The British Columbia court of appeals ruled in favor of the IOC that women’s ski jumpers can’t compete in the Olympics. The women will appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, but with about 3 months to go until the games, it is unlikely that they will be able to compete this Olympics.
Roughly a dozen current and former women’s ski jumpers are in Canadian court this week as they have one last gasp to get women’s ski jumping into the 2010 Olympics. The British Columbia appeals court will meet at 10 AM local time this morning to get a final determination on whether or not women will be allowed in Vancouver. The attorney for the women’s ski jumpers, Ross Clark, says the IOC is engaging in gender discrimination, and by doing so is forcing VANOC to do the same.
Deborah Folka, who works in PR in Vancouver, said that this won’t be over until the women ski jumpers are included in the Olympics, adding that they can still appeal to the Canadian Supreme Court.
Also helping their cause will be the throngs of media out to cover the event.
“Most of the networks in the U.S. and Canada will be covering the appeal — we have everyone from the BBC to Al Jazzera.”
The World Cup has started out well for American Jessica Hardy, as she broke her own world record in the 50M breaststroke. She clocked in with a time of 28.96.
Interestingly, Hardy could have this world record taken away from her. She is just returning from a one year ban for taking a performance enhancing supplement. She had mixed a powdered supplement called Arginine Extreme. Since it was a contaminated supplements, she only had to serve a one year ban. However, FINA is arguing that it should be a two year ban, and if they win she will be stripped of her world record.
Still, Hardy’s World Record is impressive no matter the outcome. To go under 29 seconds in the 50 probably won’t happen once we get back to the old suits, at least not for awhile.
Oh yeah, one more impressive note about Hardy’s record: she did it with a torn suit.
The greatest Olympian in history won’t be waiting until January 1, 2010 when the new full-body suits are made illegal to abandon them. He’ll be swimming the 100 free, 100 back, 100 butterfly and 200 IM at the European World Cup event in Sweden.
The new rules will limit suits to just above the knee. “I think it took something out of swimming by having the suits added. It took away from the personal accomplishment.” Phelps said.
One advantage he will have is that the World Cup event is only a 25 meter pool, have of the regulation 50 meter size. Phelps is probably the best turner in the world and will be able to use that to his advantage.
Head over to Fang’s Bites to watch it.
Dan Jansen was a guest on the Colbert Report tonight, and the subject of a sponsor for the Speedskating team came up, as US Speedskating has been coping with a $300,000 loss since their sponsor went bankrupt. Colbert (jokingly? maybe?) implied he (or the Colbert Nation) would like to sponsor the team. Jansen pressed a bit, saying he’d have to talk to someone in the know, like Executive Director Robert Crowley. To which Colbert replied “bring him out.”
Crowley came out on stage, produced a piece of paper which Colbert signed, and made it official. Stephen Colbert and Colbert Nation will be sponsoring the United States Speedskating Team at the Vancouver games.
Congrats to US Speedskating for finding a sponsor, and congrats to Colbert for being patriotic and supporting the Olympics.
Meb Keflezighi became the first American since 1982 to win the NYC Marathon when he did so on Sunday with a time of 2:09:15. It was a strong day all around for Americans: Ryan Hall finished 4th, Nick Arciniaga was 8th, Abdi Abdirahman was 9th, and Jason Lemkuhle was 10th, which gave the US six Top 10 finishers in this race for the first time since 1979.
Keflezigi is originally from Eritrea, a country formerly owned by Ethiopia, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t proud to win the marathon wearing the red white and blue.
“U.S.A. gave me all the opportunity in the world, education, sports, lifestyle,” Keflezighi said. “This is so special to me. This is really a special day.”
Before it begins its 45,000 kilometer journey, the longest route in just one country, the torch must first spend some time in Victoria, its first host. The relay is not off to a good start, however, as the plane carrying it arrived around an hour late.
Many protest groups are expected along the trail. Support for the games has dropped to around 50% in the host province of British Columbia. Protest groups are expected to protest, among other things, poverty, the environment, and aboriginal rights.
Sidney Crosby, who captained the Pittsburgh Penguins to the 2009 Stanley Cup, will be a torchbearer in the Vancouver 2010 relay. He will be carrying on November 18th in Halifax, Nova Scotia. According to Bell, a sponsor of the torch relay, Crosby was selected “because of his outstanding achievements in hockey and his unbridled passion for his home city, province and country.”
Crosby is originally a native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Even though he took some time off from competitive skating, Russia’s Yevgeny Plushenko proved that he still is the gold standard in men’s figure skating. The Russian won his home country’s Moscow Grand Prix in impressive fashion, showing off the most powerful jumps in the world, the same ones that helped him win the 2006 Gold medal in Torino. Athletically, Plushenko still has his A game, and at his best is unparalleled in that faced. While others, such as American Johnny Weir, who finished 4th in Moscow, will benefit from an increased emphasis on the sport’s elegance, Plushenko is still the man everyone is chasing.
Being that the tournament was in Moscow, how much of a hometown advantage was there in the scoring? It’s likely there was some inflating, but it is certain that come Vancouver, Plushenko will be gunning to be just the 2nd man ever to win 3 medals in men’s singles at the Olympics.
