Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics

Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics
IOC CodeSJP
Governing bodyFIS
Events6 (men: 3; women: 2; mixed: 1)
Winter Olympics

Ski jumping has been included in the program of every Winter Olympic Games. From 1924 through to 1956, the competition involved jumping from one hill whose length varied from each edition of the Games to the next.

It is disputed whether the Olympic ski jumping events from 1924 to 1960 were normal hill or large hill competitions. Even the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has no clear consensus on this question.

Most historians have placed the length of the Olympic ski jump hill in 1924 at 70 meters and have classified this as the large hill. (Recent information from the FIS offices in Switzerland have had the K-points from 1924 to 1956 determined as shown below). In 1960, the ski jump hill was standardized to 80 meters. In 1964, a second ski jump, the normal hill at 70 meters (K90) was added along with the 80 meters (K120) large hill. The length of the large hill run in 1968 increased from 80 meters to 90 meters (K120). The team large hill event was added in 1988. By 1992, the ski jumping competitions were referred to by their K-point distances rather than their run length prior to launching from the ski jump (90 meters for the normal hill and 120 meters for the large hill, respectively) and have been that way ever since. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, the normal hill was designated as HS106 (K95) while the large hill was designated as HS140 (K125).

Until 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships for ski jumping in Olympic years. During this period, the Olympic medalists received an additional medal from FIS.

On April 6, 2011, the IOC officially accepted women's ski jumping into the official Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. On February 11, 2014, Carina Vogt of Germany won the first gold medal for women's ski jumping at the Winter Olympic Games.