VANCOUVER - Women ski jumpers reacted with cautious optimism to news the International Olympic Committee is poised to include their sport at next Winter Games.
"I'm thrilled to hear that," Katie Willis said Monday. "I am just trying not to get my hopes up too much because we have been in this situation a few times before."
American ski jumper Allissa Johnson was waiting to hear the official word before celebrating.
"I'm excited," she said in an interview from Deer Valley, Utah. "But if I have learned anything over the last 10 years I won't believe it until I hear it first hand.
"Things that happened are extremely positive. Until it actually happens we have to not get too excited about it."
Women's ski jumping is among six new events the IOC is considering for inclusion at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The decision will be made during a two-day meeting which begins Tuesday in London.
An announcement is expected Wednesday.
Among the other new events are slopestyle in snowboard and freestyle skiing.
Privately, IOC officials have said women's jumping is virtually certain to be accepted.
Ski jumping and nordic combined, which features ski jumping and cross-country skiing, are the only Winter Olympic events open only to men.
Willis, a Calgary resident who is now studying engineering at McGill University in Montreal, said she's disappointed her sport wasn't included for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"It was very frustrating for me," she said. "I thought Canada would do it and we'd get in for those Olympics.
"That was hard for me. I guess that's sometimes how it goes in politics. It takes a little longer that you think. We are still trying here."
John Furlong, the former head of the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee, said including women's ski jumping "was somewhat inevitable."
"It reflects well on the IOC for pushing this sport to achieve the standard to get on the program," Furlong said in a text message to The Canadian Press.
"For Canada this is good and the door is now open for Canadian women to make an immediate impact."
The IOC twice turned down women's ski jumping for inclusion in Vancouver, saying the sport lacked enough elite competitors.
Willis was one of 15 former and current ski jumpers who went to court in Canada arguing their human rights were being violated by not being allowed to compete at the Games.
A B.C. Supreme Court Justice ruled the IOC was discriminating against women ski jumpers by keeping them out of the Games. But the judge said the court lacked the power to order the sport to be included at the Vancouver Games.
The women tried to appeal but the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case.
Ross Clark, the lawyer who represented the jumpers, said the court case helped push the IOC.
"I think it all made a difference, but the women earned it," he said. "Sometimes you get to that tipping point. Maybe that was it.
"It took eight to 12 years more than it need to take. That's the sad part. At least we progressed."
The women held their first world championships this year in Oslo. A series of World Cup competitions are scheduled for this winter.
Deedee Corradini, president of Women Ski Jumping USA, said the IOC's decision came too late for some athletes.
"They should have been in Vancouver," said Corradini. "It really has been extremely difficult for the athletes.
"Several of those may not be able to make it until 2016."
Both Willis, 19, and Johnson, 23, say they will compete in Russia if allowed.
"Ski jumping has not left my mind," said Willis, who did not compete this year so she could attend university.
"It's an amazing opportunity and it's always what I have dreamed of. We have been pushing for this. We had to go to court. It seems so ridiculous that we've had to do so much to get equality in sports at the Olympics."
Also seeking approval are slopestyle events in snowboard and alpine freestyle, ski halfpipe, mixed relay in biathlon, and team events in figure skating and luge.
In slopestyle, athletes do tricks while going down the mountain and through "features" -- rails, big jumps and bumps.
With files from The Associated Press
