{"id":1554,"date":"2010-01-30T11:54:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-30T15:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/01\/30\/the-olympics-womens-ski-jumping-sexism-and-hypocrisy\/"},"modified":"2010-01-30T11:54:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-30T15:54:00","slug":"the-olympics-womens-ski-jumping-sexism-and-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/01\/30\/the-olympics-womens-ski-jumping-sexism-and-hypocrisy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Olympics, women’s ski jumping, sexism and hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, the International Olympic Committee has banned women from long-distance jumping in the Olympic games.<\/p>\n

In 2005, IOC member and head of the International Ski Federation, Gian-Franco Kaspar, told me point blank during an interview that it’s just not safe for women’s bodies: <\/p>\n

“Don’t forget, it’s like jumping down from, let’s say, about two meters on the ground about a thousand times a year, which seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That seems a little fusty, even for old world European athletic officials.<\/p>\n

But the rank hypocrisy of the IOC’s stance was illuminated when Olympic organizers allowed the new sport of “ski cross” into the Vancouver games.<\/p>\n

Ski cross has been described as a crash-up derby on skies, with multiple athletes crashing and careening down the same moguls course. Hear ATC host Melissa Block’s story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just last weekend, a male skier from France was paralyzed from the waist down during a ski cross competition in Lake Placid.<\/p>\n

Yet women skiers will be duking it out on the ski-cross course in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

So why are “the ladies” allowed to ski cross, but not ski jump? <\/p>\n

In an interview with ESPN, Bill Marolt, head of the US Ski and Snowboard Association put it this way:<\/p>\n

“It’s the IOC looking for opportunities to make the Olympics more relevant to a younger demographic, and they see that in skicross.” <\/p>\n

Nice. When money and marketing are on the line, women’s bodies and their lives are fair game. <\/p>\n

But for women ski jumpers — some of them so accomplished that they can compete on par with the men — it’s another year on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Last year, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that failing to allow women jumpers to compete in Vancouver is discrimination.<\/p>\n

But the justices also ruled that the Canadian courts were powerless to intervene. <\/p>\n

I can’t help but think that this unfairness is the first (hopefully the only) serious black mark on these Games. <\/p>\n

One thing is clear. Before 2014, someone needs to sort out this nonsense. <\/p>\n

And the women whose careers in sport have been cheated deserve a formal apology from the IOC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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