I, like so many other people around the world, have tuned my television to watch the worldís best athletes compete for the gold in these Olympic Games. The intense sporting events have come with a series of medal-awarding ceremonies, which feature both the men and the women who have placed in his or her area of expertise. However, there is one sport that has only been awarding medals to one gender. Donít expect to see any women on the podium during the ski jumping ceremony ó theyíre not allowed to compete.
Ski jumping is the only event left in the Olympic Games that is still single-sex. The controversial issue has been a feature on recent news broadcasts surrounding the Olympics, but most people do not know that womenís battle for the right to compete has been going on since 1998. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has consistently voted for the last three Olympic Games to keep women from being allowed to participate in the ski jumping event.
After many unsuccessful attempts to persuade the committee, the women sued the Vancouver Organizing Committee for gender discrimination in order to secure a spot in the 2010 games. Yet again, the IOC denied them the right. The IOC stated that the Olympics could not host any more athletes; a statement that was contradicted by the addition of the ski cross event. On top of its misfortunes in the Olympics, the US Ski and Snowboard team dropped the women ski jumpers from its sponsorship because it did not have the funds to invest in a team that would not be participating in the Olympics.
This controversial issue can be easily remedied. The IOC needs to allow women to participate in ski jumping in order to live up to its rule that all Olympic sports are to be open to both genders. Although it is too late for women to have a chance to compete in Vancouver, the sport still has a chance for the 2014 games. The IOC has stated, ìWomenís ski jumping does not reach the necessary technical criteria and as such does not yet warrant a place alongside other Olympic events.” According to NPR writer Howard Berkes, these ìtechnical criteria” are that there is not adequate representation from enough countries to fulfill the quota set by the IOC. However, if these criteria were inflicted on the men competing at the Olympic level, they would not qualify either. Until the IOC can specify what technical criteria they are referring, there should be no reason for women to be banned from a sport that they are capable of safely competing in.
Take into account all the other risky events that women have been competing in this year. Freestyle skiing, for example, allows women to launch themselves so that their backs are nearly parallel to the ground and perform a series of complicated flips in the air before slamming their skies into a 45 degree angled hill. Skeleton is a sport comparable to luge, except for the fact that the athlete slides down the icy tube headfirst instead of on their back. This event can reach speeds of close to 70 mph. I donít think anyone can make the point that these events are safer than ski jumping is.
What is even more unfortunate is that the world is missing out on seeing some incredible talent. Lindsey Van holds the record for the longest distance that has been recorded for both males and females off of the jump at the Olympic track in Whistler. Her outstanding jump totaled in 171 meters, beating out all of her would-be competition. Unfortunately, she will not be rewarded for her hard work and years of training.
Not only is the exclusion of women from a sport at which they have had proven success discrimination, but it is also incredibly offensive to females everywhere. Women have made great strides politically, economically, and socially over the past few decades, but to have something this blatantly unfair still occurring is extremely disappointing.