the finish line showed something similar with her hands, explaining to the dull-witted that she was at the forefront of the fight against precisely these exceptions. Not therapeutic, of course, but sexual.
The suffering of the courageous Norwegian and her more modest beardless colleagues is due to the fact that there will be no women’s Nordic combined at the 2026 Olympics. However, there were no girls in this discipline at the 2022 Olympics, as well as at all previous Games. Indeed, at the World Cup, the women’s competitions were held only in 2021. By the way, Hansen won there, which is why she is worried about the impossibility of becoming an Olympic champion.
Vice-champion of the Beitostolen tournament and bronze medalist of the World Championship Marthe Leinan Lunn he supports the initiative of his Norwegian national team colleague and hints at the possibility of continuing similar actions throughout the season. The pressure is expected to mount by March 2023, when the IOC takes a final decision on whether or not to include women’s combined in the 2026 Olympics.
“We will do everything in our power to influence the IOC so that we are brought to the Olympic Games,” Leinan Lunn quotes TV2 of the threat.
The Norwegians have something to fight for – at the 2021 World Cup they occupied the entire podium. Will Russia benefit from the “bearded” activity of rivals, if they still manage to bring down the IOC? In terms of medal prospects – hardly. The best of our athletes at the Oberstdorf tournament was Stefania Nadymova, who took 13th place. Svetlana Gladkova showed the 24th result. So if Russia goes to the Milan Games, then in this discipline it will bring participants rather than potential medalists.
Criteria for the Olympics
The issue of equal opportunities in Olympic sports is perhaps worthy of attention, as the IOC constantly speaks of “Games for all”. But we must not forget that such significant decisions as the addition of a sports discipline should not run counter to the Olympic Charter. And he set out clear criteria on this issue.
A sport or a single discipline must have strong global recognition. The factor is vague, but we can assume that everything is in order here, since women managed to compete at the World Cup. A broad distribution on three continents is a pass criterion. In Europe, Asia and North America there are flying skiers who transform into running skiers during the start. Distribution to specific countries is a bit more complicated. The Winter Games Charter requires popularity in at least 25 states. If we focus on the 2021 World Cup, there will be only a dozen of them together with the Russians.
Also in the Olympic Charter it is noted that the inclusion of disciplines must be done at least seven years in advance. But the IOC is no stranger to breaking its own rules. Indeed, the decision to include specific Games in the program is made at a meeting of the IOC Executive Committee no later than three years before the Olympics.
That is, formally, there is time, and the number of countries burning with love for the women’s Nordic combined can be attributed if necessary. Hansen and the rest of the Norwegians will rejoice, but only in this case will they have to deprive themselves of other sports so as not to endlessly stretch the program. The main thing is that even these suddenly deprived poor fellows do not start drawing something …
