Women ski jumpers announced Tuesday that the courts have set a hearing date for their civil lawsuit against VANOC, but a successful outcome may cast doubt on whether their male peers will be able to compete in the 2010 Games.
The group announced in Vancouver that their lawsuit will have a hearing on April 20.
"We are pleased to be progressing in our lawsuit, and this allows enough time for the women's events to be added to the 2010 program," said DeeDee Corradini, a spokesperson for the group.
The hearing will come 11 months after 10 female ski jumpers from six countries launched a gender discrimination lawsuit in the B.C. Supreme Court on May 21, 2008.
They are suing VANOC (the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) because the ski jump facility has been paid for by taxpayers' money, and must follow Canada's laws against discrimination.
In 2006, the International Olympic Committee voted against including women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympics, saying the sport wasn't sufficiently developed to meet the criteria for Olympic inclusion.
Zoya Lynch, a Canadian ski jumper who hopes to compete in 2010, said the court date is a small victory.
"It's great. It's kind of something to keep us going and it's just really nice to know there are dates being set and things are happening and this is real and we're going through with it," Lynch told CTV's Canada AM.
The other plaintiffs in the civil suit include ski jumpers from Norway, Germany, Slovenia, Austria and the U.S. Another Canadian, Marie-Pierre Morin, is also included in the suit.
'Discrimination'
The legal action seeks a declaration that allowing men's ski jumping events, while failing to include women's, violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Brent Morrice, chairperson of Ski Jumping Canada, has been a strong supporter of the women's right to be included in 2010. But he said the lawsuit may have negative consequences for the male ski jumpers.
"Part of their lawsuit is that if they can't compete, then neither should the males compete," he told CTV Newsnet. "I don't believe anybody -- including the girls -- want that to happen."
He added that he "truly hoped" the matter would be settled before the hearing date, and the IOC would reverse its decision and allow the women to jump.
"We're not asking for another event. They just want to jump with the guys," he said.
"I see the girls jumping over 100 metres; I see the guys jumping over 100 metres. It's very difficult to see a difference when they're in the air."
Ross Clark, a lawyer for the group, said the IOC's decision to exclude female ski jumpers from the Winter Games is discriminatory. He said there is a precedent for the late addition of Olympic events, noting that bobsleigh and skeleton were both added just two years before the 2004 Olympics.
"And in each of those examples, you're talking about a whole new sport," Clark said. "We're simply talking about a small event that's part of a sport that's already there. The men are already there in that sport."
The IOC has maintained that the women's sport is simply not sufficiently developed to warrant inclusion in the Games.
Hands are tied: VANOC
VANOC has maintained it has no influence in the matter, and has always been willing to accommodate the women's event, if the IOC decided to include it on the roster.
Ross said women ski jumpers have effectively been "grandmothered" out of an Olympic event, due to an IOC loophole.
Since 1991, any new Olympic event added must, by IOC regulations, include a competition for men and women.
But ski jumping has been an Olympic sport since the 1924 Olympics, excluding the sport from the gender-equality requirement.
One of the members of the civil suit, U.S. ski jumper Lindsey Van, has said the group would not be satisfied with having their sport included as a demonstration event, arguing it should qualify as a full medal event.
