The
medical consensus may have shifted away from the wandering womb since
then, but the underlying objection has remained the same: Biology
presents an insuperable handicap. "Don't forget, it's like jumping down
from, let's say, about two meters on the ground about a thousand times a
year, which seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point
of view," said the head of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Gian
Franco Kasper, in 2005. (He later retracted the statement).
medical consensus may have shifted away from the wandering womb since
then, but the underlying objection has remained the same: Biology
presents an insuperable handicap. "Don't forget, it's like jumping down
from, let's say, about two meters on the ground about a thousand times a
year, which seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point
of view," said the head of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Gian
Franco Kasper, in 2005. (He later retracted the statement).
Let's point out what should be pretty obvious already: Ski jumping is hard on women's bodies. That's because it's hard on everyone's
bodies—on knees and knee ligaments, in particular, not on reproductive
organs. The IOC's Medical Commission itself stated the equivalent of "no
duh" in a special report in 2002, writing that, in sports in general,
"The female reproductive organs are better protected from serious
athletic injury than the male organs. Serious sports injuries to the
uterus or ovaries are extremely rare." Lindsey Van, one of the three
women jumping for the U.S. this year and the winner in 2009 of the first
Nordic World Ski Championships to include women, put the matter more
colorfully to NBC last year:
"It just makes me nauseous. Like, I kind of want to vomit. Like,
really? Like, I'm sorry, but my baby-making organs are on the inside.
Men have an organ on the outside. So if it's not safe for me jumping
down, then my uterus is going to fall out, what about the organ on the
outside of the body?"
bodies—on knees and knee ligaments, in particular, not on reproductive
organs. The IOC's Medical Commission itself stated the equivalent of "no
duh" in a special report in 2002, writing that, in sports in general,
"The female reproductive organs are better protected from serious
athletic injury than the male organs. Serious sports injuries to the
uterus or ovaries are extremely rare." Lindsey Van, one of the three
women jumping for the U.S. this year and the winner in 2009 of the first
Nordic World Ski Championships to include women, put the matter more
colorfully to NBC last year:
"It just makes me nauseous. Like, I kind of want to vomit. Like,
really? Like, I'm sorry, but my baby-making organs are on the inside.
Men have an organ on the outside. So if it's not safe for me jumping
down, then my uterus is going to fall out, what about the organ on the
outside of the body?"