The International Olympic Committee's
vote to deny women the right to leap off ski jumps
in the 2010 Olympics was, to me, one of those surprising
but not unexpected decisions.
It seemed like the right thing to do, so why should
we be surprised at the IOC doing the wrong thing?
It's happened before.
There are, after all, only two events in the Olympics
— ski jumping and nordic combined — without a division
for women. So why go with something so traditional
in winter sports as ski jumping and go with something
with a real history like skicross?
And if you don't know what skicross is, don't feel
bad. I asked a dozen people, at random, the other
day if they knew what it was and two knew and the
remaining 10 had no idea.
Skicross is like snowboardcross, which was included
in the Torino Olympics, except it's done on skis.
Skiers race against other skiers down a twisty,
bumpy, rock-hard course, with the first skier to
cross the finish being declared the winner. It's
an event made for TV.
Now the challenge comes in building a team. There
is none within the U.S. Ski Team ranks right now.
There is, however, an organization for women jumpers,
and, it just so happens, many of the world's best
female jumpers are from Park City.
One argument against the women was there are not
enough nations with elite women jumpers to qualify.
Supporters claim there are more than a dozen nations
with female jump teams.
That's nearly twice as many nations as there were
supporting women's bobsled when it was admitted
in 2002.
Women's Ski Jumping USA countered that women's skicross,
which was accepted for inclusion in Vancouver 2010,
has half the number of athletes and competes in
less than half the number of competitions on just
one continent.
Gian Franco Kasper, IOC member and FIS president,
reportedly told National Public Radio that ski jumping
"seems not to be appropriate for ladies from
a medical point of view."
Was he talking injuries?
Check out the knees of the women downhill racers
sometime. Picabo Street had major surgery on both
her right and left knees, and has a long list of
less serious injuries, like concussions, broken
bones, sprains, bumps, cuts and bruises.
I'd sooner crash on the slope of soft snow off the
90-meter jump than fall at 80 miles per hour on
a hill of ice.
I've covered women's jumping events at the Utah
Olympic Park. And I agree with Fabien Ebenhoch,
coach of the Italian Women's Ski Jumping team, when
he said, "The ladies are ready to compete in
the Olympics."
If you step back and watch them fly, they leave
little doubt that they can jump — and well. They
may not jump as far as the men, but they're not
expected to. Nor do they jump off the big 120-meter
jump, but instead have been confined to the 90-meter.
But several told me they'd love to fly off the big
jump and would if given the chance.
For comparison's sake, the women bobsledders aren't
as fast as the men, drive only the two-person and
not the four-person sleds, and the women's start
is lower down the course.
All things considered, there's no really logical
reason why the IOC gave thumbs down. Only that they
chose to abandon Olympic tradition and go with expectations
of higher TV ratings.
