American Hendrickson 1st woman to jump at Olympics

Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - American ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson became the first woman ever to make a competition jump at the Olympics.

Hendrickson went first as the women's normal hill competition got underway on Tuesday at the Sochi Olympics.

While women have been participating in the sport for more than a century, the International Olympic Committee argued that there weren't enough women or countries participating at a high enough level to justify its inclusion in the Winter Games until now.

One official said that jumping thousands of times was "not appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view."

However, on April 6, 2011, the IOC finally announced that a women's ski jumping event was being added for Sochi.

Hendrickson, who suffered torn knee ligaments in August, wore bib No. 1. The 2013 world champion checked in with a jump of 94 meters and a score of 112.4.

Start order was determined by World Cup points and since Hendrickson had been injured she had not competed in any of those events.