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Why was there no women’s Nordic combined event at the Winter Olympics?

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) declined to add a women’s Nordic combined event to the Winter Olympics program because, it argued, the sport did not have a sufficiently large selection of female athletes from a diverse enough group of countries. It also said that the sport, including the men’s event, did not have a wide enough fan base, one of its criteria for evaluating a sport’s inclusion in the Games. Critics said that the IOC’s refusal to add the sport contradicted its stated goals of promoting gender equality in sport. In 2026 the IOC announced that Nordic combined will not be included in the Winter Olympics program in the upcoming 2030 Games.