The women ski jumpers suing VANOC for inclusion in the 2010 Olympics will appear in the B.C. Court of Appeal today and tomorrow.
“We will ask the court to consider whether the (International Olympic Committee) can force VANOC to discriminate when it’s carrying out a government activity,” said Ross Clark, the jumpers’ lawyer, in a statement yesterday.
“We don’t agree with the trial judge’s findings that the (IOC) is the final authority.”
The IOC ruled in 2006 to keep women’s ski jumping off the Olympic program for technical reasons and said it didn’t meet the criteria established for inclusion in the Games.
VANOC officials have publicly stated their support for the jumpers’ cause, but Deedee Corradini, president of Women’s Ski Jumping USA and former mayor of Salt Lake City, said so far, organizers have failed to step up.
“Support would be VANOC taking the jumpers’ position to the IOC itself rather than having the athletes take on the fight themselves,” she said in a release.
