Marolt: Good for skiercross, but why not jumping?

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association said Tuesday it was "especially excited" about the addition of skiercross to the Olympic schedule for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, but "disappointed" by the International Olympic Committee decision to ignore adding women's ski jumping.
PARK CITY, Utah — The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association said Tuesday it was "especially excited" about the addition of skiercross to the Olympic schedule for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, but "disappointed" by the International Olympic Committee decision to ignore adding women's ski jumping.
    "We're especially excited to see skicross added to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver," said Bill Marolt, president and CEO of USSA, which is the national governing body for Olympic skiing and snowboarding. "As we saw with the addition of snowboardcross in Torino, the head-to-head action sports are of great interest to youth and to fans worldwide.
    "Skicross is a relatively new sport with a developing athlete base in America and around the world. Our challenge now is to start identifying that athlete base as we head towards 2010."
    There currently is no skiercross team within the U.S. Ski Team, but the event was part of the 2005 FIS Freestyle World Championships and U.S. athletes competed.
    Skiercross, which has been likened to motocross on snow, is a core event in the new-this-winter $500,000 The Ski Tour in the United States, with athletes competing head-to-head in heats with four athletes racing down a course, which includes banked turns, rolls and high-speed action. Participants will include Daron Rahlves, the three-time Olympian and most successful U.S. male downhiller in history.
    Former World Cup alpine skier Zach Crist, one of the nation's top SX athletes, also hailed the IOC decision — and lamented the thumbs down on women's jumping.
    "It's good news for us; we were all anxious to hear. But, at the same time, I was hoping women's jumping would make it because that's a cool sport and they're exciting to watch," Crist said. "Skicross is a young sport so it's nice to have it recognized, and to be included in the Olympics.
    "The Ski Tour is a super unique situation with the athletes having good input with the promoters, and this will be quite a winter for us. It's an alternative event, should be lots of fun, have the music and big-stage entertainment with a bit of an edgy feel … and I think that's what people want. And I think we can bring that kind of energy and excitement to the Olympics, too," Crist said.
    At the same time, Marolt — a vice president of the International Ski Federation and member of its governing FIS Council — went on, "It's really hard to understand the decision on women's ski jumping. This is a sport in which women have participated at the highest levels for many years. It has an established international competition circuit with a strong pool of athletes.
    "We're disappointed in the decision of the IOC as we have felt that the athletes had progressed over the past decade to a position where the sport was ready for Olympic participation." He noted the U.S. Ski Team has named women to its ski jumping squad for the first time and women's jumping will be part of the FIS Nordic World Championships in 2009 and 2011; five U.S. women were in the top 15 women's jumpers on the sport a year ago, including Lindsey Van second and Jessica Jerome third.
    The IOC, despite its stated intention to bring gender equity to the Games, said women's jumping was not yet global enough with enough nations or participants. Ski jumping and nordic combined are the two ski sports which have no Olympic women's events, but there is no formal nordic combined women's circuit while women's jumping is in its third year as a Continental Cup schedule after several seasons as a Women's Grand Prix tour.
    U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner said, "This doesn't change our resolve to press forward with women's jumping. These women have the opportunity to compete to be the best in the world, whether they're given that opportunity in Vancouver or not. And we'll take full advantage of that by continuing our commitment to this team and to this sport."
    Marolt added, "As Luke indicated, we plan to continue to press the IOC to reverse its decision about women's jumping. It's not a question of 'owing' women another sport, but the simple fact is the number of athletes and nations participating are worthwhile, and the sport will be even larger by 2010. We feel strongly that it's important to add women's jumping to the Olympics."
    In addition, the executive board of the IOC voted Tuesday in Kuwait City not to add other snowsports disciplines, which were proposed for Vancouver, including the alpine team event.

— USSA