Sexism and the IOC

When you're involved with providing a sports program for kids, you occasionally hear about something that just plain is wrong -- and when it affects one of the kids in your program, you have at least some obligation to try to set it right. When you are involved on behalf of a church, you have even more obligation to do the right thing.

Well, although my church program does not include ski jumping (our field is flat as a pancake -- maybe we could do biathlon) we do have a couple of kids who do jump competitively, and others who occasionally participate who jump very competitively.

Did you know that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not permit women to ski jump in the Olympics?

I didn't either until I read this article in the New York Times today.

Nope, the old goats permit women to box, and to play rugby as Olympic sports, but they cannot ski jump. The IOC raises what is pretty clearly a lame excuse: that there isn't enough competition for women in ski jumping to permit them to have sufficient experience. Well, here in the very small town of Salisbury, Connecticut, we have ski jumping (open to both sexes and competitive for both) and we are definitely the minor leagues.

Fact is that the only possible reason that women cannot jump in the Winter Olympics is pure, unadulterated sexism. "Oh dear, the poor things might hurt themselves!" one can hear those blue-blazered old buffoons of the IOC muttering into their Dom Perignons.

But these are the same buffoons who HAVE approved women boxing and women's rugby as Olympic sports. How can that be? Easy answer: "ladies" don't box and don't play rugby -- but they DO ski! What if some well-bred young lady suddenly got it into her head that she wanted to -- gasp -- ski jump?

The whole thing is absurd on the face of it, but I guess we have a crusade to mount -- just to get women the right to compete in ski jumping at an Olympic level.

Where to begin?