 Poster: A snowHead
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Organisers of the 2006 Winter Olympics have re-landscaped the ladies' downhill course to give it greater speed and more jumps.
The piste above San Sicario attracted complaints following last season's 'test runs' on the World Cup circuit. Germany's Hilde Gerg led a petition demanding greater parity with the men, by having the race switched to Sestriere - where the men's downhill will be staged.
This report from Slam! Sports.
Should men's and ladies' downhills be run on courses of the same technical difficulty? Your views welcomed.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
| Should men's and ladies' downhills be run on courses of the same technical difficulty? Your views welcomed. |
Can't think of any reason why not.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I can understand why they race on different hills on the 'normal' circuit (FIS),as this allows all the different resorts a chance, But see no reason why for something like the Olympics that they can't use one piste for both the mens and ladies.
Surely it would logistically make a lot of sense, less staff/tv crews/marshalls etc., easier viewing for the public who want to see both.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think they should be of the same technical difficulty, and I furthermore agree that they should actually be held on the same course (which is unfortunately not happening). If the female skiers themselves are asking for harder courses, why not?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I agree that they should have the same difficulty and at the olympics where they have a couple of weeks at teh location I can't see why they couldn't run it on the same course, for the FIS circuit however I can see why they don't use the same course as they would not have time to send all the male and female skiers down the course over the few days they are usually in the resort for
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
But see no reason why for something like the Olympics that they can't use one piste for both the mens and ladies.
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No I don't agree, for exactly the same reason as the World Cup races being at different venues: to give different resorts a chance. The Olympics is being spread over several resorts including Sestriere, Bardonecchia, Sansicario etc....
Why should e.g. Sestriere only get to host the "blue riband" events  It would be different if it was just one resort hosting everything but the Winter Olympics is rarely like that nowadays.
Regarding the original question, there is no reason why the women's course should not be as hard or harder than the men's. But it doesn't have to be exactly the same course! Having an "Olympic downhill piste" is a good marketing point for smaller resorts - why should the bigger resorts always get the publicity?
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well im for equality.. i think they should use the same course and have to qualify and compete in the 'same event'!..
that way there can be no arguments about prize money, facilities, coverage etc etc same for tennis, golf and everything else..
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Before the 94 Games, there was similar controversy. After complaints that the original women's speed events hill at Hafjell was too easy, they were moved to Kvitfjell. Ironically, a week before those Olympics, Uli Maier was killed in a crash in a women's World Cup which was, unusually, being held on the men's hill at Garmisch. Understandably, after that there was a move away from holding women's races on men's DH courses - although it was too late at that stage to move the women's Olympic speed events back to Hafjell.
At a venue with unreliable weather conditions (eg Nagano 1998, Vancouver 2010) I can see it might be difficult to get enough good days in the 2-week Olympic period to run 6 speed events (DH, SG and Comb DH for both genders) on the same hill. But at Lillehammer 1994 it worked fine.
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