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Women who ski jump, for fun and discriminationAfterEllen.com reader heygirlhey recently brought to my attention the plight of women who spend their free time doing this: Karla Keck Yes, I'm talking about that other misunderstood and rejected minority group: women who ski jump. (For fun, I mean, not because they're racing away from an avalanche.) I'll admit I think they're slightly crazy, but I spend my free time watching bad lesbian movies, so who am I to judge? And it is pretty cool watching them do this: Lindsey Vonn But that's the problem — you can't actually watch women ski jump, at least not at the Winter Olympics, because Women's Ski Jumping was rejected for inclusion in the 2010 Winter Olympics. In announcing the decision in 2006, IOC vice president Gunilla Lindberg said, "In our analysis, there are not enough athletes and not enough countries [participating]." But as the Wikipedia entry on ski jumping notes, "Currently there are 135+ athlete competing on an international level [in women's ski jumping], which is more than snowcross, ski cross, bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge" All of which are Winter Olympics events open to both men and women, while ski jumping and nordic remain open only to men. IOC president Jacques Rogge has stated that they don't allow women ski jumpers in the Olympics because, "We do not want the medals to be diluted and watered down." Ironically, the current world-record holder for the longest jump on the Vancouver ski jump is a woman — 23-year-old American Lindsey Van: Lindsey Van It's not just Wikipedia and women's ski jumping sites that are pointing out the obvious double-standard being employed here — mainstream media outlets like The Denver Post, Minnesota's Public Radio, Canada's The Province, and About.com's Women's Issues column are joining the call for the Olympics committee to end this discrimination. There's even a documentary about their quest for equality, called Jump Like a Girl. And you know you're doing something wrong when people are making documentaries about it. What can you do to help? Sign the official petition to Let Women Ski Jump in 2010 at www.wsj2010.com, and adopt a U.S. women's ski jumper today! 2008 U.S. Ski Jumping Team (l to r) Alissa Johnson, Jessica Jerome, Lindsey Van, Brenna Ellis, Avery Ardovino, Abby Hughes (OK, so maybe you don't get a skier in exchange for signing the petition, but could they be any cuter?) Submitted by on March 20, 2008 - 2:13am. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
little mistake
Thanks for clarifying!
thanks sarah
I knew that if I sent you this you would be able to reach a larger audience! thank you so much for the post!
okay ladies so it's time for all of us to be the change we want to see in this world! it's possible! we just need to want it and more importantly act upon it!
No one has ever changed anything for us...we have faught for every bit of it and, personally, i am not satisfied with the lame (unfair) definition of equality that our community currently posesses. It's time to meet the true definition of equality...tolerence is not equality....acceptance is closer....and respect is better but true equality comes from the equal measurement of all aspects of the human life...
equal rights
equal oppurtunities
equal fairness
equal value, rank, ability
and most importantly acknowldegment that we are ALL possible of giving and recieving......
equal love
"there is no corner of the universe where love cannot abide and grow...."-jennifer beals
Thanks to you for the tip!
Hmm, interesting
Wow!
i wanna be a ski jumper
yeah i agree the 2008 u.s. ski jumping team is pretty hot
and that sucks they cant compete in the Olympics
ski jumping
Alright, I'm all for everybody being allowed to do what they love. However, ski jumping in my opinion is not one of the healthy sports. I'm afraid that if women are allowed to get to an even more competitive level, then they might end up hurting themselves like the guys. It is well known that ski jumpers, in order to get carried far by the wind, have to be lightweights. So, as a result, they have to slim down. I have seen pictures of male ski jumpers that make your eyes water. Some of them are just skin and bones. It's something that they don't talk about very often though, of course.
So, if the FIS could implement some kind of healthy weight restriction, then I'll say, Let the women into the Olympics.
Why should only women be "protected" from this though?
I'm sure that ski jumping is dangerous. Most elite sports have some sort of common health problem, though. Think of all the OTHER sports in which it's good to be small - gymnastics, figure skating, diving, cheerleading, plus any with weight classes like wrestling or martial arts...nobody says hey, we aren't gonna have gymnastics in the Olympic games because some women starve themselves to an unhealthy weight (maybe they should, but they don't).
Plus, as you point out, male ski jumpers have health issues from dieting, but nobody's suggesting they can't jump in the Games because of it. Let's be fair.
I noticed this in the last Winter Games. I was watching ski jumping and I noticed that they just referred to it as that, not as "men's ski jumping." I noticed because generally, it irks me when I hear about "basketball" and "women's basketball" but usually in the Olympics they do label both genders. So then I started thinking, and I looked up to see when women's ski jump would be shown, obviously didn't find it, and went digging to find out why it wasn't in the Olympics. The best excuse I found was that it was more dangerous to women to land like that. I think they even said it might injure their uteruses. Hehe. Again, maybe it even does - but let the athletes themselves decide if they want to take the risk.
misunderstood
I didn't mean that only the women should be protected. But the men are already in the highly competitive system. It would be great if the problem could be sorted out BEFORE the women enter it. But it never gets addressed, at least not officially. So I don't see it happening.
I also didn't mean that the women shouldn't be allowed to jump in general because that would be really ridiculous. It IS ridiculous. I feel that this is one sport where - in time - the women could actually compete with the men.
And about the risks of competitive sports: I do not condone any physical harm that atheletes feel they have to do to themselves because of the system (pressure of continued success, ad contracts, etc), be it doping or losing weight obsessively or anything else. I know it's the reality, and I hate it. Over the years I have gone from idealist to almost cynic. By now, I can't really watch sports anymore without wondering about which illegitimate means have brought the victory. I'm torn, because I want to love it. I still watch women's football/soccer and other team sports (and biathlon in winter). But as soon as endurance or muscle strength is the primary focus of the sport, I switch off. Even in biathlon athletes have been implied in a blood doping scandal. It's just frustrating for the fans. You have to be willing to suspend your disbelief and suspicion if you really want to enjoy it.
And as to every athelete being responsible for their own health: It's not as simple as that. Especially professional and semi-professional athletes are role models for young people. They cannot deny that responsibilty. And if young athletes enter the competitive stage and see successful people ruin their health it is not easy to just step away from it. There have to be regulations, and they have to be enforced.
ha! ever since i was
ha!
ever since i was little i've been watching ski jumping and been waiting for it to become an olympic discipline. cant believe it was rejected again. boo.
(oh and by the way most sports are 'unhealthy' in some way if you compete at that level, its just up to each athlete to take care of their own body.)
anywho i signed the petition, yay! thanks sarah!
Anette Sagen
The Norwegian ski jumper made the headlines in Norway in 2004 when the chairman of FIS, Torbjørn Yggeset said that women where not to compete in hills bigger than K90.
It was said that women were not qualified to jump in K120 og ski flying hills. This despite the fact that many of the female ski jumpers have better results than many of the men competing in the world cup and continetal cup
Wikipedia
Jumping for Joy and Alissa and Jessica and Lindsey.....
The petition got my entry. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Give me a break, women in the competition would dilute the medals? Methinks the 'good old boys' just don't want to face the fact that the women may just be better at this than the men.
What a shame
Cute
I think...
Spreading the Word
As someone who used to work in the non-profit world for the advancement of women's sports, we had been discussing this issue for quite a while. It's so nice to see the word is spreading!! Especially in my "other" community. I hope every woman gets to meet an female Olympic athlete. It's truly inspiring.
"Studies show girls who participate in sports are less likely to engage in high risk behavior including drugs and teen pregnancy"
"80% of female executives in Fortune 500 companies played sports growing up. 81% indicate they are still physically active"
The IOC has regulations
The IOC has regulations that govern the entry of new sports. The primary one being participation from a variety of regions around the globe. The defining issue being, the number of ski jumping associations around the world that run female competitions. Women's hockey went through the same thing. And when only two teams consistently win, it's been a struggle to argue that women's hockey should stay in.
The best way countries can help is to lend coaches to emerging countries within the sport. I'm really not sure how I feel about this topic as I don't want charity inclusion either, but I want it included on its own merit and by the rules.
Perhaps the IOC should do a re-assessment of several traditional winter sports, like Biathlon. Maybe one sport might replace the other....no, wait. The Euros always win Biathlon. That won't happen.
biathlon
Biathlon is one of the more exciting sports to watch in the winter. No, make that THE most exciting winter sport. It's the combination of endurance and precision that makes it great. And the women's races are as good as the men's, if not better.
There are sports on the Olympic roster that aren't really great spectator sports, like everything that requires a clock recording 1/1000th of a second just to determine who won (hello, luge, bobsleigh and skeleton).
There are plenty of sports where only 1 or 2 teams dominate
Figure skating, for example. I remember being little and getting really excited when anyone not from the USSR won ANY medal in ANY figure skating discipline...
In swimming lately most of the medals go to the US and Australia.
I guess it's somewhat more of an issue with a team sport that requires so many more people, but still.
And I bet ski jumping would have a more diverse medaling than hockey, since it is individual.
I have a simple rule - either both men and women's competitions, or none. How is that hard? Maybe they could have a grandfather clause to consider baseball and softball equivalent. But certainly for new sports.
The IOC has regulations
The IOC has regulations that govern the entry of new sports. The primary one being participation from a variety of regions around the globe. The defining issue being, the number of ski jumping associations around the world that run female competitions. Women's hockey went through the same thing. And when only two teams consistently win, it's been a struggle to argue that women's hockey should stay in.
The best way countries can help is to lend coaches to emerging countries within the sport. I'm really not sure how I feel about this topic as I don't want charity inclusion either, but I want it included on its own merit and by the rules.
Perhaps the IOC should do a re-assessment of several traditional winter sports, like Biathlon. Maybe one sport might replace the other....no, wait. The Euros always win Biathlon. That won't happen.
I thought...
we were passed this kind of discrimination against women...
just signed the petition, I hope we can make a difference :)
interesting story Sarah, thanx for sharing!
Damage to vital parts
One of the arguments against women's ski jumping was that it might do damage to your wombs and ovaries and you possibly won't be able to have kids anymore. How stupid is that!
We heard those arguments, before, i.e. women's soccer might cause damage to your breasts!!
Maybe too much sports does damage to men's brain!
Nordic World Ski Championship Liberec 2009 - Czech Republic
what do you expect...
From the same committee that gave this year's games to China.
What do Uzbekistan, Darfur, Myanmar, Tibet, North Korea and Zimbabwe have in common? Some of the world's gravest human rights violations and Chinese support if not direct involvement.
Not that the US has a stellar human rights record these days, but if they really felt China could embody the Olympic spirit right now then it isn't at all surprising that there might also be a bit of sexism going on. I understand the need for geographic diversity in the compeition of a sport, but I think ski jump is comparable to many sports already in the games in that regard.
Thanks for bringing the issue to attention, Sarah. Not to mention the beautiful gals on the US team. :D
----
Tibet in Crisis - Stay Aware
i know this is kinda random but i thought i'd just say it anyway
Saw this as one of the national news stories just last night!
So glad to read this article here. I am not even close to ski jump material regarding my downhill abilities (at least not on purpose) but I was outraged when I saw this! As one of the young women said when interviewed, the Olympic comittee keeps changing the rules.