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Flying on Skis
 Soaring over 100 meters with nothing but a pair of skis may
seem unimaginable, but for ski jumpers it's just another day at the office. Ski
jumping has been a part of the Olympics since 1924, when the games were held in
Chamonix, France in a contest dubbed the "I
Olympic Winter Games".
Scoring
Ski jumping is scored based upon a number of factors,
including distance, style, in-run length and wind conditions. Jumpers aim for a line known as the K line,
which is at a distance of 80-100 meters for Normal Hill Competitions (NH), and
about 120-130 meters for Large Hill (LH) events. Ski jumpers are awarded or penalized
a point for every meter they travel further than or short of the K line. In an
individual event, a skier jumps twice and the total score of the two runs is
combined for the total.
 Technique
The technique of ski jumping has evolved a great deal over
the last century. In the early days, contestants would launch themselves and
try to stand straight with their skis parallel and arms straight out to the
side. Next came the Kongsberger technique. Developed by Jacob Thams and Sigmund
Ruud, it involved the upper body being bent at the hip and the arms extended at
the front. This improved jumping distance from around 45 meters to over 100.
 The Kongsberger technique was used until 1950, when Andreas
Daescher and Erin Windisch modified it by placing their arms backwards towards
their hips. The final change to the style of ski jumping was in 1985, when Jan
Boklov jumped with his skis in a V-shape instead of having them parallel. This
created a 10% improvement on distance.
Ski Flying
In the Large Hill Competitions, skiers aim for a mark of
about 120-130 meters, but on a "Ski Flying Hill" jumpers aim for a K line found
at 185 meters. Bjorn Einar Romoten of Norway
set the distance record in 2005 at 239 meters, which is 785 feet!
Resources:
http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/ski-jumping/history.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_jumping
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