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.

IOC pushes friendship and unity with new commercial

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched the latest component of “The Best of Us” promotional campaign, a multifaceted, global effort that aims to bring the Olympic values to life and engage young people around the world.

An animated commercial, entitled “All Together Now,” was broadcast for the first time by NBC during the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, in Berlin, Germany.

In the 30-second public service announcement, six larger-than-life Olympic athletes are depicted literally pulling countries together, symbolizing the inspiration of the athletes and their superhuman abilities to unite the world  through friendship and unity. Continuing the messaging that began in a 2007 campaign the spot ends with “The best of us” tagline.

The commercial is part of the IOC’s ongoing attempt to engage young people in the Olympics and the spirit it represents, especially in between events.

“We want to maintain relevance,” said Timo Lumme, IOC director for television and marketing. “We don’t want to go silent in between games.”

The Winter Games are set for Vancouver in February and the first Summer Youth Olympic Games will be held in Singapore next August.

The objective of the promotional campaign is to communicate the key Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect to a global youth audience. “The Best of Us” is a simple, powerful idea that transcends cultures and borders, motivating young people around the world to participate in sport by proving that sport can bring out their best.

Check out the spot and tell us what you think:

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.

Celebrate Olympic Day

When you think of the Olympics it seems they’ve been around forever. They did start back in Ancient Greece but the modern games have only been around for 115 years.

Back in 1894 the International Olympic Committee was formed on June 23 and the modern games began. Since 1948 this date has been christened Olympic Day, and cities around the world celebrate with festivities.

It’s a worldwide commemoration of Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s  convening of the first International Olympic Committee meeting at the Sorbonne in Paris, and the founding of the Modern Olympic Games.

National Olympic Committees throughout the world participate in the international celebration, with each Olympic Committee sending Olympic Day greetings to participating nations.

This year, the theme of Olympic Day is “Move, Learn and Discover”

In conjunction with the international observance of Olympic Day,  nearly 150 cities will host Olympic Day celebrations, including fun runs, lectures and sport competitions and demonstrations — many attended by Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

Mayors from across the country will join in proclaiming the day Olympic Day in their communities, and the USOC is encouraging communities to host events that promote physical activity and sport participation, as well as support the Olympic values of fair play, cooperation and respect for others. Activities range from rowing demonstrations in Philadelphia with U.S. Rowing and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, to a fun run in Honolulu with Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

Chicago 2016 – the group working to bring the Olympics to Chicago for the 2016 Games -  is organizing youth fun runs for nearly 30,000 kids at more than 200 parks on Olympic Day. Adults are encouraged to take part in a fun run at 6:00 PM that will end at North Avenue Beach where Chicagoans will be participating in a number of Olympic or Paralympic sports, including beach volleyball, table tennis, hand cycling, wheelchair basketball and badminton. There will also be live music and other festive activities at the beach for spectators to enjoy, and Olympic and Paralympic athletes will join in the celebration.

The USOC celebrates Olympic Day annually with events at the U.S. Olympic Training Centers and official training sites, as well as coordinating activities with sport National Governing Bodies and affiliated multi-sport organizations.

So find an activity in your area and have an excellent Olympic Day 2009!

Softball players aim to impress IOC leaders this week in Switzerland

The leaders of seven sports hoping to join the Olympic program are in Lausanne, Switzerland this week making key presentations to the IOC .

All seven candidates – baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash – are seeking a place at the games from 2016 onward after being rejected by International Olympic Committee members in 2005.

Olympic softball player (and current WSF president) Jessica Mendoza is joined in Switzerland by Michele Smith and other international softball athletes to make the case to reinstate the sport.

She’s confident the IOC will make the right decision but implores everyone to visit www.backsoftball.com to show their support.

For more background on the IOC decision to drop softball in the first place, Women Talk Sports has just posted a great podcast with sports journalist Christine Brennan discussing the Olympic Committee’s decisions to remove Softball from the Olympic Summer Program in the first place as well  as its refusal to add women’s Ski Jumping to the Winter program. In the interview, Brennan states, “Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, is in danger of having his legacy…be that he did more damage to women’s sports than any IOC President.”

There are a number of other sports hoping to make it into the games as well. Squash and karate were closest to Olympic status four years ago, after baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 London Games.

Both advanced past golf, roller sports and rugby sevens in successive rounds of voting, but finally fell short of the required two-thirds tally of IOC members.

Hoping to bolster golf’s bid, Annika Sorenstam also arrived in Lausanne to plead the case for her sport.

World Karate Federation president Antonio Espinos said his federation had worked hard since Singapore to improve its marketing and appeal.

No votes will be cast Monday when each of the sports gets a 45-minute slot to impress the Executive Board. All 15 members, led by President Jacques Rogge, have received a report from the program commission which vetted the seven last November and attended major events.

The board meets again in August at Berlin to choose two from seven that will go before the full IOC membership for approval at their October session in Copenhagen. Voting rules have changed and a place on the program awaits either or both shortlisted sports which get a simple majority.

The IOC wants sports with universal appeal, which will not burden a host city with added costs and have a proven record fighting doping.

International Softball Federation president Don Porter said his sport would support the Olympic movement’s values.

“The ISF has made tremendous progress in the last few years, pushing forward our vision of a clean, inclusive, and accessible sport that enriches the lives of tens of millions of people around the world” Porter said.

Baseball suffered four years ago from a perception that the major leagues were slow to embrace drug testing and could not deliver top players to the games. Its presentation team Monday includes Donald Fehr, leader of the Major League Baseball players’ union, and Jean-Pierre Moser, anti-doping manager for the International Baseball Federation.

Squash proposes to play in mobile glass courts it will donate to the host, and has secured pledges from top-ranked men and women players that an Olympic medal would be the sport’s highest honor.

“We feel that we fit the bill for the IOC’s requirements” said World Squash Federation president N. Ramachandran.

Karate and squash will point to having world champions from all continents.

“We estimate to have 100 million supporters and we always have full venues at our events” World Karate Federation president Antonio Espinos said. “Karate can be organized in any venue of the sports already on the program.”

The IOC is said to prefer adding one individual and one team sport, which could favor rugby sevens after it scored well with program commission observers at its World Cup event in March.

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

IOC Celebrates 2009 Women and Sport Awards

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Family today celebrated International Women’s Day and the 2009 Women and Sport Awards, where five exceptional personalities in the world of sport received accolades.

 The official ceremony was held at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, in the presence of IOC President Jacques Rogge, Anita DeFrantz, IOC member and Chairwoman of the IOC Women and Sport Commission, and the members of the IOC Women and Sport Commission.

 The five continental trophies were presented to women who have made tremendous contributions to strengthening the participation of women and girls in sport on an international level. The winners of the 2009 Women and Sport Awards include former Olympic gold and silver medallists, philanthropists promoting human welfare as well as political personalities and an academic and lecturer.

 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Federations (IFs) and Continental Associations were invited to submit candidatures and the winners were selected by the IOC Women and Sport Commission. This year the trophies were awarded as follows:

  -           Trophy for Africa: Lydia Nsekera (Burundi)

  -           Trophy for the Americas: María Caridad Colón Ruenes (Cuba)

  -           Trophy for Asia: Arvin Dashjamts (Mongolia)

  -           Trophy for Europe: Danira Nakic Bilic (Croatia)

  -           Trophy for Oceania:  Auvita Rapilla (Papua New Guinea)

   Addressing the winners and the audience, President Jacques Rogge said: “I am pleased to publicly pay tribute to five remarkable women who, through their commitment, enthusiasm, drive and courage, have helped increase the number of women taking part in sport at all levels, both on and off the field.”  

 Rogge also highlighted the encouraging fact that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was a colossal stepping stone with a new participation record of 42 per cent of competitors being women, demonstrating the inexorable march towards parity.

 Speaking at the ceremony, Anita DeFrantz said: “On the field of play, we are moving closer and closer to men and women competing in even numbers on the world’s greatest sporting stage. It is still the mission of the IOC Women and Sport Commission to see more women in sport involved in decision-making and in the media. The landscape is slowly changing, and women will have a much bigger role to play in sport in the future. This year’s IOC Women and Sport Awards winners are helping to make this happen.”

 Information on the winners:

 Lydia Nsekera

Whilst sport in Burundi has been male dominated, Lydia Nsekera, a former high jumper and basketball player, became the first female president of a national football federation in Africa and the second woman in the world to achieve this status. She also pioneered with the creation of women’s sports clubs in her country. It was under her guidance that the national under-17 men’s team came to victory in the East and Central African Football Associations Cup. Furthermore, Nsekera organised the first women’s football championship in Burundi, and in 2004 led a successful national campaign to get women involved in refereeing, sports administration and coaching. She has also raised awareness of sexual violence against women and HIV/AIDS.

 María Caridad Colón Ruenes

Since María Caridad became the first Cuban woman to win an Olympic gold medal in 1980 (javelin), she has played an outstanding role in promoting sports activities at national, Pan-American and international level. She is Chairperson of the NOC’s Women and Sport Commission, and a member of the IAAF Women’s Committee as well as the PASO Women and Sport Commission. While Caridad develops youth sports clubs and trains girls and youth instructors both at home and abroad, she also contributes towards scientific texts and historical records on women, sport and the family in Cuba. In addition, she gives regular lectures on the importance of sport.

 Arvin Dashjamts

As Chairperson of Mongolia’s Women and Sport Commission and the only female member of the Mongolian NOC’s Executive Committee, Arvin Dashjamts has played a crucial role in the increased participation of women and girls in all sports and physical activity in her country. A history graduate, former public relations officer and private sector CEO, Dashjamts has consistently promoted Olympians as role models for young girls and women, and has worked tirelessly for women to be elected to decision-making positions of national sports organisations. Twice appointed Chef de Mission for Mongolia, she has helped establish the Women and Sport Fund which is dedicated to the development of a coaching structure in Mongolia. She has been an elected Member of Parliament for Mongolia since 2000.

 Danira Nakic Bilic

Danira Nakic Bilic, a Croatian silver medallist (basketball) in 1988, is a member of the NOC’s Women in Sport Commission. She organises Olympic-related lectures and forums in primary and secondary schools, and promotes programmes for female athletes in sports administration and other public as well as political structures. Bilic was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2004, which had a significant impact on the attitude of Croatian society towards top level female athletes in public life. She strongly promoted the development of sports facilities in Zagreb, enabling more people to participate in physical activities. Last year the government appointed her as President of the Croatian Heritage Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving and developing Croatian cultural identity, sport being one important element of it.

 Auvita Rapilla

In her 14 years with the Papua New Guinea Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, where she is now Deputy Secretary General, Auvita Rapilla has been instrumental in the development of the NOC’s Women and Sport Committee. As a member of the Oceania Women and Sport body, she has become one of the driving forces behind engaging women in and for sport throughout the region. In the framework of an Executive Masters in Sport Organisation Management (MEMOS), she developed a sports planning tool which is now being used by the various NOCs across Oceania.

(source: Olympic.org)

FIS World Cup Skiing results

December 20, 2008 -  Swiss teenager Lara Gut has won a super-G race for her first World Cup victory. The 17-year-old finished in 57.38 seconds to become the youngest skier ever to win a World Cup race.

Julia Mancuso was the top American, finishing 13th. 

Anja Paerson of Sweden won a World Cup super-combined event on Friday in St. Moritz after defending her lead from the super-G race by posting the second-best time in the slalom.

Defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn was 14th in super-G, but skied out early in the slalom. The 24-year-old American still keeps her lead in the overall World Cup standings after nine races.

We’re snow happy for all the winners!!

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.

Making a case for 2016 Olympics

November 13, 2008 – How does one sport or event get voted into the Olympics while another doesn’t?

BMX made it’s debut in Beijing and the International Cycling Federation wants to include a freestyle event for the London games.

But last year, attempts to introduce skateboarding to the London Olympics failed.

The sports for London 2012 have already been decided but there are currently seven sports short-listed for consideration 2016 Summer Games. Only two will be added.

Leaders of baseball and softball, along with five other sports seeking inclusion in the Olympics, will present their cases to the International Olympic Committee in Geneva this week.

Golf, karate, roller sports, rugby and squash officials will also meet the 16-member commission, which will deliver a report to the IOC before the  members vote in October.

Baseball and softball were dropped after the Beijing Games because they didn’t receive enough votes in 2005 to remain on the 2012 program.

Read more

Next Page »