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IOC says don't jump, we stay silent

Now, now, let's not get too uppity here. We need to be understanding. We need to be unified. We need to be supportive. We need to be patient. We need to pretend everything's hunky-dory. We need to be quiet. Or else.
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Now, now, let's not get too uppity here. We need to be understanding. We need to be unified. We need to be supportive. We need to be patient. We need to pretend everything's hunky-dory. We need to be quiet.

Or else.

That seems to be the position taken by every struck-mute politician in Canada, most certainly by VANOC, by CODA, by Dick Pound, Canada's representative on the IOC and by all people dazzled and dumbfounded by the Olympic juggernaut.

For what it's worth, I'm hitching my wagon to "or else." So, I'm happy to say, is Ross Clark and the handful of brave women ski jumpers who, some will argue, are flushing their personal sporting "careers" down the toilet by deciding to appeal their case to Canada's Supreme Court.

It would all be so easily remedied and made to go away if the IOC weren't, collectively - and quite possibly individually - such dickheads. Overwhelmingly male dickheads, of course. And as Robin Williams reminded us, men aren't endowed with enough blood to operate both their brains and their penises at the same time. It's pretty clear which most of the players in this drama are using to think with.

And really, that's the shame here. No one has or will come forth with a rational, 21 st century explanation for excluding women ski jumpers from the 2010 Olympics. Jacques Rogge, head rogue at the IOC, "explained" the secret vote to continue banning women from the top level of the sport by saying, "We don't want the medals to be diluted and watered down, that is the bottom line."

Uh, Earth to Jacques: that ship's already sailed. The medals were watered down when you decided professional athletes could compete; they were watered down by the inclusion of any number of marginal sports I'm not going to name because my e-mail inbox is already bulging with death threats... but everybody has their own favourites that fit into the category.

Most importantly though, Jacques, your weak rationalization simply doesn't hold water. You seem to place a lot of weight on the fact there are only 80 "recognized" women ski jumpers in the world. Presumably that would be 80 carded, FIS recognized women ski jumpers. That would be the same FIS - the world's staid, governing body for all ski sports and no radical organization - who voted 114 to 1 to have you include women's ski jumping in the Olympics.

No one knows why the women are being excluded but it's a pretty good bet it's because some of the dickthinkers believe their uteruses will fall out if they're allowed to jump. And hey, I mean, what exactly is it that women are good for anyway? Crikey.

About now some people who should know better are shrugging their shoulders and thinking, "Oh Max, give it a rest. Jump on the bandwagon. Get with the program. What's the value in continuing to protest; you're flogging a dead horse." That, at least, was the gist of the response of some local Vanocians to last Sunday's Whistler Forum discussion on the subject with UBC constitutional law prof Margot Young and Ross Clark.

The short answer is shame on you. If you fail to grasp the importance of peacefully protesting ongoing injustices, especially those based on gender discrimination, get back in the kitchen where you belong. Or the closet. The rest of us will not sit down and shut up.

While it's impossible to plumb the depths of ignorance or discrimination at the IOC - repeatedly cited as one of the world's least transparent and accountable organizations - it's even more baffling and disappointing to understand the absolute silence with which their patently discriminatory decision has been met by Canadian politicians. From Whistler's own mayor and council, to Vancouver's elected decision makers, to Rear-Entry Campbell to, not surprisingly, Scorched-Earth Harper, the only pol who has had the stones to express even mild protest has been Helena Guergis, the federal secretary of state for sport. Ms. Guergis didn't go so far as to call the IOC a gaggle of misogynistic dickheads but she did express support for the women ski jumpers. Shame on you all.

Why the silence? Fear and greed. I think Dick Pound summed it up nicely when he said if the court ordered VANOC to include the women, the move "...would likely eliminate any chance Canada has of hosting another Olympic Games." Wow, bonus.

Jacques Rogge's words were prescient as well. Preceding his comment about allowing women in having a diluting effect on the value of medals, he outlined the IOC's world dominance position nicely when he said he'd rather have athletes who win medals stand under the Olympic flag, not their country's flag.

But he recognized the feedback loop such a power play would create. "Unfortunately, the reality is that if you do that, 80 per cent of the funding of sports in developing countries would disappear, because the funding is there because countries want to show the flag."

It's all about the money, in case there was anyone left out there who believes the line about it being all about the athletes. No one wants to cross the IOC.

It's not too late, though. The IOC could discover its humanity and do the right thing. They could start living up to their stated but unrealized ideals. Canadian politicians could find their voices and demand they do the right thing. VANOC could cancel men's jumping if they don't. The sun could rise in the west. I'm not delusional enough to think any of that will happen.

But if it doesn't, everyone who shows up for the jumping events could chant, "Let the women jump." It'd make nice TV, kinda reminiscent of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago when the streets were alive with protesters shouting, "The whole world's watching."

In the meantime, if you want to keep your Olympic protest flag flying, come on out to hear Andrew Jennings speak next Tuesday, Dec. 8 th from 7 to 9 p.m. in the conference room at Summit Lodge. Andrew's a British investigative reporter who's been making powerful people very uncomfortable for several decades. No friend of the IOC, Andrew's books - The Lords of the Rings; The New Lords of the Rings: Olympic Corruption & How to Buy Gold Medals; and The Great Olympic Swindle - have made him persona non grata with the IOC and garnered him a five-day jail sentence in Switzerland for, among other things, casting the former IOC presidente-for-life, Juan Samaranch, as "an unrepentant, jack-booting, right-arm waving Franco fascist." Wow, talk about thin-skinned.

As a bonus, Oly and the Fat Cats, and their manager Big Daddy VeeCee, will show the world premiere of their wickedly humourous and scathingly political Olympic protest song, Gimme Gold . All for a good cause, you'll be able to see it for yourself after Tuesday's launch at http://iocsong.com .

C'mon out; piss off someone powerful.