The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee responded Friday to a lawsuit filed by women ski jumpers who are not permitted to compete in the 2010 Winter Games.
In a statement of defence filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court, VANOC said the plaintiffs -- which include six of the world's top ten women ski jumpers -- have sued the wrong defendant.
VANOC also said it has no power to alter a decision by the International Olympic Committee, which has determined that women's ski jumping will not be an event in the 2010 Olympic Games.
The VANOC statement of defence is in response to a lawsuit filed last week by the women ski jumpers, which alleges that not allowing women to compete is a violation of their Canadian Charter of Rights.
However, VANOC said it is not bound by the Charter of Rights because it is not a government entity within the meaning of section 32 of the charter.
The women ski jumpers' argument is similar to a complaint filed by the Canadian jumpers with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2007 -- that the Canadian government shouldn't be providing public money for an organization they say discriminates against women.
But VANOC said there would be no basis for prohibiting men from ski jumping at the 2010 Games on the grounds that women were precluded from ski jumping at the games.
VANOC said it has actively encouraged the use by women of the ski jumping facilities at the Whistler Olympic Park since the facilities were opened, and said it will continue to do so in a bid to assist the development of the sport.
