Women’s Ski Jumping News www.WomensSkiJumpingUSA.com Visit the website WomensSkiJumpingUSA.com ... click logo at left We’ve been solid supporters of the international efforts of female ski jumpers to gain inclusion in the Olympic Games.  It’s the biggest stage for winter sports, and it’s especially critical to US and Canadian women, because the awareness of this sport, along with most other winter sports, is not widespread.  Public awareness comes along only every four years, and it’s crucial to the sport of ski jumping that it get all the visibility it can, for men or women, if it’s going to survive and thrive here, as it does in the rest of the snow-sports world.  We’ve worked closely with the Women’s Ski Jumping USA organization, based in Park City UT.  Their website is attractive and well-maintained, and they do a better job that we can to cover and promote women’s ski jumping in all respects.  We urge you to click the logo at left, visit their website, take some time to learn about this organization and cause. Ladies Continental Cup (LCOC): A League of Their Own FIS international series for women established in 2004 With the numbers and capabilities of female jumpers growing, there were many unofficial events, and even self-organized championships, among the athletes from countries where the sport was gaining traction.  A major confrontation between FIS and the Norwegian government in Vikersund NOR in 2004 turned out to be a defining moment leading to the establishment of the Ladies Continental Cup (LCOC) series for the 2005-2006 season.  read more  (will open in a new window)   FIS Recommends Women’s Jumping to IOC ... Old Men Say “NO!” IOC’s own charter calls for equality, lots of nice words, but they refuse to abide by it ... With the success of the new Ladies Continental Cup in its first three seasons, the FIS voted in May of 2007, by a vote of 114-1, to recommend to the International Olympic Committee that women’s ski jumping be included in the program for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.  That fall, the IOC rejected the recommendation of the FIS.  read more  (will open in a new window ... some links may be “dead”) Legal Challenge to IOC and VANOC Based on Discrimination Incredibly, BC courts find discrimination, but rule that IOC isn’t subject to Canadian law! So the Olympics are set to begin, and neither Lindsey nor any of these other women will be welcome to compete in the Olympics, despite a lot of effort expended on their behalf by a group of prestigious Vancouver law firm.  The courts have held that, despite clear discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, IOC is not bound by Canadian Law.  The “wedge” that the legal team tried to use was that VANOC had expended bazillions of dollars of taxpayer money to provide facilities and services to host the games, and was therefore a government entity and subject to Canadian law.  The courts held that VANOC, while obligated under contract to PAY whatever the IOC demanded, could not demand in return that the IOC add one event to the schedule, despite the fact that no additonal facilities or services would be needed to host such an event. WomensSkiJumpingUSA Invites Russian Team to Training Camp Looking ahead to Sochi 2014, Americans extend a hand to the host country’s young team The world of women’s ski jumping is tight-knit, with friendship and cooperation common among teams and individual athletes.  WSJUSA has prepared two identical booklets in conjunction with the invitation to the Russian women’s ski jumping team.  They’ll evntually be posted on the WSJUSA website, but they’ve provided them to us for immediate release so our visitors can read or print them: ENGLISH version     RUSSIAN version We urge you to keep up on what’s happening in the world of women’s ski jumping via the WomensSkiJumpingUSA website, which you can reach by clicking their logo, above left. Media Links:  Topics Related to Olympic Exclusion of Women    - 2/10  WSJ:        “Their Rejection, Our Loss”                                     read article   - 2/10  MSNBC:    Feature about US female ski  jumpers  (10:43)         view video   - 2/11  TIME:         If You Must Know: “Why Can’t Women Ski Jump?”   read article   - Facebook:          “Let Women Ski Jump” - Fan Page (ongoing)           visit page   - 2/12  ESPN:       Outside the Lines: article on women, “Grounded”     read article   - 2/14  ESPN:       Outside the Lines: interview w/ Lindsey Van (6:13)   view video   - 2/21 DailyKos     “No Girls Allowed”                                                     read article                © 1999 - 2010  KJA & Associates For more ski-jumping related info ... WomensSkiJumpingUSA       www.wsjusa.com  Made with Xara Web Designer