Five female ski jumpers join lawsuit to be included in 2010 Winter Olympics

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Five female Canadian ski jumpers want to add their names to a lawsuit seeking to have their sport included in the 2010 Winter Games.

All of the women are from Calgary and join 10 others who say their charter rights are being violated since male jumpers are allowed to compete in Olympics but they aren't.

Katie Willis, 17, competed for Canada in the first World Cup for the sport held in February.

She said Friday that she hadn't joined the lawsuit sooner because she'd hoped the federal government would follow through on a promise to intervene with the International Olympic Committee after the female jumpers agreed to drop a human rights complaint.

"We wanted to go through the Canadian government first before we went through any legal actions and we thought that would work," she said.

But the federal Minister of State for Sport, Gary Lunn, told The Canadian Press recently that there was nothing he could, or would, do.

So, Willis said, she opted to join the lawsuit launched in May 2008. Either the organizing committee, as the defendants in the case, have to agree to add the women as plaintiffs or they will have to formally ask the court to add them.

"It's fine, we took this step and we're hoping for this (to work)," she said.

The sport was left off the roster for the 2010 Games because the IOC declared it wasn't developed enough to merit inclusion in the Olympics.

But the charter doesn't apply to the IOC because it is an international body, so the lawsuit was filed against Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee.

The women argue that by hosting an event in Canada that's funded in part with government money, the local organizers must respect the charter.

In their statement of defence, the organizing committee claims they can't override the IOC and even if the women's rights were violated, there are reasonable grounds to do so.

Adding five Canadian names to the case erases a potential argument that charter cases can't be made on behalf of international plaintiffs, said Ross Clark, the women's lawyer.

Prior to Friday's announcement, all of the plaintiffs were either international athletes or retired Canadian jumpers.

"This makes a big difference to our case," said Clark.

The first women's ski jumping World Cup was held in the Czech Republic in February.

It was won by American Lindsay Van, who is a plaintiff on the lawsuit.

Willis came in 19th, and Calgarian Nata de Leeuw, who also added her name to the lawsuit on Friday, finished in 11th place.

Willis said the success of the World Cup event helps prove the sport is ready for Olympic prime time.

"It's giving us a little momentum, it's inspiring these girls that we've made the first step towards the Olympics," she said.

Since it's a charter case, both the provincial and federal governments also have the right to be involved.

Clark said the province has declined and he's not yet heard back from Ottawa.

The lawsuit is set to be heard in B.C. Supreme Court in April.