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US Women #1 -- But Not At Olympics! Media focusing on exclusion of women . . . articles & videos 
The European swing in the
Ladies
Continental Cup (LCOC), Feb 9-18, 2006, just happened to overlap
the Olympics, which excludes women from ski jumping. The US media has been focusing on this
story, and it's gotten a lot of attention on the air, in print, and on websites and blogs. On Sunday Feb
12 the US Women won the all nations team competition in Schoenwald GER. They consistently posted
high scores in four individual events as well. Pictured L-R are Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome, Abby Hughes,
Alissa Johnson, Elisabeth Anderson, & Brenna Ellis ... click photo to view
a larger image.
athlete photos & bios
There are efforts underway to gain Olympic status for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. These young women are NOT asking to do something they're not already doing! They train on the K90 and K120 Olympic jumps at Park City eleven months a year, and compete all season on Olympic-sized hills in the FIS Ladies Continental Cup. Yet they are excluded from the Olympics to "protect" them, a decision made, of course, by old men, who appear to be protecting the the SPORT from the WOMEN, not vice-versa. Click WSJUSA logo in right column for more info on women's jumping. Scroll down this page for recent news & results.
US Women 3rd, 5th, 14th in Breitenberg LCOC Feb 18
Sagen Wins, Van 2nd in Saalfelden LCOC Feb 15
US Women - The Best In The World!
US Women 2-3-4-5 in Schoenwald LCOC Feb 11
US Women 3-5-7 in Baiersbronn LCOC Feb 9
ABC Interviews US Female Jumpers In an important part of the feature, it showed YOUNG KIDS learning on a small hill. Compliments to those who chose to include this aspect of ski jumping! In your webmaster's opinion, this three minutes of exceptional coverage may have been the best ever seen about this sport on American TV. Good for our female athletes, good for the sport, and good for potential fans who might come out to see some live ski jumping ... and good for parents who might let their little girls (and boys) give this cool sport a try at a young age on a small hill. International Ski Federation (FIS) president and IOC poo-bah Gian Franco Kasper's inane, illogical, and irrelevant opinion about this sport being too hard on girls "for medical reasons" shows exactly what women are up against in trying to gain Olympic status in ski jumping. It's clear that the only thing they need to be protected against is this kind of archaic thinking. Maybe Kasper is trying to protect the sport from the girls! These world-class athletes have grown up training on the OLYMPIC jumps in Park City eleven per year, and they already compete on Olympic-sized hills in the Ladies Continental Cup series! All they're asking is to be INCLUDED IN THE OLYMPICS! It's not like they're asking to TRY something they're not already good at! For an amateur athlete, the Olympics are the pinnacle, and to shut out this sport and admit women to EVERY OTHER DISCIPLINE is simply illogical and discriminatory. All in all, the whole tone of the presentation was summed up beautifully by Elizabeth Vargas' comment "They think it's too dangerous for girls, but not for boys?!" ... which was followed immediately by Charlie Gibson's knowing smirk, and the comment "Come on, Gian Franco, get with it!" A golden moment, indeed. For ABC, we have nothing but praise and thanks for a stellar presentation on our favorite sport ... and our world-class female jumpers! Learn more at www.wsjusa.com.
Lake Placid ST & COC October 7-9
Sagen returns to winning form in Ladies' Continental Cup
North Americans Rock at Park City!
On Friday evening, Sept 30, a new documentary film, "Jump Like A Girl", was shown
before a large and enthusiastic audience atthe Egyptian Theatre in Park City. A reception
with crew, cast, and many of the female athletes preceded the film. To learn more about the
film, visit
www.jumplikeagirl.com.
To see the complete poster, click image at left!
Women Aim for Olympic Inclusion in 2010 Women ski jump, too, and they do it very well, indeed. But there's no women's ski jumping at the Olympics! There are a number of countries which field good women's teams in the Ladies' Continental Cup series, an international competitive circuit introduced in 2004 by the FIS. We regularly publish updates from the coach of the US Women's Team, Casey Colby ... you can find these updates via a link under "Coaches' Comments" in right column. Womens Ski Jumping USA, based in Park City, Utah, has a superb development program for female ski jumpers, and they're working toward the goal of gaining women's inclusion for the 2010 games in Vancouver. We urge you to visit their website and find out more about their organization, and to support this cause in any way you can. There's a really cool film about female ski jumpers' quest for Olympic inclusion: www.jumplikeagirl.com. It features US jumpers Lindsey Van and Jessica Jerome, and Norway's Anette Sagen; it premiered in Park City on Sept 30, 2005, in conjunction with a Ladies' Continental Cup (LCOC) tournament ... the Egyptian Theatre was packed with an enthusiastic crowd after a reception at Robert Redford's Zoom! restaurant. Click the poster image (above left) to view a larger copy in PDF format, which you can then print out. Thanks to Vic Method for supplying this dramatic poster! |
On Wednesday, Feb 8, the sport of ski jumping was the subject of a terrific ABC News
feature that reached millions of American households. It offered a very positive look at
three world-class athletes who won't be going to Torino ... "because the Olympics
doesn't want them." John Quinones interviewed Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome,
and Alissa Johnson ... and it included action footage shot from some very good vantage points
at Park City (no dumb head-on "falling down an elevator" shots). Pictured with John Quinones
L-R, Alissa Johnson, Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome. Please take a bit of time to view
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