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Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics facts for kids

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Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics
Ski jumping pictogram.svg
Governing body FIS
Events 5 (men: 3; women: 1; mixed: 1)
Games
  • 1924
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1936
  • 1948
  • 1952
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1980
  • 1984
  • 1988
  • 1992
  • 1994
  • 1998
  • 2002
  • 2006
  • 2010
  • 2014
  • 2018
  • Medalists

Ski jumping is an exciting sport where athletes glide down a ramp and launch themselves into the air. They try to jump as far as possible! This sport has been a part of every Winter Olympic Games since the very first one in 1924.

In the early days, from 1924 to 1956, there was only one ski jumping event. The size of the hill used for jumping changed a bit from one Olympics to the next. For a long time, people debated if these early jumps were on "normal" or "large" hills. Even the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wasn't sure!

Most experts now agree that the 1924 Olympic jump was on a "large hill." By 1960, the main ski jump hill was set at 80 meters. Then, in 1964, a second type of jump was added: the "normal hill" (K90). This was about 70 meters long. The "large hill" (K120) was also updated to 80 meters. In 1968, the large hill grew to 90 meters (K120).

A new event, the team large hill competition, was added in 1988. By 1992, ski jumping events started being named by their "K-point" distances. This means the normal hill was called K90, and the large hill was K120. These numbers show how far down the landing slope the critical point (K-point) is. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, the hills were called HS106 (K95) for normal and HS140 (K125) for large. HS stands for "Hill Size."

Until the 1980 Winter Olympics, the Olympic ski jumping events were also counted as the official World Ski Championships. This meant that Olympic medal winners also received an extra medal from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

A big change happened on April 6, 2011. The International Olympic Committee decided to include women's ski jumping in the Olympics! This was a huge step for the sport. The first women's Olympic ski jumping event took place at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. On February 11, 2014, Carina Vogt from Germany made history by winning the first-ever gold medal for women's ski jumping.

Olympic Ski Jumping: A Quick Look

This table shows how many events were held and which country performed best at each Winter Olympics.

Games Year Events Best Nation
1 1924 1  Norway (1)
2 1928 1  Norway (2)
3 1932 1  Norway (3)
4 1936 1  Norway (4)
5 1948 1  Norway (5)
6 1952 1  Norway (6)
7 1956 1  Finland (1)
8 1960 1  United Team of Germany (1)
9 1964 2  Norway (7)
10 1968 2  Czechoslovakia (1)
11 1972 2  Japan (1)
12 1976 2  Austria (1)
 East Germany (1)
13 1980 2  Austria (2)
14 1984 2  Finland (2)
15 1988 3  Finland (3)
16 1992 3  Finland (4)
17 1994 3  Germany (1)
Games Year Events Best Nation
18 1998 3  Japan (2)
19 2002 3  Switzerland (1)
20 2006 3  Austria (3)
21 2010 3  Switzerland (2)
22 2014 4  Germany (2)
 Poland (1)
23 2018 4  Norway (8)
24 2022 5  Slovenia (1)
25 2026 6

Ski Jumping Events at the Olympics

This table shows which ski jumping events were held at each Winter Olympics. A "•" means the event took place that year.

Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 Years
Men's individual large hill • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 24
Men's individual normal hill • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 16
Men's team large hill • • • • • • • • • • 10
Women's individual normal hill • • • 3
Mixed normal hill team • 1
Total events 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5

Ski Jumping Olympic Medals by Nation

This table shows which countries have won the most medals in ski jumping at the Winter Olympics, up to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

See also: List of Olympic medalists in ski jumping
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Norway (NOR) 12 10 14 36
2  Finland (FIN) 10 8 4 22
3  Austria (AUT) 7 10 10 27
4  Germany (GER) 6 7 3 16
5  Japan (JPN) 4 6 4 14
6  Poland (POL) 4 3 3 10
7  Switzerland (SUI) 4 1 0 5
8  East Germany (GDR) 2 3 2 7
9  Slovenia (SLO) 2 2 3 7
10  Czechoslovakia (TCH) 1 2 4 7
11  United Team of Germany (EUA) 1 0 1 2
12  Soviet Union (URS) 1 0 0 1
13  Sweden (SWE) 0 1 1 2
 Yugoslavia (YUG) 0 1 1 2
15  Republic of China (ROC) (ROC) 0 1 0 1
16  Canada (CAN) 0 0 1 1
 France (FRA) 0 0 1 1
 United States (USA) 0 0 1 1
Totals (18 entries) 54 55 53 162

Note: In the 1980 normal hill competition, two silver medals were awarded, so no bronze medal was given.

Number of Ski Jumpers by Nation at the Olympics

This table shows how many ski jumpers from each country have competed in the Winter Olympics over the years.

Nation 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 Years
 Austria (AUT) 1 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 5 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 7 8 23
 Belarus (BLR) 1 2 1 2 4
 Bulgaria (BUL) 3 2 3 1 2 1 1 8
 Canada (CAN) 1 8 3 3 2 1 3 3 3 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 6 2 20
 China (CHN) 4 1 3
 Czech Republic (CZE) 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8
 Czechoslovakia (TCH) 4 4 4 4 4 2 3 5 5 5 2 5 4 4 14
 East Germany (GDR) 4 5 4 6 5 2 6
 Estonia (EST) 3 2 2 3 5
 Finland (FIN) 4 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 6 4 5 4 5 5 5 6 6 23
 France (FRA) 4 3 4 3 4 2 4 4 2 1 2 4 4 2 4 4 8 4 19
 Georgia (GEO) 1 1 1 3
 Germany (GER) 4 4 4 5 5 4 5 5 5 9 9 12
 Great Britain (GBR) 31 1 1 3
 Greece (GRE) 1 1
 Hungary (HUN) 21 21 2 1 2 2 6
 Iceland (ISL) 1 1 1 3
 Italy (ITA) 4 3 3 2 3 4 4 3 1 1 4 1 3 2 3 4 1 1 4 3 5 8 23
 Japan (JPN) 1 4 4 4 2 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 4 8 9 22
 Kazakhstan (KAZ) 3 4 4 4 2 1 1 8
 Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) 1 1
 Norway (NOR) 4 4 8 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 4 6 5 5 6 5 4 5 5 8 7 24
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) 8 1
 Poland (POL) 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 1 5 4 4 5 3 2 2 1 1 5 5 5 5 5 5 24
 Romania (ROU) 1 1 1 1 1 6
 Russia (RUS) 4 4 5 4 4 6 7
 Slovakia (SVK) 2 1 1 1 4
 Slovenia (SLO) 5 6 5 4 4 5 9 9 9
 South Korea (KOR) 4 4 4 3 4 5 6
 Soviet Union (URS) 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 3 2 9
 Spain (ESP) 3 1 2
 Sweden (SWE) 4 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 2 2 1 4 5 5 17
 Switzerland (SUI) 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 1 3 1 4 4 4 3 4 4 2 4 4 4 2 3 2 24
 Turkey (TUR) 1 2
 Ukraine (UKR) 1 3 1 1 3 6
 Unified Team (EUN) 4 1
 United Team of Germany (EUA) 4 4 5 3
 United States (USA) 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 6 6 5 6 4 6 5 5 5 4 7 7 24
 West Germany (FRG) 4 3 2 3 4 5 6
 Yugoslavia (YUG) 4 4 2 4 4 5 4 4 3 5 5 11
Nations 11 13 10 15 14 13 16 15 15 17 16 15 16 17 19 17 19 19 22 21 18 20 21 22
Ski jumpers 40 38 47 50 49 44 55 45 58 66 62 62 55 65 65 63 68 68 73 79 68 100 100 110
Year 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18
  • 1 These athletes were listed but did not actually compete in the Games.

More About Ski Jumping

  • List of Olympic venues in ski jumping

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Salto en esquí en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños

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