Olympic Female Ski Jumpers Mount Final Appeal

by Gordon Clark | November 12, 2009 at 11:21 am

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The controversial question of whether female ski jumping should be included in the 2010 Olympic games will be decided soon. Today the Women will be making their final appeal in front of the B.C. Supreme Court. Their claim is that Vancouver's Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) is discriminating against them by not facilitating their event, female ski jumping.
Previous trials were unsuccessful because Judge Lauri Ann Fenlon ruled that while it is in violation of the Canadian human rights law, that VANOC is not to blame. She found that it was the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision but that they are not subject to the Canadian charter rights and freedoms.

"What we're asking for and have always asked for — and I think the judge confused this in her reasons — is a declaration that VANOC cannot proceed under the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] hosting a men's event without hosting a women's event," Ross Clark said.

If the appeal is successful possible outcomes are staging the event, which the IOC claims would degrade the Olympics because it is not a competitive international sport, or the cancellation of the men's event.

VANOC declined comment about the case while it's before the courts.

But the organizing committee did say in a written statement that it supports the female ski jumpers' efforts, and noted that one of the plaintiffs was an Olympic torchbearer on the first day of the relay in October.