A tearful Winter Olympic champion pulled out of Beijing and said she is not willing to 'sacrifice' her body for her sport

• An Olympic gold medalist said she will skip Beijing 2022 as she does not want to "sacrifice" her body.
• Ski jumper Maren Lundby said her body has "changed" and implied she did not want to go through weight cutting to make the games.

The reigning women's Olympic ski jump champion said she will not compete at Beijing 2022 as she does not want to "sacrifice" her body.

Maren Lundby told the Norwegian Broadcasting Company NRK that her body has "become a little different lately."

"I think it's a good choice, and I do it to take care of myself, not to take any shortcuts," the 27-year-old Norwegian said, per a report from Inside the Games.

"I know that I have always been very good at doing things properly, and I intend to continue to do so.

"The body has become a little different lately for natural reasons, therefore I am not willing to sacrifice anything to be at the top level in Beijing.

The weight of athletes in ski jumping has long been an issue for the sport, with eating disorders prevalent in the past. Generally speaking, the lighter an athlete was, the better their performances could be, leading many to cut significant amounts of weight for competitions.

Rules were changed in the 2004 season, introducing a minimum body mass index requirement for competitions, but many athletes still enter competitions below their natural weights.

"I would rather have a long career," Lundby said of her Olympic withdrawal. "It's hard, because I really want to be a ski jumper, but it will not be like that this year."

Lundby won gold in the women's individual normal hill event at the 2018 Winter Olympics and has won a record-equalling three-consecutive World Cup titles.

While lighter athletes tend to perform better than heavier ones, Lundby said that drastic weight-cutting has never been part of how she has achieved success.

"It has not been my path to Olympic gold," she told NRK. "If you are going to be good at something, then the topic of weight cannot be there too soon.

"Then you destroy everything.

"That's my message.

"Yes, it is a requirement at the very top, but for younger people it should not be a theme. It is important to distinguish between what is top sport and what is everything else."

While others are in training, Lundby has swapped the ski slope for the dance floor and is currently taking part Norwegian TV show "Skal vi danse," the country's equivalent of "Dancing with the Stars."

However, she has not retired from the sport and said she will return to the slope at some point.

"I'm having a great time, and I'm very happy," she said.

"My health is good. I may never have been healthier than I am now. But that body is not quite suitable for ski jumping."