Women's ski jumping lawsuit wraps up in Vancouver

Judge could take as long as three months to decide, lawyers say

Last Updated: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 | 2:38 PM ET

CBC Sports

Female ski jumpers are fighting the IOC's decision to keep their sport out of the 2010 Olympics. From left, Meaghan Reid, of Calgary; Lindsey Van, of Park City, Utah; Karla Keck, of Oconomowoc, Wisc.; and Jessica Jerome, of Park City. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press) Legal arguments over whether Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC, are at the crux of a B.C. Supreme Court case that wrapped up Friday.

Fifteen former and current women ski jumpers are suing VANOC for their sport's exclusion from the 2010 Winter Olympics

The women say the committee is a government-controlled agency, so the charter must be respected; if men are jumping in the Games, women should too.

VANOC argued the government doesn't exert enough control over the committee to allow the court to consider if providing the Games is a government service and therefore, the charter doesn't apply.

Besides that, VANOC argued, the choice to keep women's ski jumping off the program in 2010 wasn't up to them, but rather to the International Olympic Committee — which isn't governed by Canadian law.

Ross Clark, the lawyer for the women, said the issue is whether the IOC can come into Canada and operate oblivious to Canadian law.

"Nobody has really told them what we say the law is," Clark said outside court on Friday.

"And if we're right, then they may show a very different attitude."

All or nothing

The women are seeking a court declaration that VANOC must either hold women's ski jumping in 2010 or no ski jumping events at all.

Clark and VANOC lawyer George Macintosh said they didn't see any of the justice's questions as an indication of how she would decide.

"It's not a case where winning and losing is quite as obvious as it is in some cases," said Macintosh.

He added that VANOC supports the cause of the women but simply has no control over the status of their sport within the Olympic movement.

The committee is committed to doing whatever it can to get the women ready for potential inclusion at the 2014 Games in Sochi, said a VANOC spokesman.

Daily conversations about the case were being held between VANOC and the IOC, but no plans are being made to include the women until the court decision.

The committee has also backed away from an earlier claim that the case being decided in favour of the women could mean the IOC never again awards a Games to Canada.

IOC declines comment

The IOC has declined all comment on the case.

They refer back to their 2006 decision to keep women's ski jumping off the program for technical reasons, saying it didn't meet the criteria established for inclusion in the Games.

For example, the first world championship event for the sport was only held this past winter.

The women argue that their sport has since developed to the level required by the IOC so they should now be included in the Games.

A last-minute addition to the program isn't beyond the realm of possibility, said Renee Smith-Valade, vice-president of communications for VANOC, but not easy.

"It becomes increasingly difficult as things like the sports schedule, the broadcast schedule, the confirmations in the [athletes] village. Hundreds of different logistics have progressed on the understanding that women's ski jumping would not be in," she said.

Lawyers estimate the judge could take as long as three months to decide. Both sides will have the right to appeal.

The Olympics will be held from Feb. 12 to 28, 2010.