Olympic flame for Vancouver Games lit in Greece

With only 113 days until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the Olympic torch was lit today in a ceremony at the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece. A relay will take the torch 28,000 miles around Canada before the start of the Winter Games on Feb. 12.

Just as it was in ancient times, the torch was lit by the sun’s rays. Bad weather disrupted the ceremony for the last three Winter Olympics —Torino, Salt Lake City and Nagano— and officials had to use  back-up flames from the rehearsals.

In addition to good weather, Thursday’s ceremony also benefited from a lack of protesters this time, even though Vancouver relay officials had been worried that activists would be on hand to protest against seal hunting in Canada.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said the Olympic torch conveyed a global message “of friendship and respect.”

“The Olympic torch and flame are symbols of the values and ideals which lie at the heart of the Olympic Games,” Rogge said, as hundreds of spectators looked on from the stadium’s grassy banks.

Greek giant slalom skier Vassilis Dimitriadis, dressed in full winter gear, was the first torchbearer to run out of the ancient stadium after accepting the flame from actress Maria Nafpliotou who played a High Priestess calling on sun God Apollo . Dimitriadis briefly stopped at a marble memorial where the heart of the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, is buried.

After an eight-day journey across Greece, including the country’s ski resorts, the torch will be handed over to Canadian officials at the restored ancient Panathenaean Stadium in Athens on Oct. 29.

Although cauldrons were lit during the ancient games, held in Olympia from 776 B.C. to 394 A.D, the torch relay is a modern addition to the Olympics. It made its first appearance during the1936 Berlin Games, and its Winter Games debut was at the Innsbruck Olympics in 1964.

The torch will reach Canada on Oct. 30 for what organizers say will be the largest ever national relay, starting in Victoria, British Columbia, and involving 12,000 torchbearers.

Over 106 days, the relay will span Canada, being flown as far north as the Alert forestry station in Nunavut, which at some 500 miles from the North Pole is the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world.

One of the runners will be fifteen-year-old ski jumper Charlotte Mitchell who has been part of an ongoing court battle to get a women’s ski jump event in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

While Charlotte has been told by the courts that can’t jump during the Games,  she is being allowed to run.  Selected in a draw, she will accompany the torch for 300 metres on Day One of the relay.

Deedee Corradini, the president of Ski Jumping USA who has put up billboards to protest what she calls a sexist Olympic policy against women ski jumping, said it is ironic that Charlotte will get to run the torch relay.

But she and other athletes promise to put politics aside for the relay, and save arguments about gender equality for the courtroom.

The court case is in the appeal stage. It will be heard on Nov. 12 and 13.

The countdown is on…

What’s new at the Olympics?

For a non-Olympic year, the Olympics have been in the news a lot lately.   There’s the controversy over whether female ski jumpers should be allowed to compete at the next Winter Games, the debate over which new sports should be added to the programme  and the choice of venue for the 2016 Games.

So let’s review (don’t worry – there won’t be a test).  The next Olympics takes place in Vancouver in February 2010. The Winter Games feature a lot of popular sports, including figure skating, skiing and snowboarding, as well as more obscure sports like curling and skeleton.  We’ll start to profile all the events soon so you’re up to speed on all the action.

The biggest story relating to the Vancouver Games concerns a group of women ski jumpers who aren’t being allowed to compete (despite the fact their male counterparts have been doing so for decades). After appealing to the IOC (International Olympic Committee), they’ve taken their complaint to the courts.  IOC President Jacques Rogge has repeatedly denied the women’s requests and their  case is scheduled to be heard in the BC Court of Appeal Nov. 12 & 13 – just three months before the start of Games.

The next Summer Games will take place in London in 2012.  Baseball and softball were both  dropped for the 2012 London Games in a move many believe discriminated against Americans who dominated in both sports. Japan, however, won the last gold medal for softball and eliminating the sport from the Olympics was a huge blow to women around the world who play the game.

What has been added to the 2012 Games is women’s boxing.  According the the IOC, the  change reflects the IOC’s desire to continually refresh the Olympic programme and its commitment to increase participation by women. Kind of ironic given their stance on women ski jumpers. And their recent pressure on Muslim countries who fail to support the participation of female athletes.

The Sochi Winter Games 2014 seem to be relatively drama-free although there are  activists protesting Russia’s politics who have demanded the 2014 Winter Olympics be moved from Russia to a new site. Despite the protests, the Sochi Games are moving forward with new venues and attractions currently under construction.

The most recent Olympic fanfare had to do with the venue of the 2016 Games. A number of cities vied for the chance to host the games including Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio.  Chicago appeared to be a top choice and President Obama and TV Queen Oprah Winfrey appeared before the committee on behalf of their city.  Much to their dismay, Chicago was voted out on the first ballot and the Games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro – making it the first time the Games will be held in South America.

Golf has successfully scheduled a tee time for the 2016 Olympics. The sport returns to the Games  for the first time since 1904 amid the spectacular backdrop of Rio de Janeiro’s sand and sea. Golfers will compete for Olympic medals, but the greater promise for the sport is that the game catches on in countries where golfers are few and golf courses are even fewer. Michelle Wie, for several years the world’s best known female amateur player, helped lobby for golf to be included.  She told the IOC  that putting golf in the games would give young girls everywhere something new to aspire to.

Rugby also got the nod for the 2016 Games after a campaign of its own to show off the sport to a wider audience. The IOC  voted to include rugby sevens featuring 12 men’s and women’s teams.

The two sports share an Olympic history of sorts, both making their debuts at the second modern games in Paris in 1900. Golf was played again only in 1904, while 15-a-side rugby was in three more games, the last the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Both golf and rugby had to make some concessions to win their respective vote. Golf promised the IOC it would not stage any other major championships during the Olympics, while the Rugby Sevens World Cup will be canceled.

So, stay tuned. Despite the fact that the next Olympics are still four months away, there seems to be no lack of drama relating to the Games.

No clear answer from IOC for women ski jumpers

The fight to include women’s ski jumping has been going on for a while.

After all the controversy, it seems the IOC has a responsibility to help this sport grow and with minimal effort and cost they can do it. Many sports have been added to the Olympic program over the years of lesser stature but for this sport at this time there seems to be a definitive bias. Power can be used for both good and bad and unfortunately IOC President Jacques Rogge is the one who has it right now. Here’s his response to the athletes most recent missive:

Dear Ladies,

Thank you for your letter dated 4 September 2009.

You have clearly made important strides to develop women’s ski jumping since our decision in 2006 – and in coming years we are open to considering women’s ski jumping for inclusion in future Olympic Winter Games. However, we remain convinced that our decision in 2006 was the correct one, based on the analysis of the event done at that time, and our position for the 2010 Games is unchanged.

I am sure that with your passion for your sport and with the continued support of the International Ski Federation (FIS), your efforts to improve and develop women’s ski jumping globally will create a very compelling argument for the Olympic Programme Commission, when the winter programme is reviewed in the future.

I am pleased that you agree that the inclusion of women’s ski jumping in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is a wonderful initiative and hopefully, with your help, the YOG can play a part in encouraging the next generation of young female athletes to take-up this exciting event.

We continue to work, as Justice Fenlon noted, for “the inclusion of women in the Olympics and in amateur sports”, as well as in the fields of sports leadership and administration, and your commitment to your sport and its development will greatly assist in this domain. I wish you good luck during your competitions this up-coming season and thank you for your continued engagement to sport.

Yours sincerely,
Jacques Rogge

The 15  female ski jumpers who have filed suit are (understandably)  disappointed Rogge’s letter does not address their specific query about the technical requirements they allegedly fail to meet. As they’ve stated repeatedly, they’re confident they do indeed meet all the universality and technical requirements needed to participate fully at the Olympics.

They’ll now  concentrate their efforts on the appeal of their legal case to be heard in the BC Court of Appeal Nov. 12 & 13. That’s just three months before the Olympics begin on Feb 2010. Time is  running out and a  split decision in the Appeal Court would likely prompt a bid to put the issue to the Supreme Court of Canada.

How high must these women jump to get on the Olympic programme? If you want to help out, sign the petition to let the ladies jump now.

Athletes heading to New Zealand for Winter Games

In North America, we’re still feeling the summer heat but south of the equator, it’s the dead of winter and that means snow in a lot of places.  So if you’re a winter sports athlete, you may well be heading to NZ to hit the slopes.

A quality field of top international athletes has already been confirmed for the inaugural ‘100% Pure’ New Zealand Winter Games, including a host of Olympians, world champions and national champions.

More than 800 competitors from over 20 different countries will descend on the South Island August 21-30 to take on New Zealand’s best winter sports athletes.

Among the stars confirmed so far are five-time Olympic medalist and current Olympic slalom champion Anja Paerson from Sweden, 2006 Olympic cross-country sprint gold medal winner Chandra Crawford from Canada plus Australian halfpipe snowboarder Holly Crawford who finished runner-up in this year’s World Championships in Korea.

“The strength and depth of competitors heading to New Zealand highlights the importance of the Games for athletes ahead of next year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver,”

said Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap. “For some it’s about sharpening their competitive edge during the northern hemisphere summer, whereas others will be going all out to gain World Cup points and qualify for their national squads.”

Other world class athletes competing at the games include Canada’s top-ranked female skiers in slalom, giant slalom and Super G.

China is sending a large snowboard halfpipe contingent that includes current women’s world number one, Jiayu Liu.

The inaugural ‘100% Pure’ New Zealand Winter Games will take place at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Farm, Naseby and Dunedin from 21-30 August 2009.

The Games will feature alpine skiing, free skiing, x-country skiing, snowboarding, curling, ice skating and adaptive snow sports.

In fact, the Games claim to be a new concept in high performance competition where all athletes come together to compete regardless of whether they are able bodied or have a disability..  In contrast to existing premiere events such as the Winter and Summer Olympics, organizers believe that no distinction should be made between any athletes that perform at the highest possible level, against the best in the world.

Sounds like a great mission and a great event.

Female ski jumpers lose 2010 Olympic battle

We’ve written a lot over the past year about the battle waged by 15 former and current women ski jumpers who have argued about their right to participate in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

For some background, check out these posts:

Stand with women ski jumpers
Female jumpers sue for Olympic dream
Female ski-jumpers can’t compete in 2010 Olympics

So today, after months of arguments, presentations, protestations and support comes word from the Supreme Court of B.C. that female ski jumpers WILL NOT be competing in the 2010 Olympic Games.

The group went to court in April to argue their exclusion from the Vancouver Games violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

They wanted a court declaration that the Vancouver organizing committee, known as VANOC, must either hold women’s ski jumping in 2010 or cancel all ski jumping events.

VANOC argued that the International Olympic Committee decides which sports are allowed in the Games, and that the charter doesn’t apply to the IOC.

For its part, the IOC had insisted that its decision to keep women’s ski jumping out of the Vancouver Games was based on technical merit, not discrimination.

“The IOC would like to stress again the decision not to include women’s ski jumping has been taken purely on technical merit,” Emmanuelle Moreau, the IOC’s media relations manager, said in an email to The Canadian Press in November 2008. “Any reference to the fact that this is a matter about gender equality is totally inappropriate and misleading.”

In order to be considered for inclusion in an Olympic Games, the IOC said a sport must have held at least two world championships. The first women’s ski jumping world championships will be held next year in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Reasons for judgment
In its reasons for judgment, the court sided with VANOC in that the issue is an IOC responsibility. And while women are being discriminated against, the court said, the responsibility was the IOC’s, not VANOC’s.

The judge also sided with VANOC in its argument that it is not a government entity, and therefore the charter does not apply.

In 2008, Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, said because there are so few female ski jumpers in the world, including them in the Games would dilute the medals being handed out to other athletes.

Supporters of women’s ski jumping argue there are 135 female ski jumpers in 16 countries. This compares with other sports already in the Games, including snowboard cross, which has 34 women from 10 countries, skier cross, which has 30 women from 11 nations, and bobsled, which has 26 women from 13 nations.

They also say the women’s marathon was added to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles after a single world championship in 1983.

While not unexpected, the decision is disappointing on so many levels. My condolences to the ladies who were hoping, and who rightfully deserved, to compete.

Now is the time for the Jacques Rogge and the IOC to step in and right this wrong.

USSA picks Athletes of the Year – Good news if your name is Lindsey

With the 2009  season coming to a close, a number of athletes will be honored for their excellence as recipients of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s Athlete of the Year Awards at the annual awards presentation Friday in Park City.

Drumroll, please.

A trio of Lindseys top the podium this year. World Championship gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn and ski-jumper Lindsey Van will be joined by World Cup snowboardcross champion Lindsey Jacobellis in receiving awards for their athletic success for the 2009 season.

Vonn Does It Again
Lindsey Vonn, who rewrote U.S. women’s alpine skiing history in 2009, is being honored for the second year in a row with the 2009 Alpine Athlete of the Year Award.

Vonn exceeded all expectations this year when she not only repeated her wins of the World Cup overall and downhill titles, but also took the title in super G and swept the speed events as she won the gold in downhill and super G at World Championships.

In late February, Vonn raised the bar further for U.S. women when she broke Tamara McKinney’s record of 18 World Cup wins, which was established in the 1980s. Vonn finished the season with a total of 22 career World Cup wins.

A nine-year member of the women’s U.S. Ski Team, Vonn is a native of Minnesota who got her start at tiny Buck Hill outside of Minneapolis. From Buck Hill to the U.S. Ski Team, Vonn has made it to the World Cup podium a staggering 47 times.

Van Makes History, Named Jumping Athlete of the Year
Lindsey Van, who put her name in the history books of women’s ski jumping in the 2009 season, was named the Ski Jumping Athlete of the Year.

Van, who has amassed 38 Continental Cup podiums during her athletic career, made history in the international women’s ski jumping world as she won gold during the first World Championship ski jumping event in which women competed.

In addition, the 24-year-old jumper won the 13th U.S. title of her ski jumping career. She is currently part of a lawsuit challenging the Olympic organizing committee to include women’s ski-jumping in the next Winter Games.

Jacobellis Dominates Snowboarding Again
Following her 2008 win of the award, Lindsey Jacobellis was once again named the USSA Snowboarding Athlete of the Year. Jacobellis had her best season to date as she won the World Cup snowboardcross title for the second time in her career World Cup snowboardcross title with five wins across a six-month schedule.

Jacobellis also repeated her X Games SBX gold, bringing her grand total to five wins throughout her career. Jacobellis then marked another U.S. title before finishing out the season with enough success on the World Cup to make her the most winningest athlete, male or female, in snowboardcross World Cup history.

Other award winners include Tod Lodwick as Nordic Combined Athlete of the Year and cross country trailblazer Kikkan Randall, who has been named USSA’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

In addition, Jeff Archibald was named 2009 Snowboarding International Coach of the Year. Archibald has been a key leader for the success of the men’s and women’s snowboarscross team this season, Athletes who worked with Archibald, including Jacobellis, excelled as no other snowboardcross team has in U.S. history. Three athletes Archibald coached finished the season at the top of SBX World Cup standings.

The 2009 Snowboarding Club of the Year was Stratton Mountain School which opened its doors in 1972 and has since produced over 29 Olympians and many national team athletes. SMS is renowned for the success of athletes that leave its snowboarding program, including World Cup SBX champion Lindsey Jacobellis, Ellery Hollingsworth and Louie Vito.

The USSA awards winners will receive their honors the evening of May 15 at USSA Congress 2008 in Park City with the top athlete being selected for the organizaton’s highest athlete honor, the Beck Award. Congrats to all.

Stand with women ski jumpers today

Did you know that ski jumping is the only event in the Olympic Winter Games that does not allow women to participate?

The International Olympic Committee won’t let these international elite athletes jump in the upcoming Vancouver Games because the IOC believes the women aren’t ready.

Fifteen women ski jumpers from six nations are plaintiffs in a gender-discrimination lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The women want an injunction saying they should be included. If not, then men shouldn’t be allowed to jump either. The hearing is set for today – April 20, 2009.

Find out just how READY these women are AND sign a petition (more than 10,000 signatures so far) demanding that the IOC upholds the true spirit of the Olympic Games by letting the women compete in 2010.

SIGN THE PETITION at http://wsj2010.com

Follow the group on Twitter: Twitter.com/LetWomenJump

Join the Facebook group: Let Women Jump

Website: Let Women Jump in 2010

Check out this early trailer of a documentary following the female ski jumper’s court case against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.

Virginia Madsen teams up for female ski jumper doc

Actress Virginia Madsen (Sideways, Prairie Home Companion, The Haunting) and Title IX Productions, the film company she formed last year,  are taking on a good fight – the right for women ski jumpers to compete in the Olympic games.

Titled “Fighting Gravity,” the documentary film follows 15 athletes challenging the International Olympic Committee’s decision to bar them from the upcoming Games in Vancouver. The IOC has rejected a decade-long effort to include women jumpers in the Games, making ski jumping the only Olympic sport exclusively for men. The case is currently making its way through the Canadian court system. Here’s what Madsen had to say:

“To think that in 2009, in a celebrated, international event like the Olympics, women are still dealing with discrimination is pretty shocking. We knew instantly we wanted to throw our support behind this project and get the word out there.”

With ski jumping the only winter Olympic sport that doesn’t include both genders, the female ski jumpers featured in the doc say their rights have been violated. The IOC says women’s ski jumping doesn’t have enough international competitions to merit inclusion.

The most infuriating thing to the ski jumpers isn’t just that they won’t be in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. It’s who will be.

Sliders, skiers and shredders of all sorts — bobsled, skeleton, luge, snowboard. And don’t forget the butt of every winter sports joke ever invented: curling.

But women’s ski jumping? As it currently stands, not gonna happen.

American Lindsay Van increased the pressure by winning the first women’s ski jumping World Cup, which was held in the Czech Republic last month.

Men, of course, have been jumping since the mid-1800s. The first World Championships were in 1936. But women have been denied. Though they have been competing for a decade, their first championships were just held.

The argument is always the same. Officials insist the interest and talent isn’t there for women’s ski jumping, even though it apparently is for men. IOC media relations manager Emmanuelle Moreau told The Canadian Press last year, “Any reference to the fact that this is a matter about gender equality is totally inappropriate and misleading.”

World champion Van and Canadian national team member Katie Willis wrote to IOC chief Jacques Rogge last month requesting a meeting while he was in Denver attending the SportAccord convention and IOC executive board meetings.  The meeting didn’t happen and the IOC claims they didn’t get the request in time.

If the IOC doesn’t reconsider its stance, the lawsuit filed last May against Vancouver organizers citing gender discrimination will be heard April 20 before a single judge in the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver. Both sides will have two days to make their case. The judge’s ruling is subject to appeal.

“With ski jumping, you can’t just walk out and be top level. It takes years and years,” Van said. “There’s a high level of frustration. It’s frustrating to see people in bobsled and skeleton able to pick it up and the next year they’re in the Olympics. There’s no way that happens in ski jumping. It’s all a little backward.”

Besides being totally not right.

Madsen’s production shingle, which is named after the 1972 law giving women equal opportunity to participate in activities that receive federal funding, seems like the perfect outfit to document this story.

Source: Women and Hollywood and Variety

Female jumpers sue for Olympic dream

December 19, 2008 – The world’s top women ski jumpers can set record after record this season. But since ski jumping is the only sport in the Winter Olympics that has no event for women, their distances and style points will not get them into the 2010 Vancouver Games.

A Canadian court could, however, if it rules in favor of a lawsuit filed by a group of jumpers trying to get women’s ski jumping into the next Winter Games.

Over the past three years, the athletes have gone from elation over expectations of an Olympic debut to the disappointment of being told that it wasn’t going to happen. Now the jumpers’ Olympic hopes appear to be somewhere between those extremes heading toward an April 20 date with the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said during a visit to Vancouver last winter that women’s jumping probably has a future in the Olympics, but not yet because the sport doesn’t have enough competitors to meet Olympic standards.

So, should women be allowed to jump in the 2010 Olympics? Get the facts.  And once you do, sign the online petition.