Recent Posts
- Jumper Profile: Kate Devine / 17 May 12
- Jumper Profile: Nat Segal / 14 May 12
- 150 Months and Counting... / 11 May 12
Saturday, 07 Jun 08
Are we living in Backwardsland? A land where Susan B. Anthony, Billie Jean King, Mumeo Oku and Fatma Kayhan — who have fought for women’s rights across the globe — been forgotten? It seems that way.
The International Olympic Committee has denied women’s ski jumping in the 2010 Winter Olympics; that’s not new news. But the fact that people are giving grief to the women’s ski jumpers of the world for fighting this decision on principle is unfathomable. So what, living in Backwardsland is OK?
No, and that’s why democratic countries offer its citizens a political process — such as the courts — to stand up against those people that have forgotten that women, especially in the U.S. and Canada, actually have equal rights. To hear that women aren’t getting equal opportunities in sports is like learning that Billie Jean King is still playing Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes” almost four decades later. Haven’t people changed their views about women in sports already? Guess not, and that’s why women’s ski jumping has had enough with the IOC and has decided to bring a lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.
In late May, nine plaintiffs (including jumpers from all corners of the world) filed the suit against VANOC for discriminating against women’s ski jumpers under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The women are asking the court for an injunction requiring VANOC to include women's ski jumping in the Games, or, alternatively, to exclude men's ski jumping if it decides to also exclude women. Ski jumping will be the only sport in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games that will not include competition for the opposite gender.
The truth is: This lawsuit is a long shot for women ski jumpers’ hopes of competing in the Olympics even though they have met the IOC’s “prerequisites” for inclusion. At this point, it’s more about principle. These women, including U.S. jumpers Jessica Jerome and Lindsey Van, have taken a figurative jump to speak out against those old stodgy behind the times, Backwardsland men running the show at the IOC and now VANOC. They feared losing their positions on the U.S. Ski Team, but went forward forward anyway on principle. They say the sport will die if girls don’t have the opportunity to compete at the highest level.
“I’m here because I’ve dedicated my life to ski jumping,” said Van at the press conference announcing the lawsuit. “I want to make this right for future girls of the sport. This is not right any more. It has to change. I don’t want to have to tell girls coming up that I will be coaching that, ‘There really is no future for you.’”
Recently a columnist wrote, “While one has to question the IOC’s thinking and logic about not sanctioning women’s ski jumping, the organization is not known for its enlightenment … the IOC does what it wants when it wants.”
Just because the IOC “does what it wants” is not a good reason to sit back and take the punches, and do nothing. The jumpers “have been pushing for this for over a decade and we have followed all the proper channels to Olympic inclusion. A lot of people don't understand that we have ‘played by the rules’ and done everything the IOC has asked,” Jerome said. Instead of dealing with that antiquated organization, the plaintiffs are asking the British Columbia court to rule on principle, on modern law for the loveofgawd and let the women jump in just one event (men have three). The facilities are already built after all.
The nine plaintiffs in the suit aren’t swinging a carrot at IOC/VANOC. They have a big stick in Ross Clark, a partner at Davis LLP, who is putting aside his $1,000 an hour charge and helping the women pro bono. They are led by Women’s Ski Jumping USA President Deedee Corradini, who some think “is just running the athletes up the flag pole for personal gain.” The fact is, she like Clark, volunteered countless hours (500 a year to be exact) to help the world remember what Billie Jean King actually fought for; the fight for equal rights in sports is enough to fire anyone up, Clark and Corradini included. Not personal gain, principle!
“We don’t appreciate the implications you make that we are being led like sheep,” wrote the plaintiffs in response to being helped by Corradini, in particular. “We are all intelligent adults who have made the decision to pursue this course of action out of years of frustration — no one else has stood up for us over the years.”
This whole debacle is so infuriating because it’s turned in to a political show of pandering and blackmail instead of the Olympic spirit. As of now, that flame as been pissed away. It’s out. Case in point: VANOC claims it has nothing to do with the IOC decision, it supported the inclusion of women's ski jumping in 2010, and that this lawsuit is futile. Not so fast. An IOC official has shared with a confidential source that Canada did not want more than the minimum done for jumping in the Games. This shadiness is a shame being that the Beijing Games are coming up, but people need to know what has become of the Olympic spirit.
Backwardsland. Definitely. For women’s suffrage and all the “fighting” that seemed to be a thing of the past, take a stand and at least prove to the world that women’s ski jumping has universal support by going to www.wsj2010.com and signing a petition.
Vanessa Pierce is the features editor at Ski Racing magazine, co-founder of the “applied for” nonprofit SheJumps.org, and a former Division 1 soccer player at the University of Washington. She can be reached at vpierce@skiracing.com or vanessa@shejumps.org.
Take a stand for women's ski jumping
Comment on this PostAre we living in Backwardsland? A land where Susan B. Anthony, Billie Jean King, Mumeo Oku and Fatma Kayhan — who have fought for women’s rights across the globe — been forgotten? It seems that way.
The International Olympic Committee has denied women’s ski jumping in the 2010 Winter Olympics; that’s not new news. But the fact that people are giving grief to the women’s ski jumpers of the world for fighting this decision on principle is unfathomable. So what, living in Backwardsland is OK?
No, and that’s why democratic countries offer its citizens a political process — such as the courts — to stand up against those people that have forgotten that women, especially in the U.S. and Canada, actually have equal rights. To hear that women aren’t getting equal opportunities in sports is like learning that Billie Jean King is still playing Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes” almost four decades later. Haven’t people changed their views about women in sports already? Guess not, and that’s why women’s ski jumping has had enough with the IOC and has decided to bring a lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.
In late May, nine plaintiffs (including jumpers from all corners of the world) filed the suit against VANOC for discriminating against women’s ski jumpers under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The women are asking the court for an injunction requiring VANOC to include women's ski jumping in the Games, or, alternatively, to exclude men's ski jumping if it decides to also exclude women. Ski jumping will be the only sport in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games that will not include competition for the opposite gender.
The truth is: This lawsuit is a long shot for women ski jumpers’ hopes of competing in the Olympics even though they have met the IOC’s “prerequisites” for inclusion. At this point, it’s more about principle. These women, including U.S. jumpers Jessica Jerome and Lindsey Van, have taken a figurative jump to speak out against those old stodgy behind the times, Backwardsland men running the show at the IOC and now VANOC. They feared losing their positions on the U.S. Ski Team, but went forward forward anyway on principle. They say the sport will die if girls don’t have the opportunity to compete at the highest level.
“I’m here because I’ve dedicated my life to ski jumping,” said Van at the press conference announcing the lawsuit. “I want to make this right for future girls of the sport. This is not right any more. It has to change. I don’t want to have to tell girls coming up that I will be coaching that, ‘There really is no future for you.’”
Recently a columnist wrote, “While one has to question the IOC’s thinking and logic about not sanctioning women’s ski jumping, the organization is not known for its enlightenment … the IOC does what it wants when it wants.”
Just because the IOC “does what it wants” is not a good reason to sit back and take the punches, and do nothing. The jumpers “have been pushing for this for over a decade and we have followed all the proper channels to Olympic inclusion. A lot of people don't understand that we have ‘played by the rules’ and done everything the IOC has asked,” Jerome said. Instead of dealing with that antiquated organization, the plaintiffs are asking the British Columbia court to rule on principle, on modern law for the loveofgawd and let the women jump in just one event (men have three). The facilities are already built after all.
The nine plaintiffs in the suit aren’t swinging a carrot at IOC/VANOC. They have a big stick in Ross Clark, a partner at Davis LLP, who is putting aside his $1,000 an hour charge and helping the women pro bono. They are led by Women’s Ski Jumping USA President Deedee Corradini, who some think “is just running the athletes up the flag pole for personal gain.” The fact is, she like Clark, volunteered countless hours (500 a year to be exact) to help the world remember what Billie Jean King actually fought for; the fight for equal rights in sports is enough to fire anyone up, Clark and Corradini included. Not personal gain, principle!
“We don’t appreciate the implications you make that we are being led like sheep,” wrote the plaintiffs in response to being helped by Corradini, in particular. “We are all intelligent adults who have made the decision to pursue this course of action out of years of frustration — no one else has stood up for us over the years.”
This whole debacle is so infuriating because it’s turned in to a political show of pandering and blackmail instead of the Olympic spirit. As of now, that flame as been pissed away. It’s out. Case in point: VANOC claims it has nothing to do with the IOC decision, it supported the inclusion of women's ski jumping in 2010, and that this lawsuit is futile. Not so fast. An IOC official has shared with a confidential source that Canada did not want more than the minimum done for jumping in the Games. This shadiness is a shame being that the Beijing Games are coming up, but people need to know what has become of the Olympic spirit.
Backwardsland. Definitely. For women’s suffrage and all the “fighting” that seemed to be a thing of the past, take a stand and at least prove to the world that women’s ski jumping has universal support by going to www.wsj2010.com and signing a petition.
Vanessa Pierce is the features editor at Ski Racing magazine, co-founder of the “applied for” nonprofit SheJumps.org, and a former Division 1 soccer player at the University of Washington. She can be reached at vpierce@skiracing.com or vanessa@shejumps.org.
comments Comments are closed.