12/21/24
July 24, 2006
The sound of a barrier crumbling: it's been a long time in the works, but signs point to yes for the inclusion of women's ski jumping in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Ski jumping is the last Winter Olympics sport that does not currently have competition for both men and women.
The link, btw, is to a stub and a short vid of the first official USSA women's ski jumping team. More articles on the doings of the team can be found here and here.)
posted by lil_brown_bat to other at 07:28 AM - 12 comments
Next up -- figure out which sports don't really need to be segregated...
posted by fabulon7 at 10:45 AM on July 24, 2006
In this day and age women should be included in all sports they want to participate in. Ski jumping seems like a great sport for the ladies.
posted by Cubfan276 at 11:00 AM on July 24, 2006
Next up -- figure out which sports don't really need to be segregated... There are already two in the Olympics that are mixed gender: shooting and dressage (horse jumping).
posted by grum@work at 12:39 PM on July 24, 2006
I applaud the idea of holding women's ski jumping at the Olympics. However, let me make a few technical points: (1) Ski jumping is not a sport. No, wait, that's not what I mean! As far as the IOC is concerned, Skiing is a sport, governed by the FIS. Ski jumping is a discipline of skiing. (2) There is another discipline of skiing — nordic combined — that does not yet have a women's event. Granted, this is almost certainly because of the ski jumping part, so if a decision is made to add women's ski jumping then I would assume that participation in nordic combined is not far behind. (3) There are still two sports (IOC definition) in the summer Olympics where women do not compete: baseball and boxing. There is one sport where men to not compete: softball. Baseball and softball are currently not part of the Olympic programme beyond 2008. (4) There are two disciplines of sports in the summer Olympics where men do not compete: synchronized swimming (a discipline of aquatics) and rhythmic gymnastics (a discipline of gymnastics). (5) In all three disciplines of the sport of equestrian (dressage, jumping, and eventing), women compete against men. (6) In shooting, men and women compete in separate events. (7) Getting back to the winter sports, I'll just point out that the rules of doubles luge no longer specify the gender of the competitors. To date, no woman has competed in doubles luge at the Olympics, but in theory it could happen.
posted by Amateur at 02:09 PM on July 24, 2006
(6) In shooting, men and women compete in separate events. You are correct. I got confused when I was taking a look at my old Olympics book, as they had both the men and women results in consecutive columns. As for the horsies, I'll plead ignorance as I thought "dressage" was a fancy term that covered all three disciplines. /sits in corner with Olympic-endorsed dunce cap
posted by grum@work at 02:56 PM on July 24, 2006
thought "dressage" was a fancy term that covered all three disciplines. I thought it had something to do with the little hats they wear in equestrian events.
posted by scottypup at 03:58 PM on July 24, 2006
I thought it had something to do with the little hats they wear in equestrian events. I got into a car accident once and swear that's what they put on the cut on my leg...a dressage.....
posted by commander cody at 04:04 PM on July 24, 2006
Amateur: (1) Ski jumping is not a sport. No, wait, that's not what I mean! As far as the IOC is concerned, Skiing is a sport, governed by the FIS. Ski jumping is a discipline of skiing. Yes, I know that, but the FIS couldn't simply say, "Hey, we're gonna have some events for ski jumping (or grass skiing, or whatever) in the next Olympics!" The national federations such as USSA had to take women's ski jumping under their wings before FIS (which is a big slow bureaucracy) would even consider moving; FIS had to say, "We'd like to do this," before the IOC would do anything; and now that FIS has moved, it's still up to IOC. The answer will almost certainly be yes, but it's not like FIS could just wave a magic wand. (2) There is another discipline of skiing — nordic combined — that does not yet have a women's event. Granted, this is almost certainly because of the ski jumping part, so if a decision is made to add women's ski jumping then I would assume that participation in nordic combined is not far behind. Right. Like at the 2010 games. Which will also be the first time that women compete in ski jumping, if it happens. (3) There are still two sports (IOC definition) in the summer Olympics where women do not compete: I specifically said "Winter Olympics".
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:27 PM on July 24, 2006
In all three disciplines of the sport of equestrian (dressage, jumping, and eventing), women compete against men. And fillies/mares compete against geldings. Colts/stallions usually get left out. You can probably guess why.
posted by owlhouse at 06:28 PM on July 24, 2006
Next up -- figure out which sports don't really need to be segregated...Curling?
posted by geekyguy at 06:38 PM on July 24, 2006
Yeah lbb, I know you said winter -- I was just adding a few facts from the summer side (since grum brought it up). And I was also trying to clarify some of the context around "last winter sport" since, as you know, the organizational details are often a bit hazy there. I would also note that it is almost always the USA or Canada that breaks new ground in adding women's disciplines, as in this case.
posted by Amateur at 08:55 PM on July 24, 2006
Cool. I like ski jumping and always wondered why the women were left out.