Women's Ski Jumping
On 26 May 2006, the International Ski Federation decided to allow women to ski jump at the 2009 Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic and then to have a team event for women at the 2011 world championships. FIS also decided to submit a proposal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow women to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
On 28 November 2006, the proposal for a women's ski jumping event was rejected by the Executive Board of the IOC. The reason for the rejection cited the low number of athletes as well as few participating countries in the sport. The Executive Board stated that women's ski jumping has yet to be fully established internationally. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee stated that women's ski jumping will not be an Olympic event because "we do not want the medals to be diluted and watered down," referring to the relatively small number of potential competitors in women's ski jumping.
It has been stated that while the number of women in ski jumping is not insignificant, the field has a much wider spread in terms of talent, in that the top men are all of a similar level of strength competitively, while the women are more varied, even in the top tiers.
A group of 15 competitive female ski jumpers filed a suit against the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) saying that conducting a men's ski jumping event without a women's event in the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 would be in direct violation of Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The arguments associated with this suit were presented 20 to 24 April 2009 and a judgment came down on June 10, 2009 against the ski jumpers. The judge ruled that although the women were being discriminated against, the issue is an International Olympic Committee responsibility and thus not governed by the charter. It further ruled that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to VANOC. Three British Columbia judges unanimously denied an appeal on November 13, 2009. The American actress and documentary film producer Virginia Madsen has chronicled the Canadian team's efforts in a film called Fighting Gravity (2009).
On April 6, 2011 the International Olympic Committee officially accepted women ski jumping into the official Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Read more about this topic: Ski Jumpers, Competition
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