At an age when some kids are mastering their first 10-speed, American ski jumper Lindsey Van was traveling internationally and winning junior ski jump competitions. Interviewed after a winning jump, a then 11-year-old Van said her goal was to make the women’s Olympic team in 2002. Now it is 2010, and though more than nine nations have women jumpers registered with the International Ski Federation (FIS), and women jumpers’ enrollment in the organization is nearly equal to that of men, there still isn’t a women’s ski jumping event at the Olympics.
“When you watch men and women, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference,” says Van about the inequity that journalists have dubbed “Ice Gate.”
“It’s old-fashioned, traditional European men who have their extreme sport. They don’t want women diluting it,” comments Van’s teammate Jessica Jerome. But “diluting” is hardly the issue since Van has jumped farther than any man on one of the Olympic hills and will be watching the men’s event to see if a guy can break her record.
The IOC states that ski jumping is too dangerous for women, which has done little to calm the anger of the female jumpers. A number of them took their battle to the Canadian courts, arguing gender discrimination, which is illegal in Canada. It would have been a slam-dunk victory were the Olympic committee a Canadian entity. But since it is not, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that it cannot order the IOC to hold the event.
One issue that troubles the female jumpers is finding corporate sponsorship for athletes who don’t compete in Olympic events. On the other hand, if being a female ski jumper becomes a feminist issue, the IOC may have a lot more disgruntled women to deal with in 2014.
The IOC has announced that it will add a women’s ski jumping competition to the 2012 Youth Olympics, which should give young jumpers some hope for the future. Van will be too old to compete.
