Park City • Members of the United States Women's Ski Jumping team gathered at the Utah Olympic Park on Wednesday to celebrate big news.

There was no champagne spraying, mugging for the TV cameras or even many smiles.

There was mostly relief — a quiet sense of accomplishment and the feeling that, after a fierce battle, a grotesque wrong had been righted.

The unasked question by those worn down from the fight: What took you so long?

Starting with the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, women's ski jumping will be one of six new sports included in the Olympics.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge made the announcement at 7 a.m.

"I was excited and then I felt relief because this has been a seven-year battle with hurdles all along the way," said Deedee Corradini, president of Women's Ski Jumping USA.

"I also felt a little bit numb because I wasn't willing to let myself get excited ahead of time. ... Frankly, when I heard, it brought me to tears."

Lindsey Van, the 2009 world champion, was "a little shocked but also relieved and excited for our sport" when she heard the IOC had finally endorsed women's skiing.

"I've been playing this game forever," she said. "I never thought I would hear that it would get in. So I prepared myself for the worst."

In 2010, "the worst" happened.

The IOC considered adding women's skiing to the Winter Games in Vancouver.

"We'd been led to believe it was going to be approved," Corradini recalled. "We were all together and listened in and the answer was no.

"The jumpers all cried. It was just horrible. That was probably the lowest of all the low points. Since then, we've never let ourselves get excited."

The IOC revisited the women's ski jumping question in October, but delayed a decision until after the Nordic world championships in March.

"It's just been a roller coaster," Corradini said. "It's been very hard emotionally on these athletes."

Still drowsy when she first heard the good news, U.S. team member Avery Ardovino thought she was dreaming.

"I still don't believe it happened," she said, almost six hours later. "I'm afraid they are going to yank it away from us because they have so many other times."

When the IOC rejected women's skiing in 2010, it cited the lack of elite competitors and worldwide participation in the sport.

The ski jumpers filed a lawsuit over the decision. It reached Canada's Supreme Court but was eventually rejected. Still, the case had an impact.

"Once the facts were on the table," Corradini said, "people had to listen."

Another turning point in the battle with the IOC came four weeks ago in Norway.

In brutal weather conditions that included strong wind and visibility-reducing fog, the ski jumpers competed admirably at the world championships.

They impressed IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg, apparently, because he recommended to Rogge the sport be included in the 2014 Winter Games.

"It made a major difference," Corradini said. "Under very adverse conditions, they performed really well.

"You could not see them jump. You could only see them land because of the fog. And they couldn't see where they were going to land."

No big deal, according to U.S. team member Alissa Johnson.

"We knew the IOC was watching," she said. "But we train for those conditions. You have to prepare for it in ski jumping because Mother Nature has a mind of her own."

Johnson noted she was the only U.S. ski jumper to fall in the wind and fog at Oslo.

"I'm glad I didn't ruin it for the rest of us," she said.

Meanwhile, Corradini called it a "truly historic" day in sports.

"I'm still pinching myself and saying, 'Is this real?' " she said. "It means for the first time in history, the Olympics will be gender equal."

The former mayor of Salt Lake City, Corradini was asked if getting women's ski jumping into the Olympics or being elected to public office was more difficult.

"This could have been a little tougher," she sighed.

luhm@sltrib.com —

New Winter Olympics sports

The six sports included in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, for the first time:

• Women's ski jumping

• Men's ski halfpipe

• Women's ski halfpipe

• Biathlon mixed relay

• Luge team competition

• Figure skating team competition —

Rogge's statement

International Olympic Committee president' Jacques Rogge official statement on expanding the number of sports at the 2014 Winters Games:

"The inclusion of these events on the Olympic Winter Games program is sure to be appreciated by athletes and sports fans alike. These are exciting, entertaining events that perfectly complement the existing events on the sports program. [They] bring added appeal and increase the number of women participating at the Games. I look forward to watching the athletes compete in these events in Sochi 2014."