Ski jump
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| Highest governing body | International Ski Federation (FIS) |
|---|---|
| First played | 22 November 1808 Olaf Rye, Eidsberg church, Eidsberg, Norway |
| Characteristics | |
| Team members |
M Individual (50) L Individual (40) Team event (4) |
| Type | Nordic skiing |
| Equipment | skis |
| Venue |
Asia Europe North America |
| Presence | |
| Olympic |
1924 (men) 2014 (women) |
| World Championships |
1925 (men's nordic) 1972 (ski flying) 2009 (women's nordic) |
Ski jumping is a form of Nordic skiing in which athletes descend a specially constructed takeoff ramp (known as the inrun), jump from the end of it (the table) with as much power as they can generate, and "fly" as far as possible down a steeply sloped hill, known as the under hill. As the slope of the under hill is steep, the jumping athletes don't suddenly land on the flat ground, which would be dangerous. Hence all hills have a so called K-point, which is located towards the end of the steep under hill slope. If jumps reach this K-point early, the tournament is usually cancelled, and the athletes who have already jumped, must begin again. Now from a lower altitude in the upper hill. Large hills have typically a K-point of 120 meters.
Points are awarded for distance and style by five judges, with competition sanctioned by the International Ski Federation (FIS). To enable the athletes (who are known as ski jumpers) to effectively glide such long distances and land safely, the skis they use are considerably wider and longer than their cross-country and alpine skiing counterparts. Ski jumping is predominantly a winter sport and has been part of the Winter Olympic Games since its inception in 1924 for men and since 2014 for women. Since 1954 it is possible to ski jump in summer on artificial surfaces made from plastic. Along with cross-country skiing, ski jumping is one of two sports which form the Nordic combined discipline. Holmenkollbakken in Oslo is considered the home of ski jumping, which is most popular in Austria, Germany, Finland, Japan, Norway, Poland and Slovenia.
According to the sources of Dutch naval officer Cornelius de Jong from his book Reizen naar de kaap, first ski jumping experiments dates back to 1796. In this book it's described, how that year soldiers of some Norwegian ski company used house and barn roofs as ski jumping hills and discovered that the hard landing could be reduced by jumping on a steep slope.
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Wikipedia