Vancouver, BC (July 10, 2009) -- The culmination of the women’s ski jumping controversy covered in Issue 2.4 delivered a dissapointing result for the athletes as the BC Supreme Court rejected a bid today to allow women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympics.

"Judge Lauri Ann Fenlon ruled against an elite, international group of 15 women ski jumpers who had sued VANOC over their exclusion from Olympic ski jumping at the 2010 Games. They had asked for a declaration that the Games must either include women's ski jumping or have no ski jumping competitions at all.

However, in a moral victory for the women plaintiffs, Judge Fenlon found that their exclusion from the Winter Olympics is discriminatory. She noted that many of them have trained with and competed against men who will be Olympians next year.

'The plaintiffs will be denied this opportunity for no reason other than their sex,' Judge Fenlon wrote.

But she concluded that VANOC was not in breach of the Charter because the decision to keep their event from the Olympics was made by the International Olympic Committee, and only the IOC has the power to include the women at the Games. The IOC, she pointed out, is not bound by Canada's Charter."

So, while it was a moral victory, ultimately, the IOC has its way for 2010. We can only hope things will change for Russia 2014.

Source: Globe and Mail