THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mixed in with the joy women ski jumpers felt from the IOC’s decision Wednesday to include them at the next Winter Olympics is a frustration over the long fight it took to have their sport added to the Games.
Being given the chance to compete at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, is "a dream come true," for Charlotte Mitchell. But the 16-year-old ski jumper from Calgary remembers the nightmare of being excluded from the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
"You’d think women should be equal to men," said Mitchell, who was part of an unsuccessful legal battle to have the sport added in Vancouver. "We were at the level in 2010 to be able to compete.
"It (the court case) paid off and helped get us a lot of publicity and got the issue out there. It was kind of ridiculous we had to go to that length."
Fellow ski jumper Katie Willis said the strength and conviction shown by the women should be an example.
"I hope people get inspired from our fight," said Willis, 19, who didn’t compete last winter so she could study engineering at McGill University in Montreal.
"It does show you really have to work hard sometimes to get what you deserve. It’s not always easy. It’s worth it when you get it in the end."
The International Olympic Committee executive board, meeting in London, also approved the addition of men’s and women’s ski halfpipe, mixed relay in biathlon and team events in luge and figure skating.
"The inclusion of these events … is sure to be appreciated by athletes and sports fans alike," said IOC President Jacques Rogge. "These are exciting, entertaining events that perfectly complement the existing events on the sports program, bring added appeal and increase the number of women participating at the games."
Proposals to add slopestyle events in snowboard and freestyle skiing and a team Alpine skiing event were put on hold for further review.
Adding the new events could boost Canada’s medal count in Sochi.
Mitchell and Taylor Henrich, a 15-year-old from Calgary, are considered top prospects to contend in Russia. In ski halfpipe, Mike Riddle of Squamish, B.C., and Rosalind Groenewoud of Calgary are reigning world champions.
Canadian athletes have also won several World Cup medals in team luge. The depth of the Canadian figure skating program would give Canada a chance at the podium in team skating.
Considering the hard line the IOC took against women’s ski jumping, Willis was surprised by the quick nod other events received.
"It is a little hard to see," Willis said. "We have been fighting for over four years, then they get in right away? There was obviously something weird from the start.
"We have had to work harder."
The IOC twice rejected women’s ski jumping for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, saying the sport lacked enough elite competitors. Women jumpers took their case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, but failed to overturn the IOC decision.
The women held a world championships in Oslo in early March. A series of World Cup competitions are scheduled for this winter.
Ski jumping and Nordic combined, which features ski jumping and cross-country skiing, have been the only Winter Olympic events open only to men.
Brent Morrice, chairman of Ski Jumping Canada, said including the women at the Olympics will help improve the men’s program.
"It’s going to impact it positively," said Morrice. "It’s good for the sport.
"When we have winners, it changes the entire culture of the sport. We are no longer just accepting being competitive. We want to win."
Just hours after the IOC announcement Morrice met with Own the Podium officials to discuss more funding for ski jumping.
"Everything we do now is currently volunteer," said Morrice. "We will have a little bit more money come into the system and we can turn our organization into a professional organization and develop better athletes."
Riddle said having ski halfpipe at the Olympics will make the Games more relevant to a younger audience.
"Having ski halfpipe is going to bring in a bit more of the youth demographics that the IOC and the Olympics want to capitalize on," said Riddle.
"It’s going to bring it to a much larger crowd of people."
For the last several years the halfpipe skiers have paid for their coaches and travel costs out of their own pockets. They will now receive funding from the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association.
"There will be way more opportunity to have good coaching, and training camps and safe places to learn all the new tricks," Riddle said.
Walter Corey, high-performance director for the Canadian Luge Association, said the team luge has proven popular when held at World Cups.
Unlike other luge competitions, the team event is held on one day, has continuous actions, and can take just a couple of hours to complete.
"Of all the races we do, this is the most entertaining, the most crowd interactive," said Corey. "You can see it because there is no real break.
"Compared to the Olympic format, it is an event where you can come out and see the event and the medals are awarded that day. It’s a nice, clean cut event."
Not having their events added to the Games left some athletes frustrated.
"We feel like we have just as strong a field as the halfpipe skiers and snowboarders," said Kaya Turski of Montreal, a world champion silver medallist in slopestyle skiing.
"I hope it’s just a matter of it being delayed and they aren’t just trying to postpone a bad answer for us."
Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s sports director, said more time was needed to study the technical aspects of the slopestyle and Alpine team events.
They could still be added to the Sochi program. A final decision on those events is expected in late May or early June.
In ski halfpipe, skiers score points for performing tricks and jumps on the same course used for the snowboard halfpipe.
U.S women’s ski jumpers gathered in Park City, Utah, for a teleconference to listen to the announcement that their sport would be included in Sochi.
"It’s a relief," said Lindsey Van, the 2009 world champion. "We worked really hard for this. It feels really good to finally finish it. It’s just a big relief for me and I’m really excited for the future of the sport."
At 26, Van is unsure whether she’ll still be competing in three years.
"I was fighting for the sport and the future of the sport, not necessarily for my future," she said. "So, it’s exciting to see what happens in the future."
