Awakened by the media din surrounding Lindsey Vonn, the US Olympic Alpine Skier, I looked back into the photo archive. I remember shooting a ski jumper by the same name at the Olympic Training Facility in upstate New York. I brought up the photos and found it strange that the woman in my pictures (see below) bore no resemblance to the Lindsey on TV... A quick check of the Wiki revealed something both fascinating and appalling: Lindsey Van, a world champion US Ski Jumper, (as opposed to Lindsey Vonn of alpine/downhill olympic fame,) is one of the main plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against the 2010 Olympic Committee...
Apparently the Olympic Committee hasn't evolved into this century - or the last one for that matter, and would rather see women walking three metaphorical steps behind their male counterparts in one of the most exciting and difficult of all winter sports. Ski Jumping is the only Olympic Sport which doesn't allow women to participate.
(Click here to read the Time Mag article.)
The wretched irony? Lindsey has jumped on that very same track in Vancouver that the men will be launching from this week - and she holds the world record for the longest jump from it for both men and women. Ever. The committee's stated reason for the only case of exclusion of women in any olympic sport? "Not enough widespread support for it." Hmm. Please see: "curling," "2 man luge" and "skeleton..." I've seen both curling and ski jumping up close, I would liken the two experiences to: Going to the grocery store with your elderly grandmother versus snorkeling with schools of fish and baby sharks in Turks and Caicos.
I'm no sports fan, but you have to wonder why such a supposedly prestigious institution would intentionally bring this PR nightmare upon themselves, year after year. It's truly inexcusable that half of this event, (one of the few actually exciting ones if you ask me,) is being kept from the public. Ski Jumping is the original extreme sport - and no offense to you snowboarders, but it requires a much larger pair to launch off a 120 meter ramp at 80 mph than it does to ride a halfpipe. If you're looking for a weekend escape from the city, check out the schedule at
Lake Placid, it's amazing to witness.
I'd say "It's criminal," but last time I checked, sexual discrimination is actually illegal in most of the civilized world. So I'll just leave it at "It's pathetic."
The monthly market pages where Paper Fashion Editors Zandile Blay and Luigi Tadini sport their favorite looks of the moment. I'll post some out-takes I like next week.
