Women skiers are underrated

The International Olympic Committee's vote to deny women the right to leap off ski jumps in the 2010 Olympics was, to me, one of those surprising but not unexpected decisions.

It seemed like the right thing to do, so why should we be surprised at the IOC doing the wrong thing? It's happened before.

There are, after all, only two events in the Olympics — ski jumping and nordic combined — without a division for women. So why go with something so traditional in winter sports as ski jumping and go with something with a real history like skicross?

And if you don't know what skicross is, don't feel bad. I asked a dozen people, at random, the other day if they knew what it was and two knew and the remaining 10 had no idea.

Skicross is like snowboardcross, which was included in the Torino Olympics, except it's done on skis. Skiers race against other skiers down a twisty, bumpy, rock-hard course, with the first skier to cross the finish being declared the winner. It's an event made for TV.

Now the challenge comes in building a team. There is none within the U.S. Ski Team ranks right now. There is, however, an organization for women jumpers, and, it just so happens, many of the world's best female jumpers are from Park City.

One argument against the women was there are not enough nations with elite women jumpers to qualify. Supporters claim there are more than a dozen nations with female jump teams.

That's nearly twice as many nations as there were supporting women's bobsled when it was admitted in 2002.

Women's Ski Jumping USA countered that women's skicross, which was accepted for inclusion in Vancouver 2010, has half the number of athletes and competes in less than half the number of competitions on just one continent.

Gian Franco Kasper, IOC member and FIS president, reportedly told National Public Radio that ski jumping "seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view."

Was he talking injuries?

Check out the knees of the women downhill racers sometime. Picabo Street had major surgery on both her right and left knees, and has a long list of less serious injuries, like concussions, broken bones, sprains, bumps, cuts and bruises.

I'd sooner crash on the slope of soft snow off the 90-meter jump than fall at 80 miles per hour on a hill of ice.