Excerptcize

I’m in the middle of getting ready to fly home so I don’t have much time to read and write, but this article’s headline “Top court spurns Olympic ski jumpers”, caught my eye for two reasons. First for it’s inaccuracy; as the article is discussing the possibility of the supreme court hearing a case about allowing female ski jumpers into the upcoming 2010 games, there are currently no female Olympic jumpers to spurn. My second qualm is with the use of  the word ‘spurn’ itself. That term has connotations of contempt built into it. The court is dealing with a legal matter not choosing a lover. I cannot speak to the courts decision with any real authority, but it seems like a rather simple matter; in neglecting to take the case up the court is affirming the lower courts decision that they do not have standing to enforce the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the International Olympic Committee. Personally, I would love to see female ski jumpers in the Olympics and see no coherent reason for the IOC not to include them; the current field of competitive female ski jumpers is much more robust than other sports with female participation at the time of their introduction into the Olympics. My own personal feelings that the IOC have erred in their decision have no bearing on whether the Supreme Court of Canada has the authority to intervene in this matter. From my next to nothing understanding of our charter, I do not believe this is a matter where the court has any standing here. In this particular instance it seems the courts own view seems to have aligned with my own limited one. In no way is this a controversial ruling, nor does it say anything about gender equality in Canada. The real troubling issue is the largely legal vacuum that the IOC exists in, in any country in which it runs operations.

None of this is to say that I think this story should dissappear. On the contrary, one of the biggest themes I’ve hit upon in my short time writing in this here weblog is my belief that the world stage that hosting the Olympics will provide should be co-opted wherever possible, and this is just one more example of this; an opportunity for, as they say, a ‘teachable moment.’T

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