Germany's best ski jumper Karl Geiger is mad at the International Olympic Committee! The Olympians are questioning whether Nordic Combined will remain in the Olympic program. And that really enrages Geiger.
Ski jumper Karl Geiger spoke up in no uncertain terms for the Nordic combined athletes, who were threatened with being eliminated from the Olympics. "I think it's a bottomless cheek that they are considering taking out the combined athletes," said the 29-year-old at the Ski Jumping World Cup in Engelberg in Switzerland. In June, the International Olympic Committee decided against including a women's competition at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina.
The IOC also fundamentally questioned the Olympic future of the combination. In order to be there in 2030, the field of participants must become more diverse and viewer interest must increase. The combination is dominated by Norway, Germany, Austria and Japan. Other nations hardly play a role.
"The women's format in combined is a very young sport. There are still a few construction sites that need to be fixed. But that was the same with our ski jumpers. It was with us when we started 70, 80 years ago, the same way," Geiger said. "You just have to give them the chance to develop that too. But to take this chance from them from the start and then to say at the same time that if we don't accept the women, we'll take the men out too, I find absolutely ridiculous. "
Geiger referred to his own past as a child combiner. "It's a great sport - also for basic training," said the man from Oberstdorf. I hope that they will reconsider and include the ladies of the combined athletes in the program. I think it's high time."
