Let the Girls Jump in 2010 Olympics

[catskills]

Help convince the IOC that Women Ski Jumping belongs in the 2010 Winter Olympics just as much as men's ski jumping.

Sign the petition.
http://www.wsj2010.com/

Donate money
http://www.womensskijumpingusa.com/bm/whoarewe/index.shtml

Here is a video from the 2006 Winter Olympics. Nothing has changed in 4 years.

http://www.wsjusa.com/abc.htm

These girls have worked damn hard for their sport. They deserve a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/user/likealeaf

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I agree..with Catskiils..but a serious question..isn't it kind of late to change things for the 2010 Olympics? Do other countrys even have womens Ski Jumping teams to compete..

 

[catskills]

I agree..with Catskiils..but a serious question..isn't it kind of late to change things for the 2010 Olympics? Do other countrys even have womens Ski Jumping teams to compete..

Yes. There have been International Competition events since 2005 on 3 Continents. This video will answer many questions similar to this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t05T5FgVG3g&feature=channel_page

 

[mondeo]

But, does it belong as much as men's? As a competitive sport, it's still in its infancy. Yeah, there'll be uproar about discrimination against women, but it'd be pretty easy to argue it's not as bad as the discrimination against skiers in halfpipe, slopestylers in general, or downhilling snowboarders. Those sports are much better developed than women's ski jumping, but it doesn't get the same coverage because it's not discrimination along the lines that are traditionally thought of. This isn't about men vs. women, it's about a competitive environment for men that's much better developed than the one for women. Give me at least 4 years of FIS WC competition before you start complaining about it not being included in the Olympics.

 

[riverc0il]

But, does it belong as much as men's? As a competitive sport, it's still in its infancy. Yeah, there'll be uproar about discrimination against women, but it'd be pretty easy to argue it's not as bad as the discrimination against skiers in halfpipe, slopestylers in general, or downhilling snowboarders. Those sports are much better developed than women's ski jumping, but it doesn't get the same coverage because it's not discrimination along the lines that are traditionally thought of. This isn't about men vs. women, it's about a competitive environment for men that's much better developed than the one for women. Give me at least 4 years of FIS WC competition before you start complaining about it not being included in the Olympics.

And the Men's sport has a more competitive environment because........ it is a long time established sport, one of the original winter Olympic events. So of course it is more competitive. But you have to start somewhere.

Are there any other Olympic events that allow men but not women's competition? Or vice versa? Personally, I think it is disgusting they won't allow a women's version of the same event to happen. The Olympics started as a amateur event any ways. I say take it back to when the Olympics actually meant something and having a less competitive environment sport compared to pro athlete competitions would be a fine step in the right direction.

 

[mondeo]

Are there any other Olympic events that allow men but not women's competition? Or vice versa?

Gymnastics are completely different between men and women. Many fewer wrestling events, and only started '04. Boxing will begin for women in '12.

To me it's more a question of when a type of competition becomes notable enough to be competed at the Olympic level. If there were only 5 women ski jumpers in the world, should it be included just because there's a men's event? I'd say no, but make it ski jumping, not men's ski jumping.

I agree that the Olympics have become distorted, but to me the inclusion of sports like ski jumping that have essentially zero participation outside of competition is a bigger issue than the noninclusion of the women in an obscure event.

 

[catskills]

Games On Soft Moral Ground?

Ski jumping is the last Winter Olympics sport closed to women.

"I just don't know why this is the last step, why it's so hard to take," says Anita DeFrantz, a former Olympic rower and a veteran IOC member from the United States. "There are women athletes there who deserve to show their skills and accomplishment, as the men do, on the Olympic platform."

The ruling means that the ski jumper who holds the distance record on the K95 "normal hill" in Vancouver won't get to compete at the games. Lindsey Van, 24, of Park City, Utah, has jumped farther than any man on the Olympic hill.

Source:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106486162

 

[mondeo]

The ruling means that the ski jumper who holds the distance record on the K95 "normal hill" in Vancouver won't get to compete at the games. Lindsey Van, 24, of Park City, Utah, has jumped farther than any man on the Olympic hill.

Source:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106486162

"Meanwhile, the current record holder on Vancouver's 90 metres (300 ft) Olympic hill is US female jumper Lindsey Van. However this hill record was set with more inrun speed and with more wind than when the men competed. These two differences are a considerable advantage in ski jumping."

NPR seemed to miss that detail...

 

[Glenn]

"Meanwhile, the current record holder on Vancouver's 90 metres (300 ft) Olympic hill is US female jumper Lindsey Van. However this hill record was set with more inrun speed and with more wind than when the men competed. These two differences are a considerable advantage in ski jumping."

NPR seemed to miss that detail...

LOL! Ooops!

Nice find.

 

[mondeo]

I challenge anyone to find another sport where there was Olympic inclusion one year after the first world championship.

 

[deadheadskier]

Why are you so against this mondeo?

Your position comes off not too different to me than Augusta National Golf course not allowing women members.

Where do you come up with the arbitrary number of 4 years of competition? And as for sports where there is zero participation outside of competition? There are countless. Maybe I'm mistaken on some, but I don't go pole vaulting with my buddies on a Sunday afternoon.

Dayum your opinion is strong on this one. Didn't realize you were such the authority on how the Olympics should run. :lol:

 

[mondeo]

Why are you so against this mondeo?

Your position comes off not too different to me than Augusta National Golf course not allowing women members.

Where do you come up with the arbitrary number of 4 years of competition? And as for sports where there is zero participation outside of competition? There are countless. Maybe I'm mistaken on some, but I don't go pole vaulting with my buddies on a Sunday afternoon.

Dayum your opinion is strong on this one. Didn't realize you were such the authority on how the Olympics should run. :lol:

I just think the IOC's position is consistent with the entrance of other new sports. Skiercross has been around a while but is just now being added. Halfpipe isn't a skier's event yet, but nobody's crying skier discrimination. Baseball is no longer an Olympic sport, discrimination against the Americas, I say! If anything should be challenged, it's the IOC's overall sport selection process, not this individual case.

 

[deadheadskier]

fair enough

though I'm sure there are halfpipe skiers that are complaining

I guess I just take a similar stance to the NCAA on sports. Unless things have changed schools are required to offer equal amounts of competitive sports to men and women. They don't necessarily need to be the same sports. I think this should be true of the Olympics and maybe it is.

Ultimately, I don't give a damn enough about the Olympics to have such a strong opinion against a particular group. You and I are different in that regard.

 

[mondeo]

fair enough

though I'm sure there are halfpipe skiers that are complaining

I guess I just take a similar stance to the NCAA on sports. Unless things have changed schools are required to offer equal amounts of competitive sports to men and women. They don't necessarily need to be the same sports. I think this should be true of the Olympics and maybe it is.

Ultimately, I don't give a damn enough about the Olympics to have such a strong opinion against a particular group. You and I are different in that regard.

I don't have anything against women's ski jumping or particularly care that much about this specific instance, it's more that it triggered my anti-affirmative action reflex. My take is that Van and the US ski team are pushing it for 2010 and playing the discrimination card because, to my understanding, she's dominant now but might not be in 2014 when it actually has a decent chance of being competed. That's what gets my goat.

 

[catskills]

......it's more that it triggered my anti-affirmative action reflex. My take is that Van and the US ski team are pushing it for 2010 and playing the discrimination card .........

Lets see here, women have been jumping since the 1920s. Men can jump and women can't jump in the Olympics. Now that women's boxing got approved today by the IOC for 2012 Olympics, that leaves women's ski jumping as the last men's only event. Come on, its time to bring down the wall and move on.
:smash:

 

[mondeo]

Lets see here, women have been jumping since the 1920s. Men can jump and women can't jump in the Olympics. Now that women's boxing got approved today by the IOC for 2012 Olympics, that leaves women's ski jumping as the last men's only event. Come on, its time to bring down the wall and move on.
:smash:

The gender wall hasn't been there for 20 years...

Who won the 2008 women's ski jumping world championship?

 

[riverc0il]

The gender wall hasn't been there for 20 years...

Who won the 2008 women's ski jumping world championship?

I am too lazy too look it up, but did snowboarding have a world championship before it was added in all its forms to the Olympics?

 

[deadheadskier]

definitely

US Open has been around for a long, long time.

 

[catskills]

The real problem is going to be in the courts. Canadian law states that if public funds are used then both men and women must have access to whatever those public funds were used for. There were millions of dollars of public funds used to build the 2010 Olympic Ski Jumps. If the women can't jump then the courts may rule the men can't jump either.

The very last mens only Olympic event is going to be a real fight. :wink:This could get interesting.

The mens only ski jumpers in Europe will just have to reimburse the Canadian government the millions of dollars of public funds used to build the mens only ski jumps so they can still hold their mens only event.:grin:

 

[tcharron]

But, does it belong as much as men's? As a competitive sport, it's still in its infancy. Yeah, there'll be uproar about discrimination against women, but it'd be pretty easy to argue it's not as bad as the discrimination against skiers in halfpipe, slopestylers in general, or downhilling snowboarders. Those sports are much better developed than women's ski jumping, but it doesn't get the same coverage because it's not discrimination along the lines that are traditionally thought of. This isn't about men vs. women, it's about a competitive environment for men that's much better developed than the one for women. Give me at least 4 years of FIS WC competition before you start complaining about it not being included in the Olympics.

UUmmm.. All of the sports you are considering as being worse ARE in the Olympics.