Winter Olympic Sports

Nordic Combined

History

Gold Medal People have been using skis for over 10,000 years to help them travel from place to place and to help them hunt. The people living in northern Europe, Russia, and Asia were the first to use this technology.

Archaeologists have found cave paintings and pieces of wooden skis dating back about 10,000 years. In later years, people started using skis for more recreational uses.

Gold Medal In the early 1800s in Norway, Lieutenant Olaf Rye launched himself off a ramp on skis to perform the first-ever ski jump. He wanted to show his fellow soldiers how brave he was and flew about 9 m (30 ft).

Gold Medal In later years in these countries, skis would be used by the military, farmers, and for hunting wild animals because it was the fastest kind of transportation. By the late 1800s, people were skiing for fun when competitions like cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and ski jumping started.

Gold Medal The original event was a normal hill with a cross-country distance of 18 km (11 mi). (Added to the first official Winter Olympics in Chamonix (France) in 1924)

Equipment Used

Silver Medal Skis, poles, binding (they hold the boot to the ski), goggles, helmet, racing suit, and gloves.

Silver Medal In the past, skis had a solid piece of wood like ash or hickory, but now they have a wooden core surrounded by layers of fiberglass with titanium (a kind of metal) edges.

Rules

Bronze Medal The Nordic combined comprises two events: Ski jumping & Cross country. Ski Jumpers jump first in this event, then cross-country skiers ski. Judges will then convert the total points for the jumper into time penalties for the cross-country event for the starting position. The word “Gundersen” refers to the method used to determine the order in which athletes start in the 2nd event, the cross-country portion.

3 events in this category

Men’s Individual Gundersen normal hill/10 km: The normal hill is 98 m (322 ft) that athletes must jump from, and after all the jumpers complete their jumps, they will begin the 10 km (6.2 mi) cross-country event. (Added to the Vancouver (Canada) Winter Olympics in 2010)

(2014 Sochi gold medal winner (Germany) Eric Frenzel)
Men’s Individual Gundersen large hill/10 km: The large hill is 125 m (410 ft) that athletes must jump from, and after all the jumpers complete their jumps, they will begin the 10 km (6.2 mi) cross-country event. (Added to the Vancouver (Canada) Winter Olympics in 2010)

(2014 Sochi gold medal winner (Norway) Joergen Graabak)
Men’s Team Gundersen large hill/4 x 5 km: This is a team event of 4 athletes, in which each member will have one jump and will ski a portion in the cross-country event. The large hill is 125 m (410 ft) that athletes must jump, and after all of the jumpers are done with their jumps, they will begin their 5 km (3.1 mi) part of the cross-country event. (Added to the Nagano (Japan) Winter Olympics in 1998)

(2014 Sochi gold medal winners (Norway) Joergen Graabak, Magnus Hovdal Moan, Magnus Krog, and Havard Klemetsen)