Where new heights are being reached and old world records are being broken every day, there is still an Olympic sized hole at the Vancouver games: female ski jumping. It is still the last remaining sport in the Winter Olympics that the IOC has barred. Saying it is not female discrimination, IOC is insisting the decision was made on a “technical basis” because the sport was lacking in representatives and skill level across the board. However, the women’s ski jump has as many participants as the women’s bobsled along with some key jumpers like Lindsey Van (who, by the way, jumps on par with men and even higher).
Hypothetically speaking if the IOC were correct in saying skill is lacking, there is still the argument that disallowing women to compete in the first place disallows for any sort of competition to develop within the sport. With that said, here’s to you 2014. May the IOC grant women the right to jump in Sochi, Russia.