VANCOUVER - A date of April 20, 2009 has been set to hear a lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee by a group of women's ski jumpers who want to participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
`We are pleased to be progressing in our lawsuit, and this allows enough time for the women's events to be added to the 2010 program,' said DeeDee Corradini, a spokesperson for the women's ski jumping group.
The International Olympic Committee voted in 2006 to exclude women's ski jumping from the 2010 Games, saying the sport didn't meet the basic criteria for an Olympic event.
The lawsuit alleges that excluding women's ski jumping violates the athletes' rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It asks for women's ski jumping to be added to the 2010 Games, or, barring that, for men's ski jumping to be removed.
Vancouver Olympic organizers have said they are bound by the decision of the international committee.
