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Yesterday, April 6, 2011 is a huge day for women's ski jumpers and women around the globe. Finally, the Winter Olympic Games will host all of its events for both men and women. The ski jumpers fought hard for their inclusion. After years of lobbying, court cases, and recruiting support within the IOC the IOC brass has finally found them worthy to be included in the games.

They should all receive honorary medals for not giving up their fight for equality. What a battle!

While the ski jumpers can now celebrate (and then get back to training), there is still a ways to go before there is truly gender equality in the Olympics.

Although all sports now- technically speaking- have events for women, there are generally less athletes able to compete in these events then in men's events. There are also some disciplines within the events that do not include women- such as distance swimming and cycling events. There are also several nations that send athletes to the Olympics that refuse to send women- even if they do qualify. Until these problems are addressed there will continue to be more men than women represented at the Olympics.

Why is all of this important?

Any Olympic athlete will tell you that attending the Olympics was a turning point in their career. Attending the Olympics makes an athlete more marketable for sponsors, more "in demand" for public speaking appearances, and, most importantly, gives them the personal gratification of attending the biggest sporting event in the world.

Congratulations to the ski jumpers. Their battle was well fought and they won. I look forward to watching them make their triumphant debut in Sochi.

But there are still battles left to fight.

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• Olympics
• Sports
• Winter Games
• Wintersports
• Ski Jump

This post is related to an ongoing story:

• Women`s Ski Jumping in the Olympics

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