The legal attempts of the ski jumpers to have their sport included as part of the Vancouver Olympic Games have failed:

“Women ski jumpers have been grounded after a B.C. court denied their appeal but they say they’re fine with men still getting their chance to soar at next year’s Olympics.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Friday that VANOC is not in breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by staging only men’s ski jumping at the Games. In the women’s original lawsuit, they asked that both sexes be allowed to jump or that the men be grounded as well.”

link to the article by Stig Nielsen for Metro Vancouver

[Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images]

Stephen Colbert is about to learn much, much more about speed skating. In an unlikely but welcomed match, Stephen Colbert and speed skating have joined together for the Vancouver Winter Games:

“… The “Colbert Report” host said that his viewers. the “Colbert Nation,” will now be the primary sponsor for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team when the squad goes to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

The announcement was made on his show Monday night. Earlier, the Netherlands-based DSB Bank in the Netherlands had dropped out as a team sponsor.”

link to the article by Matt Frisch for CNN

[Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival]

American Lindsey Vonn is an elite skier. She has been the World Cup overall champion twice. That is just one of her numerous accomplishments on the ski slopes. Ironically, she is better known away from the United States. By contrast, she is well recognized and immensely popular in Europe. However, her home country soon may know her much better with the forthcoming Vancouver Winter Games:

“… get used to hearing Lindsey Vonn’s name.

When the lights go up in February at the Vancouver Winter Games and the downhill ski gates swing open, Vonn will burst right into the NBC spotlight.”

link to the article by Gil Lebreton for the Star-Telegram

[Photo by Agence Zoom/Getty Images]

For some Olympic athletes, funding is not a problem. An example of that is the U.S. Men’s basketball team. Each member of that team is a franchise player and their combined salaries would rival the economy of some small nations.

Other Olympic athletes are not so fortunate. There are not the spectacular salaries from sports nor the endorsement dollars from advertising campaigns. Athletic existence depends upon government programs, corporate donations and often family financial support. For some families of Olympic athletes, it means sacrifice to follow an athletic dream.

In Canada, funding for athletes is dwindling:

“… Funding cuts at Win-Sport Canada have already touched everything from speedskating to snowboard to women’s hockey to skeleton. And this comes in an Olympic year, with corporate and government support for athletes at an all-time high.

In response, Canadian Olympians–including Clara Hughes, Jeremy Wotherspoon (sp) and Melissa Hollingsworth–are speaking out about their fear for the next generation of Canadian athletes.”

link:  Funding cuts in the lead-up to the Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler have athletes worried about the future

The Olympic athletes have developed their skills through developmental programs and community sports opportunities. With the decrease in available funds, those grassroots programs will suffer. The children who might be future Olympians simply will not have the chance to develop their talents if the funding continues to disappear.

Catherine Forsythe

Each country participating in the Vancouver Winter Olympics will have to made a decision. Will they make the swine flu vaccination mandatory?

Dr. Bob McCormack is the team doctor for the Canadian Olympians. He considers the athletes to be a high risk group. That is understandable considering the exposure to very public venues and to other international athletes.

The Canadian Olympians will make a personal decision as to whether have the vaccination or not. One of the stars of the Canadian women’s hockey team will not be taking the vaccination:

“… Hockey team veteran Hayley Wickenheiser of Shaunavon, Sask., is one who’s not interested.

“We’ve been given the option to get the flu shot and the H1N1, but we’ve not really been told to get it or not get it,” she said. “It’s a personal choice and I choose not to get it.”

link:  Swine flu a threat to Canada’s performance

The medical staff of Olympic delegations usually have a full schedule tending to the injuries of their country’s athletes. Now, with swine flu concerns, the medical staff will be watching for any illness among the international athletes. The medical duties have multiplied significantly.

Catherine Forsythe

[Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images]

One of the most gorgeous venues for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics will be Whistler Ski Resort. Nestled in the Rockie Mountains, it is one of the world’s premier ski facilities and a place where the planet’s best skiers and snowboarders will gather. There have been extraordinary preparations in terms of security and surveillance to insure the safety of this ski venue.

Now there are concerns that the Google Street View product may be compromising privacy and security at this ski community:

“… While Canadians have been collecting bizarre and funny images from the online views of city streets since Google launched the application for 15 cities in Canada last week, others have been surprised by how close one can actually zoom in on a window or even view the backyard of a house.

For the folks at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and at least one local activist, the seemingly nifty web tool raises some pretty big questions about privacy, security and just how pervasive Google is becoming in daily life.”

link: ‘Street View’ sparks privacy, security concerns

For years Google Street View has raised privacy concerns. The images of people and locations were put online without expressed permission. In some countries, there has been a debate as to whether Google was contravening the privacy laws of existing legislation. The privacy and security issues with Google’s Street View become magnified when it is contrasted with the efforts to safeguard this Olympic venue.

Catherine Forsythe

The American delegation that travelled to Copenhagen might have been the most powerful contingent to campaign for an American city to host an Olympic Games. Even President Obama and his wife were in Copenhagen to help Chicago win its Olympic bid. It was bitter disappointment that Chicago did not win. It was the city that was elimination from contention in the first round. The city that eventually was selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games was Rio de Janeiro.

John POwers, in an article for the Boston Globe, examines some of the politics involved in the section of the host city:

“… The USOC’s internal squabbling and revolving-door chief executives (six in nine years) have made the committee appear unstable and vulnerable to power plays, like the IOC’s push to reduce the USOC’s cut from American TV fees (12.75 percent) and global marketing revenues (20 percent), which will jump from roughly $300 million to $450 million during this quadrennium.

Negotiations on that issue were postponed until after the 2016 vote but they’ll be back on the table soon, and with Probst and acting CEO Stephanie Streeter both under fire from the USOC’s domestic sports bodies the timing couldn’t be worse…”

link to the article by John Powers

The inclusion of golf as an Olympic sport has been welcomed by most golfers. Patrick Collins, in an article for The Daily Mail, has a contrarian opinion. He views golf as at odds with the ideals of the Olympic movement:

“… For an ‘inclusive’ sport, it is a shameful record of sexist bigotry. Of course, the United States is studded with men-only golf clubs, most notably Augusta National, the home of the Masters. Around 20 years ago, the embattled rednecks finally abandoned their efforts to keep out black members. They now take their stand against the admission of women.

Dawson has always been remarkably relaxed about all this. ‘It’s hardly life-threatening, is it?’ he once told an interviewer. ‘It is a game, after all. People play it and have fun.’ He added: ‘This is not to be complacent, but there’s no particular pressure from inside of golf about this, but the media clearly have it on their agenda.’”

link to the article by Patrick Collins

[Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images]

There were celebrations among fans and participants of golf and rugby as their sports received official recognition as Olympic events. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) made a further ruling by exclusion. Softball remains a non-Olympic sport and will not be included in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro:

“… Porter and his International Softball Federation based at the Plant City Stadium complex lobbied for four years to convince the International Olympic Committee that the sport deserved a spot in the competition. They contended the sport is enjoyed by millions around the world and warranted a spot in the Olympic lineup.

But a vote by the committee taken Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark reinstated golf and rugby for the 2016 and 2020 games but did not consider five other sports seeking to participate, including softball.”

link to the article by George H. Newman for The Tampa Tribune

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge is embarking upon dangerous ground, championing women’s right to compete in athletic competition. Western countries often are helpless when women are not allowed to participate in athletic activities for cultural or religious reasons. The IOC as an international body has great influence, but might also suffer consequences from its actions.

“At least one country could face sanctions from the International Olympic Committee for continuing to bar women from competing at the games, IOC president Jacques Rogge said Friday.

That country, along with two others – none of which he would identify – continue to exhibit “political, economical, cultural or religious” biases against women in sport, he said.”

link:  Newly re-elected IOC boss Rogge pushing women’s rights in sports

In the past, there have been Olympic boycotts, and the celebration of international athletics has been marred by political agendas. The danger Rogge must negotiate is to avoid alienating those countries which resist ideological change.

The Olympic movement is captured in the motto: “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” “Swifter, Higher, Stronger,” their focus for the athletes of the world. The notion of a meeting place for international athletes could be shattered if certain countries and their allies refuse to participate for cultural or religious differences.

Catherine Forsythe