Nordic+Combined

Nordic Combined Have you ever had the wind blowing in your face and your feet soaring high of the ground? Or how about the snow flying up in your face while you’re skiing? Well that is all part of Nordic Combined. What! You don’t know what Nordic Combined is? Well, it is a sport that involves ski jumping and cross-country skiing. Some Norwegian people founded the sport in 1892 at Norway’s Winter Ski Festival. In this sport, only men can compete and Norway’s men are the best ever to compete in the world. Now before we go to the rules, how about I tell you the equipment you’re going to need. For the ski-jump portion, there is a lot of equipment needed like; ski jumping skis, bindings, boots, connection cord, ski jumping suit, gloves, helmet, and goggles. For the Cross-Country portion all you need is bindings, boots, poles, skis, and a suit. And not a telephone pole it is kind of like a perfectly straight stick with a pointy bottom. Now to the rules. For the ski-jump portion, there are many. Mostly in the judging section. First, you have to go down the hill in a crouched position and you need to be leaning forward. Then, when you hit the jump you have to extend back to a standing position and spread your legs out in a V shape. Then, there is one simple part left; you have to stick the landing. The person with the farthest distance from the jump, and, well, wherever they land, wins! Oh, and when I mentioned there where a lot of rules for the downhill portion, I lied. Now for the cross-country skiing. There are a couple rules for this portion. They are quite simple. There is no physical contact allowed unless it is accidental, and if you touch another competitor’s skis or poles it is illegal. All that is left is whoever crosses the finish line 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wins! Now to the judging. For down hill skiing, there are about five judges. First, they judge posture. You must go down the hill in a crouched position, and when you go off the jump you must have your skis in a V position. Points will be deducted if you aren’t in the correct positions. Also the landing can be fatal. If you do not stick the landing (which rarely happens in the Olympics) then you get 0 points. And lastly, is the distance of the jump. If you do not get enough distance then you do not get a lot of points. But if you get an extreme amount of height and distance you will earn tremendous points. There are only two things judges look for in the Cross-Country portion. The first is if you make any physical contact on purpose then you would be disqualified. The other is the first three people to cross the finish line win! When Nordic Combined is being played weather can be a big factor. It can be a problem because; if there isn’t any snow on the ground they can’t even play the sport. It also has to be pretty cold out because if there is snow on the ground it won’t melt; also it can’t be windy because that can affect your distance on the ski jump, and it can possibly slow you down in the Cross-Country portion. Nordic Combined was played 1 time in the 2010 Winter Olympics and the medalists were: France’s Jason Lamy Chappius (gold), America’s Johnny Spillane (silver), and Italy’s Alessandro Pittin (bronze).Those were all the medalists in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Of course there will be more next time the sport is played in 2014.