The lawsuit brought by women ski jumpers in their attempt to gain inclusion on the 2010 Olympic Games began this week. Some updates follow.
The Vancouver Sun report on the first day of the trial:
Female ski jumpers get their days in court
And Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail calls out the IOC for its exceedingly poor behaviour:
Point out its flaws, but remember the IOC is tone deaf
At this point the general consensus seems to be that the ruling will be in favor of the IOC and against the jumpers. The arguments boil down to whether or not the IOC is subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The IOC is arguing, that as an international organization, they do not have to abide by the provisions of the charter.
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2 comments
bert@webskis.com
April 24, 2009 at 2:36 pm
The position of the IOC with regard to women’s ski jumping is interesting given the following statement from the IOC website on gender equity:
The Modern Olympic Games have led the way in the art of social inclusion through sport, particularly since the 1980s when the Olympic Movement made gender equality an important part of its agenda. From Flor Isava Fonseca (Venezuela) to today’s fine crew of young athletes
contributing to the management of sport at the highest level, women have gradually taken their rightful place. The Olympic Movement and sport in general have not only opened the doors to women’s involvement and participation, but also encouraged them and “put its money where its mouth is” to train and empower those who needed the capacity to stand
for positions of influence on their own.
Cloxxki
April 25, 2009 at 9:29 am
It seems the global sport of female ski jumping has been playing catch-up, and established itself just too late to be undeniable for the next Olympics.
Saying this doesn’t mean I don’t fully support the girls, as I regard it Olympic tradition to let every “proper” sport present itself, even if it’s just as a demonstration sport.
I’d be interested to know how well these girls jump, when mixed up with the boys: same hill, same run-up, same wind. If their physiology (lighter build) somehow gets them to compete (as in curling), maybe the sport itself should just cease to be gender-specific.
Global sports governing bodies can be very difficult to deal with. I’ve had some sad encounters with UCI where they just refused to do the right thing, causing all the negative effects I predicted them.
Should global bodies not from a legal standpoint be forced to adopt a “common sense” clause applying to all their regulations?