The next Winter Olympics will feature women's ski jumping after the International Olympic Committee approved its inclusion for the 2014 Sochi Games.
Female ski jumpers have been fighting for years to get their event into the Winter Games, railing against the IOC's past position that there were not enough elite competitors in the sport to warrant Olympic competition.
Canadian ski jumper Katie Willis was overjoyed with the IOC announcement on Wednesday.
"I'm thrilled, I can't even believe this," Willis told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel from Montreal on Wednesday morning.
Willis was part of a group of ski jumpers who went to court last year, arguing that their human rights were being violated by not being allowed to compete at the Vancouver Games.
"It's not easy to go up against the establishment and they've done it and without them nothing would have happened," their lawyer, Ross Clark, said Wednesday.
A B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled that the IOC was discriminating against the women ski jumpers, but also said that the court lacked the power to force the Olympics to include the sport in the Vancouver Games.
But it seemed increasingly likely that the IOC would change its mind after female ski jumpers put on an impressive display at the recent Nordic world championships in Oslo last month.
IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg said he was impressed by the level of competition and would recommend its inclusion to IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Willis said the proof of high-level competition was integral to getting the IOC to come around on the issue.
"We just kept on pushing and those women showed their talent at the world championships and I'm so glad that the IOC finally recognized that," Willis said.
But the ruling is also bittersweet for Willis, as it may come after the peak of her athletic abilities.
"I've been off for a bit so that does make it hard to get back and get into the rhythm of it," she said. "But it's definitely possible, there's still a few years."
Also Wednesday, the IOC announced that four other events would be part of the Sochi program: ski halfpipe, mixed relay in biathalon and team events in luge and figure skating.
With files from The Associated Press
