Representatives for women ski jumpers say they are determined to move their "cause forward" after meeting with government officials, Canadian Olympic Committee members, Sport Canada, and officials with the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee officials Friday.

The Calgary meeting was called by various groups interested in getting women's ski jumping on to the program at the 2010 Olympic games. Brent Morrice of Ski Jump Canada told CTV News that meeting attendees worked out a strategy to best make their case to the International Olympic Committee to reverse its 2006 decision to exclude the sport.

Canada's women ski jumpers have been fighting to get women's ski jumping into the Games, but the IOC has repeatedly said the sport has not met its stringent standards. Men's ski jumping will be included at the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics. Female ski jumpers and their supporters say their exclusion is tantamount to gender discrimination.

"I think VANOC and the COC, Sport Canada and the government of Canada -- everyone -- believes in equality in this country and we're promoting that," said Brent Morrice, the chair of Ski Jumping Canada.

"Everyone in the room (at the meeting) agreed that this is a good thing and the right thing to do and it's time to move it forward."

Ski Jumping Canada will call on the International Ski Association to press the IOC to allow the women's ski jumping event at the Olympics in 2010. It has supported the sport's inclusion in the past.

Those at the meeting did not give many more details about the strategy they'll employ in their effort to convince the IOC officials to change its decision. But they said there was a consensus that the various groups, including VANOC, will try to find ways to work together to lobby the International Ski Federation and the IOC.

"(VANOC) is in a difficult position," said Ron Read, a technical director for Canada's ski jump team.

"But I think we all sat and we (have) a common goal... we think we're right. We think this is important. We're in this to support our athletes."

VANOC officials have said they support women's ski jumping, but their role is to help Vancouver-Whistler prepare for the Olympic Games in 2010. Read said there was no one in the room that wanted the drive for women's participation at the Games to stop.

Jan Willis, the mother of Canadian Ski Jumper Katie Willis, said she and the athletes are heartened by the support they've received for their cause from government, sporting officials, and the Canadian public.

"I think (the support) is really helping the girls, too," Willis said after the meeting.

"They're all heading off (Saturday) for six weeks in Europe for competitions and I know that's really given them a lot of support and energy to really show that they deserve to be in the Olympics."

Willis had helped file a human rights complaint about the exclusion of women ski jumpers from the Games. Ottawa jumped into the fray as part of a settlement of the complaint, and has said it will help women ski jumpers make their case before the IOC.

The lack of female competitors in Olympic ski jumping is an accident of history. Any new Olympic event added since 1991 must 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.

The IOC has argued that there have not been enough competitive athletes to justify the inclusion of women's ski jumping at the 2010 games. They've also said the sport has not held the required number of world championships.

But advocates of women's ski jumping say the sport has broader appeal than some others included in the Vancouver-Whistler Games. They say there are 135 female ski jumpers in 16 countries.

With files from The Canadian Press