They fought them tooth and nail in the courtroom, but outside the halls of justice, officials of the Vancouver Organizing Committee applauded women ski jumpers for their determined quest to be part of the Olympics in 2010.
Indeed, VANOC seemed to have almost more sympathy for the ski jumpers who are suing the organization than it did for its boss, the International Olympic Committee, which made the decision to bar them from the Games. The women argue that their exclusion is a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights.
"We're not going to open a bottle of champagne if we win," VANOC lawyer George Macintosh said yesterday, after the week-long, landmark B.C. Supreme Court hearing concluded. "It's a tough, unfortunate issue."
Mr. Macintosh also backed away from an earlier warning that the IOC may punish the country by never holding an Olympics in Canada again, if women's ski jumping was forced onto the 2010 schedule.
"Although there was a sentence to that effect [in my written submission], I didn't advance it in the hearing," he told reporters. "I don't think it's that simple, and there's no basis for saying it."
VANOC spokeswoman Renée Smith-Valade praised the group of 15 elite, international women ski jumpers, whose cause has attracted intense public interest and widespread support. The courtroom was filled for each of the hearing's five days. "They are keen and they have shown tremendous courage to be here," Ms. Smith-Valade said. "This case has raised some really interesting issues, and hopefully raised the profile of women's ski jumping. If that's the case, then we're happy with that."
At the end of the hearing, Madam Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon wondered aloud about the implications of issuing a declaration that VANOC is in violation of the Canadian Charter over the ski jumpers. What if the IOC simply ignored her ruling and continued to ban the women, she asked their lawyer, Ross Clark.
In that case, Mr. Clark said, VANOC would have no choice but to cancel the three men's ski jumping events scheduled for the Games to erase the discrimination against his clients.
In court, VANOC has contended that, as a non-government body, it is not covered by the Charter. It also says it has no power to overturn the IOC's decision to keep ski jumping as the only Winter Olympics sport restricted to men.
Judge Fenlon acknowledged the parties' desire for a decision "in the earliest possible time," but said the case had raised "very complex issues" that deserve to be carefully considered. She gave no timeline for her ruling.
Outside the courthouse, the women ski jumpers were asked about remarks by former Canadian IOC member and current VANOC board member Dick Pound, who said early on that the women had made a "huge and hideous mistake" by turning the controversy into a gender issue.
"That just goes to show the Old World thinking of the IOC," said Canadian competitor Zoya Lynch. "They want us to just sit and look pretty and not speak our mind. Well, we are speaking our mind, and we are trying to do something for women's sport at the 2010 Olympics."
