Girls skiing

Over the last 20 years women have broken the glass ceiling in many sports, which have traditionally been run and dominated by men, like skiing. But some barriers still remain. Even though there are many girl ski jumpers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refuses to include female ski jumping as an Olympic sport. Sarah Burke, above shows her jumping skills in another category called freeskiing.

LA Times

What exactly is "freeskiing?"

Sarah Burke: The most basic way to describe it is snowboarding on skis. Jumps, flips, spins over tabletops, riding the halfpipe and rails. If you have ever seen snowboarding it will look familiar. Freeskiing has only really gotten credit as a sport in the last five years since the contests started.

You started as a mogul skier. Did you ever have Olympic dreams and what happened?

Sarah Burke: Yeah, I did when I skied moguls, but once I started freeriding that wasn’t my dream or desire any more. The new dream became X Games and getting girls into that event. 2005 was the first year we got in. I was really annoying to the organizers until we [girls] got our way and got us in there as a medal sport.

How is freeskiing different from skiing big mountains in Alaska or mogul skiing?

Sarah Burke: We call Alaska "freeriding" and mogul skiing is kind of the more freestyle form of freeskiing. Unfortunately the Olympics haven't figured that out yet. They are a bit slow when it comes to progression.

Julia Mancuso (above) is a ski racer. Julia, now age 24, started professional racing at 15. She won the giant slalom gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Mancuso also went to Beijing for the summer games as an NBC correspondent!

Julia Mancuso will compete next year at February's Skiing World Championships in Val d'Isere, France.

Female skiers bodies

Female bodies are different than men, which means that their skis are different, more lighter in weight, have more flex and the bindings are mounted slightly forward. This is because the center of gravity in female bodies is lower. Women's boots are also made differently, according to skiing experts. Women's hips are different, making them stand slightly different than a man.

Winter sports like skiing also requires female bodies to be in a high state of fitness. To prepare for skiing the body must be trained first in aerobics; because the high altitude has less oxygen, and both downhill skiing and cross-country skiing place a hefty load on the lungs. Curves are welcome in downhill skiing because the added body mass helps female skier build momentum while racing down the slopes.

Strength training makes the body adapt to the constantly changing stress on the legs and torso. Squats and lunges are good workouts for the legs. Strength training also reduces soreness and helps the body in recovering from injuries. The torso (core muscles) can be worked out by twisting the body while holding a medicine ball; or by working out on a stability ball.

Downhill skiing is a pain for the back....the poor posture needs to be stretched out once you're done skiing. Lie on a bed and stretch your arms over the top of your head as straight as you can.

Female skier's bodies have been in the news for other reasons too. Here is Julia Mancuso advertising for Lange ski boots:



Lange traditionally used models in underwear as "Lange girls" and Julia was the first female athlete to be used in the adverts. Many saw the ads as sexist but Mancuso counters, "Women's skiing could use the attention. The men get so much more recognition. Whenever skiing gets on a cover of a magazine, men are always chosen for the picture."

And Julia defended using her sex-appeal, rather than her skiing skills, to get attention. "If you look at all the fashion magazines, those bodies are so skinny," she said. "I wanted to show that you don't have to be that skinny to be beautiful."



Sarah Burke (above) went a step further, appearing in the mens magazine FHM, and giving a dumbed down interview showcasing her sex-appeal:

"I'll leave a guy in bed if the powder is fresh," Sarah says. "Good sex is good sex, but powder days are seriously special." As is she.

Do non-skiing guys stand a chance?
Of course. He just has to like cold weather and be a good masseuse. Most guys don't believe that I m a skier when they see me at the lodge. They think I've just been lounging around all day. One of my sponsors even hit on me once; he had no clue who I was. There are always eight guys to every girl in ski towns too. I get groped a lot in ski-town bars.

Has a snowboarder ever deliberately made you cry?
No, but they can be jerks. Skiing is making a comeback. There are a lot more of us now than there was when I broke into the sport.

And who will win the inevitable showdown for the mountain?
Skiers for sure. Skiers are faster. Plus, we have our poles to take out snowboarders if we have to.