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29th Jan 2014

Pic: The view from the top of the ski jump slope in Sochi is not for the faint hearted

We'll pass, thanks all the same...

JOE

We’ll pass, thanks all the same…

For the very first time, women will compete in ski jumping at the Winter Olympics next month. After years of frankly bizarre reluctance to let women endanger themselves in the same way men do, the folks in charge of the Olympics added women’s ski jumping to the Sochi event list.

Women will compete on the 90 metre hill – there is also a 120 metre hill – and here is the view from the top of the slope.

The favourite for the event is 17-year-old Japanese jumper Sara Takanashi (main pic), who stands just 4’11”. That’s a very small person going down a very big hill. Sara, we salute you.