A 17-year-old female ski jumper has become the first active Canadian athlete to join a lawsuit over the sport's exclusion from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Zoya Lynch is among 10 female athletes -- most from the United States and Europe -- suing Vancouver Olympic organizers (VANOC) because female ski jumping isn't on the lineup for the 2010 Games.
Lynch, who has been ski jumping since she was a young girl and is now a member of the Canadian national team, says the case is about fighting for women's equality.
The athletes filed the suit with the B.C. Supreme Court in May 2008, arguing that if female ski jumpers are excluded from the Olympics then the men's competition should also be cancelled.
The only other Canadian connection has been Marie-Pierre Morin, a 26-year-old retired ski jumper who was among the first to join the lawsuit.
Not developed enough for competition
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted in 2006 to exclude women's ski jumping in 2010, saying the sport has not yet developed enough and that it didn't meet basic criteria for inclusion. Local organizers in Vancouver say they are simply following that decision.
The plaintiffs argue that allowing men's ski jumping but not women's violates their equality rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
While the Charter normally regulates only government actions, the suit claims the Olympics should be included because various levels of government are involved.
For example, in addition to the money spent on the Games, VANOC is subject to regular governmental review, and has government positions on its board of directors, the suit claims.
Demonstration sport
CTV Olympic host Brian Williams said even if the IOC doesn't deem the sport developed enough, it should at least make women's ski jumping a "demonstration sport" in Vancouver.
Demonstration sports, suspended in 1992 from Olympic Games, allow events to be showcased but medals don't officially count.
"Get them started on the road somewhere and what better place to do it than in Vancouver," Williams told CTV Newsnet in May.
But many of the women who filed the lawsuit have said they want to participate fully -- or not at all.
"(A demonstration sport is) not good enough. Why would we be there just to demonstrate when we're fully ready to be a medal sport," U.S. ski jumper Lindsey Van told CTV Newsnet.
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.
With a report from The Canadian Press
