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VANCOUVER — Canadian Olympic officials are warning women ski jumpers that their public fight to gain entry to the 2010 Winter Games risks a reaction from the International Olympic Committee - and exclusion from the 2014 Olympics.
Michael Chambers, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, urged the athletes and their supporters to be "measured" in their comments, and to keep in mind that IOC decisions are made by men and women who are affected by the public debate.
Too hard a push to get into the 2010 Games might mean the event is excluded not only at Vancouver, but in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. "You don't want to eliminate Plan A by overly aggressively pursuing Plan B," Mr. Chambers said.
His statement echoed earlier comments by Dick Pound, Canada's senior Olympic official, who told CBC Radio on Tuesday evening that the IOC can exercise discretion in its decisions, and that the public nature of the debate over including women's ski jumping in the Vancouver Olympics might tilt the balance against their cause.
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Mr. Pound could not be reached for comment yesterday, but Mr. Chambers said his colleague was passing on "experienced advice," but was not speaking for the IOC or issuing threats.
However, at least one of the ski jumpers, and her mother, feel otherwise. "They may be scared for us, or trying to intimidate us, but I think what we're doing is right, and this is the door to the Olympics," said Katie Willis, a 16-year-old ski jumper.
Her mother, Jan Willis, filed the human-rights complaint last February that led to a mediated settlement this week with the federal government.
She said the warnings from Olympic officials are nothing new.
"We've heard those kind of veiled threats before," Ms. Willis said, adding that the athletes have worked for years through official channels and that her group has been "polite and discreet."
As part of the mediated agreement, Secretary of State for Sport Helena Guergis said she will meet with IOC executives next month in Vancouver.
Yesterday, she spoke with the elder Ms. Willis, who told her to continue her fight.
Mr. Chambers said he is personally in favour of including women's ski jumping in the 2010 Games, and that the COC had taken that position as well.
He added, however, that it is the IOC's decision.
In an e-mail statement released yesterday, the IOC said it stands by its November, 2006, decision to exclude ski jumping from the 2010 Games.
However, the IOC statement said "it understands the heartfelt emotion with which the Canadian women's ski jumpers are so keen to compete at their home Games in Vancouver in 2010" and that the development of the sport will be closely monitored, with an eye to including it in a future Winter Games.
The statement went on to say that the issue was decided on technical grounds, and that any statement to the contrary is "totally inappropriate and misleading."
