The spirit of Avery Brundage lives on
What do you suppose they were thinking ? ! ?
Every one - I mean everyone! - should get on the band wagon and let the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee know how you feel about a recent decision they made.
At a meeting held in November the executive committee voted to not include women's ski jumping as a sport in the upcoming 2010 Winter Games to be held in Vancouver, Canada.
The "games" were contemplated with an eagerness by a recently named U.S. women's ski jumping team.
Not only because they are highly talented, but with the competition being held in North America, both the U.S. and Canadian teams were setting their collective efforts on being on the medal platforms.
Anyone who has watched the progression of girls' and women's sports in the last 30 years, should be upset by this recent ruling by the international Olympic committee.
The women ski jumpers had just won a battle with an international federation which governs competitions in the sport.
Recommendations to the Olympic committee, by the international federation, were that ski jumping for women be included in the 2010 games.
In one recent, devastating act, the "Good Old Boys" members of the international Olympic committee have ostensibly eliminated that as a possibility.
The games in recent years have coddled to the wishes and whims of the television networks and the big bucks they bring in.
One has to wonder if that somehow played on the minds of those who voted so negatively against the women ski jumpers.
This latest act by the executive committee is reminiscent of the pre-1920s here in the United States when women were fighting so hard for just the right to vote in this country.
There are many persons still around who fought the battle to gain Title IX rights that allowed girls and women to be included in sports activities - equally - with men in colleges and high schools.
That battle still goes on, but the inroads made since the late 1960s and early 70s, for acceptance of women in athletics, are indeed impressive.
Women ski jumpers? What do I care?
You may be asking yourself, "Why should I care about a sport I don't understand?"
There are women ski jumping teams in 14 countries including Austria, Canada, Czech, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States.
The discrimination shown against the women who ski jump, is more than discrimination against a relatively small group of people here in the United States or throughout the world.
There is a very important principle involved with the decision by executive committee.
Simply put, it is discrimination.
In recent years, the executive committee has confirmed a non-discrimination policy which says that Olympic sports must be equally recognized to include both men an women.
It is that affirmation that makes the recent ruling by the executive committee all the more difficult to understand.
They have - for some reason - ventured some 180 degrees away from what they state is their own policy!
No one controls them - and they know it
These guys - certainly the majority on the executive committee are men - have just moved the "equal rights" movement back into the dark ages.
Not since the days of Avery Brundage - surrounded by his exclusive band of operating generals - who for many, many, years was the egotistical giant of the Olympic Games and international competitions, has such a blow been dealt to sports.
For instance, while the executive committee was saying "no" to women's ski jumping - which has been around for as long as the sport of ski jumping was first recognized as such, in the 1880s, in Norway - they were saying "yes" to the inclusion of something called "skiercross" to the 2010 winter games in Vancouver.
They approved what?
No one really understands the rationale behind the decision to not include women's ski jumping - including I suspect those members who voted against it - in the games at Vancouver.
President and chief executive officer of the U.S. Ski Association - and a vice president on the governing council of the international federation, Bill Marolt, is quoted in "Ski Racing" - a magazine that highlights snow sport competitions - "It's really hard to understand the decision on women's ski jumping. This is a sport in which women have participated at the highest levels for many years. It has an established international competition circuit with a strong pool of athletes."
Three years ago the international federation established a Continental Cup series for international competitions in women's ski jumping.
In May of this year, the international federation voted to recommend that women's ski jumping be included in 2009 World Championships.
They also recommended that the sport be included in the 2010 games in Vancouver.
Everything looked like it was set to go. Then came the "exclusion" decision by the executive committee.
It's the principle
Anyone, even if you have never heard of women ski jumpers, or ever knew there was such a sport, who has a penchant for justice, ought to be appalled that such a backward decision could be made in this day and age.
Anyone who thinks the decision should, somehow be reversed - just because it would be the right thing to do - should let those executive committee members know.
Here are the executive committee members and their e-mail addresses: President Jacques Rogges, Belgium, jacques.rogge@olympic.org; Mano Vazquez Rana, Mexico, mver@oem.com.mx; Denis Oswald, Switzerland, etude@denis-oswald.com; Zaiqing Yu, China, yuzq@olympic.cn; Mario Pescante, Italy, olmemmpe@ibmmail.com; Sam Ramsamy, South Africa, ntombim@nocsa.co.za; Gerhard Heiberg, Norway, gerhard.heiberg@ioc.olympic.org; Richard Carrion, Puerto Rico, rcarrion@bppr.com; Ottavio Cinquanta, Italy, sumi@tin.it; Dr. Thomas Bach, Germany, drthbach.aol.com; Chiharu Igaya, Japan, chiharu.igayu@ ioc.olympic.org; and, Gunilla Lindberg, Sweden gunilla.lindberg@sok.se.
There are a few others on the committee, but they do not have an e-mail address listed.
Here are some considerations
You may never have heard of ski jumping as a sport for young girls and women. If not, then you will be surprised that - on a regular basis - women are flying well past 100 meters! That's more than the length of a football field!
That however, should not stop you from being incensed about an effort to snub a large portion of women throughout the world - by a few people - who have lobbied themselves into a position to do just that.
Consider that ski jumping has been a part of the Winter Games since 1924.
Consider that ski jumping is the only Winter Games sport which does not include women as competitors.
Consider that the decision of the executive committee was completely arbitrary on the part of a selected few "Old Guard" types who must have acted with - what must be - some hidden agenda.
Consider how much we have come to appreciate the efforts by women athletes in sporting ventures - both summer and winter - on many different levels of competitions.
Then, consider dropping any or all of the "Old Guard" members listed above, a note of protest.
Even if we can't alter their decision, at least we can let them know how wrong they were to make it!
Quick takeoffs
The demise of prep sports coverage took a turn for the worse with the recent announcement that JIM WELLS and MIKE FERMOYLE of the ST. PAUL Pioneer Press, have opted to take a "buy out" and an early retirement. Congrats and best wishes to those two! Either would be hard to replace, but both at the same time? The already meager coverage of prep sports on the pages of the local rag just took a turn in the wrong direction. It's a sad state, but you can look for more and more coverage of the pros and even less said about the prepsters . . . TARTAN grads, DAN MULLEN and ZACK RYAN, are teammates on the UW-EAU CLAIRE men's basketball team. A recent press release from the Blugolds athletic department, said, "With two seconds left in regulation, ZACK RYAN made a game-winning lay-up . . ." that gave UWEC a 63-62 victory over UW-RIVER FALLS . . . NORTH grad, ALLIE THUNSTROM - 2006 Ms. Hockey - plying her talents for BOSTON College this season, is featured in the Eagles women's hockey media guide . . . NORTH grad ADAM WILLIAMS was a letter winner in football this past fall at CORNELL College (Mount Vernon, Iowa) . . . Hey RUTH, you hang in there !
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