Women Jump Ahead In Winter Olympics

by Christina Carr · 2009-05-25 06:00:00 UTC
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A few weeks ago, I posted about the possibility of women's baseball being added to the growing repertoire of Olympic sports. Now, there's one more potential sport to be added to that list: women's ski jumping.

Currently, women can't compete in ski jumping- it, along with Nordic combined are the only Winter Olympic sports in which only men can compete. But, according to a post by Ron Judd of the Seattle Times, a group of women's ski jumpers have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to gain themselves a place in the Games in time for the next Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver.

Judd brings up a great point- the exclusion of women from the sport seems counterintuitive, given that the Games have already spent the excessive amounts of money to build the ski jump for the men's competition. Opening the sport to women would cost little extra, which strikes down the cost-control argument that could be fronted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At a time when the IOC is under fire for its lack of support of women's sports, it seems to make little sense for the Committee to fight the inclusion of what is sure to be an exciting sport with the potential to garner much attention for the Games and the athletes involved. And over 10,000 people who signed this petition in favor of adding the sport seem to agree. It's time for the IOC to step up and take one more step towards equality.

Christina Carr
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