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IOC: women ski jumping decision made on technical merit

Canadian Press

Latest comment posted at 1:15 AM EDT 10/01/08

Organization says exclusion isn't discriminatory ...Read the full article

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  1. A Wong from Montreal, Canada writes: Perhaps, if all else fails, it can be included as a demonstration sport?
  2. S M from Canada writes: Previous article......"But Ms. Guergis disagreed with that position in an interview yesterday, saying the dispute is a matter of gender equity. "This is not a criteria issue, this is a women's issue," she said."
    Turning this into a gender issue is a real joke. Don't get me wrong here. I fully support these female athletes and applaud them for continuing to train to turn Female Ski Jumping into a World Class Discipline, but let's face it, the rest of the world is just not ready.

    This is a "Technical issue" as the sport is not currently ready for Olympic competition to which the IOC has clearly addressed. With this in mind development for the sport is in motion as the article states the 1st women's ski jumping world championships will be held next year in Liberec, Czech Republic. Furthermore, the IOC indicates, the Sport needs to host 2 World Championships in order to qualify for the Olympics.
  3. S M from Canada writes: Continued
    Here's an idea.......start with the World Championships that are already being planned and move towards progression to the Olympic Games in 2014. It does not make sense to go right to the highest level of competition using "gender" as reason to get on the ticket. .....2010 is not the right time just because it's on Canadian soil.

    Any how, congrats to the Female Ski Jumpers for being Pioneer's to the Sport. I look forward to cheering on both the Canadian men and women in this sport, but I also hope that it's introduced in a way that promotes positive development for the sport.

    Also, due to the course of action I can only expect that Ms. Guergis will back an application for a Canadian Men's Synchronized Swim Team for Beijing 2008 or London 2012. I would also like to point out that it's nice to finally see Ms. Guergis in the media, it's been a long time since her debut on "The Mercer Report".

    Attn: Ms. Guergis, the next time we see you in the news could it please be to announce an "Annual Investment in Sport and Recreation that is equal to 1% of the Health Care Budget"? Investing in Sport and Recretion / promoting long term involvement in physical activity is an investment in the health of all Canadian's.
  4. Peter Simpson from Canada writes: Ski jumping is a expensive, dying, fringe sport. Why not simply exclude it completely.
  5. Derek Holtom from Swan River (who's hiding behind a fake name today?), Canada writes: Peter Simpson from Canada writes: Ski jumping is a expensive, dying, fringe sport. Why not simply exclude it completely.

    i somewhat agree. how much did the ski jumping venue cost anyway? as far as sports go, this one's a head scratcher.
  6. W R from Stratford, PE, Canada writes: Ski jumping is a traditional alpine winter sport which is more than can be said for some of the pablum sports that have been added in the last few games (summer and winter included).
  7. Robert von from Calgary, writes: So let me get this straight. Canada is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on facilties which will be used by approximately 200 elite female athletes from around the world. Adding in the men and it would probably still be easily under 1000 elite athletes. So we have housing issues, health care problems, poverty and environmental problems but we can find hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for facilities which will be used by a minuscule amount of people. When was the last time someone in Canada ever attended a World Cup Bobsled run in Canada? Well not many people line the track in Calgary when it is on. I cannot believe how much time we are spending on this non issue.

    Hopefully this will be the last Olympics Canada hosts for a long time so we can spend our money on something more important.

    "Supporters of women's ski jumpers argue there are 135 women ski jumpers in 16 countries. This compares to other sports already in the Games like snowboard cross, which has 34 women from 10 countries, skier cross, which has 30 women from 11 nations, and bobsled, which has 26 women from 13 nations"
  8. Stewart Mawdsley from Fort Smith, NWT, Canada writes: I agree including it as a demonstration sport would be a good compromise. Although I also have to agree the ski jumping, as well as the several other newly included disciplines like boardercross and skicross, are pretty fringe and not very accessible to the public.
  9. Wayne Arnold from Achern, Germany writes: Why not cancel the Winter Olypics completely as what we are seeing is totally against the spirit of the Olympics, even better a complete boycott thus showing national spirit. All or none. Just imagine what would occur if certain sports like Cross Country skiing and Ice Hockey where excluded from the this event. I think that the IOC is totally wrong and are off track in reference to the idea behind the Olympics

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