Norway's defeat: Nordic combined leaves Winter Games program
If in football the week ended in celebration for Norway, in Olympic sport the scenario was very different. Two days after eliminating Brazil 2-1 in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, the Scandinavian country saw the Nordic combined, a sport of which they are the inventors and the main historical power, being removed from the 2030 Winter Olympic Games program.
The announcement was made this Tuesday (7) by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). According to the entity, the decision was motivated by the reduced number of athletes, low public interest and the fact that the sport continues to be competed only by men. It will be the first time that the Nordic combined team has been excluded from the Games since the creation of the Winter Olympics in Chamonix-1924.
Despite the exclusion, the president of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, stated that the sport could still return to the Olympic program in the 2034 edition.
While the Nordic combined bids farewell, the 2030 Games, which will be held in the French Alps, will gain two new features: freeride, with skiing and snowboarding events on natural terrain, and synchro9, a form of synchronized team figure skating.
Why does the decision weigh so much on Norway?
The withdrawal from the Nordic combine has a special weight on Norway. The country is considered the greatest power in the history of the sport and helped build its tradition since the first Winter Olympic Games.
In the first four editions of the competition, between 1924 and 1936, all Olympic champions in the individual event were Norwegian. Over the decades, the country continued to accumulate titles and medals, even with the rise of powers such as Germany, Finland, Austria and Japan.
More recently, Norwegian athletes returned to the top of the podium in different events, with names like Jørgen Graabak and Jens Lurås Oftebro, reinforcing the country's leading role in a sport that became part of its identity at the Winter Games.
2030 Games will have unprecedented equality between men and women
In addition to the changes in the sports program, the 2030 edition will mark another historic moment for the Olympic movement. For the first time, the Winter Olympic Games will have practically the same number of male and female athletes.
The forecast is for 3,046 competitors, 1,525 women and 1,521 men, distributed across 126 events. In total, there will be 56 women's, 55 men's and 15 mixed events.
The increase in female participation was possible thanks to the expansion of quotas in sports such as luge, skiing, bobsled and ice hockey. The measure follows the IOC's policy of expanding gender equality, initiated at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and now also extended to the main winter sports competition.
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Source: CNN