If any sport has had a longer road to the Olympics than women’s ski jumping, I don’t know it.

In 2006, the women had every reason to believe they would be included in the Vancouver Games, having received an overwhelming vote of support from FIS, the international ski federation. Then the IOC said no. (See a complete history and an update written from Whistler, where I was one of several journalists to chat with women’s jumper Alissa Johnson when she made the trip to watch her brother compete.)

The reasons given were everything from the bureaucratic (number of competitions falling short of erratically enforced criteria) to the condescending (we’re not sure girls’ bodies can take it). Ski cross, both men’s and women’s, made the cut for 2010, though the number of participants worldwide was fewer than the number of women’s ski jumpers by ski jump advocates’ reckoning. The U.S., which boasts one of the world’s best collection of women’s ski jumpers, sent no women to the 2010 ski cross competition.

Several FIS and IOC bigwigs raised the point that karate and other sports have far more participants have been waiting a long time for Olympic recognition. But that’s a false equivalent. Ski jumping is an Olympic sport. Women’s ski jumping is not. The arguments against adding new sports — new facilities, additional technical staff, etc. — fall apart. Any would-be Winter Olympic host knows it needs ski jump ramps. But the IOC thought nothing of forcing future Summer Games hosts to come up with golf courses.

This summer, the FIS finally granted women’s ski jumping full World Cup status, effective in the 2011-12 season. They’ll also get a team event in the junior world championship. The official reasons for keeping women off the Olympic jumps will be wiped clean.

Here’s the bad news. The U.S. Ski Team isn’t swimming in money right now. U.S. Nordic director John Farra says the organization had to lay off people before the Olympics.

“That’s pretty unprecedented for an Olympic year at an Olympic organization,” Farra says.

In any case, the organization often relies on outside help for Continental Cup competition, in which the women compete while awaiting their World Cup debut, Farra says. Other disciplines have outside help for developmental funding.

So the U.S. women once again did what they’re used to doing. They had a fund-raiser. The Park Record (Park City, Utah) had a story (link no longer available) that put it in stark terms: “Benefit will float or sink women’s jumpers.”

They soared, again.

“The fundraiser was a great success and the money raised will enable us to send the jumpers to their August competitions in Europe, which was in doubt,” said former Salt Lake City mayor and Women’s Ski Jumping USA president Deedee Corradini by e-mail. “We will also be able to pay the coach and keep our program going to get the women ready for Nationals, the World Cup and the World Championships.”

It’s not as if the women are persona non grata around the U.S. federation. They have access to the facilities, and they get uniforms. They get support from Visa, a key U.S. Ski Team sponsor, and Westminster College, which boasts a considerable number of Olympians.

Farra is bullish on the women’s future after the World Cup announcement. He points to the inclusion of a team event at the junior level as a sign that women’s jumping may get not one but two events — individual and team — in the Olympics.

And the women had a chance to show off their skills at the U.S. ski jumping / Nordic combined championships over the weekend. Yes, this weekend. With a busy schedule in a World Championship year, this was the best time to do it.

“It’s funky to do it in the summer, but it’s growing on us,” Farra says.

Over the past year, the best U.S. jumper has been Sarah Hendrickson, who turned 16 Sunday. But veteran Lindsey Van, the world champion, won both events over the weekend.

Add this event in 2014, and the USA will be more than ready.