More Support for Women's Ski Jumpers:
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Governor-General joins fight for women ski jumpers
By David Ebner, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada, Posted Friday, February 19, 2010 9:46 PM ET

Women ski jumpers - barred from the Vancouver Winter Games - have a surprise ally as they try to lift off at the 2014 Olympics in Russia: (Canadian) Governor-General Michaëlle Jean.

Ms. Jean quietly lobbied International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge as she sat beside him at the opening ceremonies a week ago. She relayed what she heard to 18-year-old Canadian jumper Atsuko Tanaka at a reception at Canada House in Whistler Tuesday night.

"She just said that she had a chat with Jacques Rogge and how he said he was confident about 2014 ski jumping and women being part of it," Ms. Tanaka said in an interview. "It's good news but it's even better that it's coming from the Governor-General."

As men jump for gold in the 140-metre event today, the women's fight to fly in the Olympics has shone a light on the European-dominated sport.

The biggest stars are stick-thin, boy-like men whose physiques help them fly farther. Some speculate that women aren't welcome in a sport where they might outclass men, where distance jumped is directly correlated with weight.

With little organizational support, an American woman, Lindsey Van, had the normal hill record jump of 105.5 metres at Whistler until last week, when it was eclipsed by a handful of top-tier men, including gold medalist Simon Ammann of Switzerland, who is 5-foot- 8 and 128 pounds and jumped only a bit farther: 108 metres.

The exclusion of women jumpers from Vancouver - based on the IOC's ruling that there are not enough countries or competitors involved - sparked a major controversy. Some jumpers took 2010 Olympics organizers to court on Charter of Rights grounds, a fight that ended only two months ago when the Supreme Court refused to hear a final appeal.

Jumpers had enlisted Helena Guergis, Ottawa's Minister of State for the Status of Women, but she failed to get Mr. Rogge's ear, as Ms. Jean did on her own volition, according to Ms. Tanaka. (Ms. Tanaka is one of two women in a group of 20 forejumpers - who make test jumps to ensure the facility at Callaghan Valley near Whistler is correctly calibrated. She jumped yesterday from the 140-metre large hill on which 50 men compete today.)

But even with Mr. Rogge's positive words to Ms. Jean, it is far from assured that women will compete at Sochi, Russia.

Dick Pound, Canada's senior IOC member, maintained in an interview that there are still not enough competitors or countries involved in women's ski jumping to get it in the Games He also said some IOC members took umbrage over the court battle.

"I don't think the IOC had very much pleasure being convicted in absentia of discrimination against women athletes," Mr. Pound said. "It was a lot of bad publicity for the IOC. I know they don't appreciate it and I don't appreciate it.

"The IOC, in a very predictable human reaction, might say: 'Oh, yeah, I remember them. They're the ones that embarrassed us and caused us a lot of trouble in Vancouver. Maybe they should wait another four years or eight years.'"

While Mr. Pound also said women might be in "as early as 2014" if more countries and women join the sport, his view has shaken the jumpers who fought in court (a strategy that was not supported by Ski Jumping Canada or joined by Ms. Tanaka).

"A lot of us took it as a direct threat," said Alissa Johnson, an American jumper ranked No. 11 in the world, who will watch today as her younger brother, Anders, competes in the Games. "We didn't go to court to make them look bad. We weren't disrespectful. We never threatened them."

Ms. Johnson said she's feeling good about 2014, noting that Russia is putting money in its women's jumping program, appearing to get ready for the event. "I would be an idiot to think it's a slam dunk," she said. "I am really optimistic but I can't set myself up for that disappointment again. We need a huge push still."

The IOC has made gender equity an express goal of the organization. Women's boxing, for instance, is on the card for London 2012. The percentage of women among athletes in the Winter Games is now about 40 per cent, up from roughly 25 per cent in the early 1990s.

Some officials, such as Vic Method of Women's Ski Jumping USA, have said European men don't want women jumping because it will shatter some sort of macho myth about the sport, where competitors fly down a steep slope at upwards of 100 kilometres an hour to leap more than 100 metres - although they're never much more than three or four metres off the ground.

On Thursday, during training at Whistler Olympic Park, the skinny men who excel at jumping laughed at the suggestion that their masculinity was at stake.

"No, absolutely not," said Martin Koch, ranked No. 8 in the world and one of the five "Austrian Eagles" who dominate the sport. Women at Sochi is "quite a good idea," Mr. Koch said. "If there are enough women who can compete on the same level, they should get the chance."

Stefan Read, the veteran of the Canadian squad, backs the women. "They're our friends, we obviously want them in. It's not really a macho sport, the guys are all pretty skinny. The jumps are big but it's graceful, too."

Women don't jump quite as far as men - the No. 1 woman at last year's world championships would have been 19th if she was in the men's field. The gap could be explained by men receiving far more training and coaching. Still, women aren't looking to compete head-to-head with men - they just want to jump.

The women's fate is in the hands of the IOC's powerful executive board, which is headed by Mr. Rogge and has 15 members, 14 of them men. The one woman is Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco.

Mr. Method of Women's Ski Jumping USA has worked relentlessly to get the sport in the Games. "There's no money in this," he said. "The women do this because they love it. They truly love to fly."

(February 2010)

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