Olympics-Nordic combined-Women still frozen out in Olympic anomaly

By Mitch Phillips

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) - Which is the only Winter Olympics discipline where women do not compete at the Games? It might be a good quiz question, but for female Nordic combined athletes their absence is anything but a fun fact and remains a source of burning resentment.

The discipline that brings together ski jumping and cross-country skiing has been ever-present at the Winter Olympics since they began in 1924 and the Beijing programme that begins on Wednesday will feature three events - but only for men.

What makes the absence of women in Nordic combined at the Games doubly frustrating for those knocking on the door is the fact they compete in ski jumping (since 2014) and cross-country (since 1952) - just not the discipline that pulls them together.

A Nordic combined World Cup circuit was launched at the end of 2020 and inaugural champion Tara Geraghty-Moats has become a vocal critic of its Olympic absence as she prepares to watch the male combiners battle on the biggest sporting stage of them all.

The American voiced her frustration in a social media post ahead of the Games when she said: "There is no 'together' in the Olympic movement if people are discriminated against based on skin color, gender or religion.

"There are 44 Nordic combined women who have met FIS criteria to go to the Olympics - 44 women who will not have an Olympic event to compete in, because of their gender.

"The IOC (International Olympic Committee) lets transgendered people into the Olympics in all sports, but not women into all sports.

"I wonder if the IOC withheld 44 athletes' credentials because of skin color, religious beliefs, or country affiliation would the world stand quietly by and accept it?

"I am respectfully