There will be 98 events contested at Sochi, with 49 events for men, 43 for women, and 6 mixed events, although we’ll have a bit more to say about mixed events in a bit. Now that ski jumping has been added, women will compete in every sport/discipline on the Sochi Program except Nordic combined. Women are underrepresented on the Olympic Winter Program with 1 bobsledding event to 2 for men, 1 ski jumping event to 3 for men, and no events in Nordic combined to 3 for men.

Winter sports/events came into the Olympics in 1908, with figure skating contested as part of the 1908 and 1920 Olympic Games, and ice hockey also contested at Antwerp in 1920. Since then the Olympic Program breakdown has looked like this:

Years   Men  Women  Mixed  Total    %Wom      %Mix

1908            2            1            1            4         25.0%       25.0%

1920            2            1            1            4         25.0%       25.0%

1924           14           1            1          16           6.3%         6.3%

1928           12           1            1          14           7.1%         7.1%

1932           12           1            1          14           7.1%         7.1%

1936           14           2            1          17         11.8%         5.9%

1948           17           4            1          22         18.2%         4.5%

1952           16           5            1          22         22.7%         4.5%

1956           17           6            1          24         25.0%         4.2%

1960           16         10            1          27         37.0%         3.7%

1964           20         12            2          34         35.3%         5.9%

1968           21         12            2          35         34.3%         5.7%

1972           21         12            2          35         34.3%         5.7%

1976           22         12            3          37         32.4%         8.1%

1980           23         12            3          38         31.6%         7.9%

1984           23         13            3          39         33.3%         7.7%

1988           27         16            3          46         34.8%         6.5%

1992           31         23            3          57         40.4%         5.3%

1994           33         25            3          61         41.0%         4.9%

1998           36         29            3          68         42.6%         4.4%

2002           41         34            3          78         43.6%         3.8%

2006           44         37            3          84         44.0%         3.6%

2010           45         38            3          86         44.2%         3.5%

2014           49         43            6          98         43.9%         6.1%

Totals      509       307         46       862        35.6%         5.3%

From 1976-2010 the mixed events were pairs figure skating, ice dance figure skating, and doubles luge, although the luge event is an anomaly. Technically the event is open to men and women as a mixed event. But no woman has ever competed in doubles luge at the Olympic Winter Games or World Championships, nor is the option ever really discussed or considered. Thus, there is some justification to consider it a men’s event.

There are 12 more events on the Sochi Program than there were at Vancouver in 2010. The new events are as follows, along with the time at which they first were contested at World Championships:

Biathlon                  X   Mixed Relay                2005 World Championship

Figure Skating      X   Team Trophy              never contested at Worlds

Freestyle Skiing  M  Slopestyle                    2011 World Championship

Freestyle Skiing  M  Halfpipe                        2005 World Championship

Freestyle Skiing   F   Slopestyle                    2011 World Championship

Freestyle Skiing   F   Halfpipe                        2005 World Championship

Luge                            X   Mixed Relay               1989 World Championship

Ski Jumping            F   Normal Hill, Indiv.   2009 World Championship

Snowboarding     M  Slopestyle                    2011 World Championship

Snowboarding     M  Parallel Sp. Slalom   1996 World Championship

Snowboarding      F   Slopestyle                     2011 World Championship

Snowboarding      F   Parallel Sp. Slalom    1996 World Championship

The figure skating team trophy is interesting, in that it has not been contested at the World Championships. The Olympic Charter used to state that events would only be added if they had first been contested at international competitions, “To be included in the programme of the Olympic Games, events must have a recognised international standing both numerically and geographically, and have been included at least twice in world or continental championships.” That was in the 2004 Olympic Charter, but that text was removed in the next edition, in 2007.

So women are getting closer to full gender equity at the Winter Olympics. They can actually now compete in 50.0% of the events on the program, although only technically, remembering doubles luge. Men can compete in 56.1% of the events, because of the overlap with mixed events.

If women’s ski jumping is successful and expands internationally, it is possible the program will become all but equal, but it is important to remember that Nordic combined events for women are held virtually nowhere and there have been no international competitions in that discipline for women. A recent story talked about Russian women starting to compete in Nordic combined and it was most notable for the rarity of women in that sport. Hard to imagine women’s Olympic events in Nordic combined in the foreseeable future.