CTV reports International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge sent a letter dated September 18, in which he again denied the appeal of a group of women ski jumpers that hoped to be included in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
A letter was reportedly sent to the IOC by the group in early September to the IOC asking for clarification on how women’s ski jumping has failed to meet the technical requirements for inclusion at an Olympic Games.
In denying the women’s request, Rogge had said in an initial exchange of letters in August, “the reason why we took the decision not to include women’s ski jumping was made strictly on a technical basis and absolutely not on gender grounds”.
There were no additional details in the most recent letter from the IOC, reports CTV, which said, “we continue to work…for the inclusion of women in the Olympics and in amateur sports, as well as in the fields of sports leadership and administration, and your commitment to your sport and its development will greatly assist in this domain”.
In a statement released Friday the women said, “we are disappointed it does not address our specific query about the technical requirements we fail to meet. We are confident we do indeed meet all the universality and technical requirements needed to participate fully at the Olympics. We will now concentrate our efforts on the appeal of our legal case to be heard in the BC Court of Appeal November 12-13, 2009.
