Olympic Women’s Nordic Combined inclusion petition circulating

(L to R) June Maxwell, Tyler Phillips, Trevor Edlund and Roscoe Maxwell. June is hoping the current international petition circulating will convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include her in the next Games. Photo: Devin Maxwell

PARK CITY, Utah — Nordic Combined is one of the oldest Winter Olympic sports. While encompassing ski jumping and cross country skiing, what it doesn’t encompass is women. The following quote is what is written in an international petition circulating via Change.org. 

“Nordic Combined is a sport rich in tradition that is constantly developing. On June 24, 2022, the IOC will make the decision whether to admit female athletes to the Winter Olympics.

“Especially in the field of gender equality, you can follow the development in recent years very well. In December 2020, the sport celebrated the first women’s World Cup and the first participation at the Nordic World Ski Championships. In the following season, there were already 9 World Cups on the schedule, and for the upcoming season there are now already 12 competitions in the World Cup and the second participation at the Nordic World Ski Championship planned. The number of competitions at international level for the junior women is also increasing steadily.

“With such a rapid development, the next step would be the admission of the ladies to the Olympic Winter Games in 4 years, as there is still much room for further progress until then.

“The IOC advertises the goal of equality between men and women in every Olympic sport, Nordic Combined is the last remaining sport where this is not the case.

“The female athletes have been training and fighting since childhood to achieve great things. Of course, the Olympic Winter Games are the lifelong dream of all of them.

We hereby ask you to support the athletes with a signature, so that they can fulfil this dream.”

The Change.org petition may be viewed/signed by clicking here.

June Maxwell is a 13 year old Park City Ski and Snowboard (PCSS) nordic combined athlete whose been dedicated to her sport for more than five years. She told me, “I tell everyone that they won’t see me in the Olympics because my sport isn’t in the Olympics, yet.” 

At the time of this publication, the petition was 100 signatures away from reaching it’s goal of 2,500.