As most of you know, halfpipe skiing is officially not in the 2010 Olympics, must to the disappointment of many skiers.
For those of you not familiar with the process, you essentially need the blessing of VANOC (Vancouver organizing committee), FIS and IOC to get a new event in the Olympics. In the case of skiing halfpipe, VANOC was on board, and would have loved the event. Makes sense, because there's already going to be a snowboard halfpipe in place. As for the IOC, they basically do what FIS recommends. Therefore, it was up to FIS to push in favour of halfpipe if it was ever going to get in by 2010.
As recently as Spring 2006 the issue was still alive. Indeed, skier cross was not officially recommended for inclusion till November 2006 (
http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/media_centre/press_release_uk.asp?id=1973). In spite of all of this, when given the opportunity to have halfpipe considered for 2010, the ONLY country that stood up for it was Great Britain. Not Canada. Not the US. No other European country. Here is an excerpt from the FIS meeting minutes where GB's motion was not seconded:
"- Olympic Programme – HalfPipe
GBR presented a proposal to request the inclusion of HalfPipe in the Vancouver OWG 2010.
GBR feels very strongly that this is an important item and should be considered by FIS, the IOC and the Vancouver 2010 organizers.
It was noted that the FIS Freestyle Committee has previously asked the FIS Council to propose to the IOC, that the HalfPipe event be included in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The FIS Council indicated they would follow the development of this event.
After some further discussion, this GBR proposal was not seconded."
The full meeting minutes are available here:
http://www.ncdfreestyle.com/FinalMinutesVilamoura.pdf
The fact that, when given the opportunity to support halfpipe, our freestyle representatives did not voice their support, but rather through silence disapproved of halfpipe in 2010, is a betrayal to all of the amateur and pro athletes who have been working hard to some day compete in an Olympic Games, not to mention all of the coaches and other volunteers who have been pushing in favour of halfpipe. Apparently, Canada, US and other countries had already made up their minds about halfpipe and agreed they would NOT be supporting it, even though there was still a chance to do so as of Spring 2006.
Instead of supporting halfpipe, FIS freestyle has been pushing skier cross, which isn't even truly "freestyle". With all due respect to skier cross (which is not much in my opinion), it has already peaked in popularity. No one hosts events because the courses cost so much to make. Incredibly, Canada has been advocating for skier cross in 2010, but never hosted a national championships, ever, and won't till 2008 at the earliest! Not sure about the US situation, but it's probably similar.
In any event, the best thing to do is to write to the respective freestyle skiing associations to request that they truly represent freestyle skiers' interests by advocating for the sport of halfpipe skiing on local, national, international and Olympic levels. Unfortunately, until things change, the old boys club of dinosaurs making these high level decisions will continue to ignore the best interests of the sport and do what serves their own agendas.
-Mike
