Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE Vancouver downhill gold medalist Lindsey Vonn has asked the International Ski Federation (FIS) for the opportunity to compete against the men at a race in Alberta, Canada next month.
“We have been talking about it but no decision has been taken yet,” said World Cup race director Atle Skaardal. “It’s matter that the FIS Council has to examine during its next meeting in November. It’s necessary to go through the rules to see if there is a way to do this, and also a reason to do it.”
Rules state that competitors aren’t allowed to test course more than a week before an event, so organizers question whether Vonn would have an advantage over the women on the same course later in the season. Vonn doesn’t seem to be looking for that advantage, but wants to boost the sport’s profile for women, according to Reuters. Experts estimate she’d finish about five seconds behind the men.
Vonn would definitely have some supporters, and a bit of history on her side. Here’s a quick look at four female athletes who famously stood up against the men and won:
Jackie Mitchell: Her appearance for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts was deemed a publicity stunt… right up until she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, back-to-back, on only seven pitches during an exhibition game against the Yankees in 1931. Oh, and Mitchell was only 17-years-old at the time.
Babe Zaharias: After winning two golds in track at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, Zaharias turned to golf. She eventually won 41 LPGA titles and 10 majors and in 1945 started competing on the PGA tour. Babe made several cuts and finished 33rd at the Phoenix Open, but was kept out of the 1948 U.S. Open for being a lady.
Billie Jean King: She won 129 world titles, including 16 majors, and then famously went head-to-head with retired male pro Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. King beat Riggs handily to win the $100,000 prize. She also won the battle for women to receive equal pay at major events when the U.S. Open agreed in 1973.
Danica Patrick: She’s always raced men, but long faced criticism for never winning a race, despite finishing fourth at the Indy 500 during her rookie season in 2005. Patrick finally took the checkered flag at the ’08 Japan 300, then finished third at Indy in ’09. Now she looks to be the first woman to win a NASCAR race.
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After spending all of nine months away from his post as the men’s USA Basketball coach, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski will return to the team through the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Games. Coach K had stepped away from the team after last summer’s London Games, but over the weekend he told SI’s Pete…
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NYWrestlingNews.com
Any American still looking for a decent reason to support the “Keep Olympic Wrestling” movement need look no further than Cornell wrestler Kyle Dake: The four time NCAA national champ who was also the only USA wrestler to score a win against Iran at last week’s “Rumble on the Rails.” And now, on top of…
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Scouts, analysts, and casual onlookers have had nothing but good things to say about rookie defensive end Lawrence Okoye, the British Olympian who inked a free agent deal with the team despite having never played American football. Now the rest of the world is starting to notice. Check out Bleacher Report‘s look at Okoye’s early…
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Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Details from a Tuesday summit regarding the role of the World Anti-Doping Agency are scarce at best, but IOC President Jacques Rogge told the AP that the issues with drug testing are seen as qualitative rather than quantitative, and that WADA will do more unannounced out-of-competition testing of athletes in the future. “There should be…
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AP Photo/Eric Gay
Olympic gold medalist (and occasional NBA scoring champ) Kevin Durant pledged $1 million to the tornado relief effort in Oklahoma Tuesday through his Durant Family Foundation, according to an announcement from the Red Cross. “Mr. Durant’s gift and support to Okla. comes at a time of great need and we’re forever thankful for his generosity,”…
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In news that would be much easier to report if I spoke another language, two-time London Olympics swimming champ Yannick Agnel is leaving his coach and training facility in Nice, France and will move to Baltimore to train with Michael Phelps’s longtime coach Bob Bowman. The young Frenchman announced at a press conference Tuesday that…
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AP Photo/Victoria Will, File
Gabby Douglas has had a pretty great year: She won two gold medals including the all-around, was named Sportswoman of the Year and AP Athlete of the Year, wrote a book, met the President, appeared on a Wheaties Box, Vampire Diaries, and Oprah, threw out first pitches in New York and LA, and even led…
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AP
The “early word” on British discus hurler turned NFL defensive end Lawrence Okoye is good according to ESPN analyst Michael Clayton, who recently noted how Okoye impressed onlookers at San Francisco’s rookie camp last week. “Okoye might have enough pure talent for the 49ers to consider him for the active roster,” Clayton wrote in a…
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WALDO SWIEGERS/AFP/Getty Images
Even after being spotted on a high school track in April, and being cleared to race at the Paralympic Worlds, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has ruled out competitive running in 2013. Instead, he plans to focus on his upcoming murder trial. “We have decided as a team we are not talking [about] any training…
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Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Maybe USA Basketball CEO Jerry Colangelo isn’t satisfied with the list of willing candidates to coach the national team, or maybe Mike Krzyzewski is already getting the itch for another gold medal run, but apparently the two have been discussing the possibility of teaming up again through Rio. “There’s a chance,” Coach K told Sports…
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Wrestling officials implement significant rules changes at Moscow meeting
May 18, 2013, 10:34 AM EDT
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
FILA, wrestling’s governing body, is spending the weekend in Moscow cleaning house before an upcoming IOC vote will determine if they end up on the 2020 Olympics schedule. And apparently the meeting has been productive. On Saturday, acting president Nenad Lalovic, who took over after the forced resignation of president Raphael Martinetti, was officially elected…
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Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The swimming world went a little nuts Friday when NBC Fort Myers anchor Peter Busch, son of U.S. national swim team director Frank Busch, tweeted that he confirmed what many of us have hoped: Olympic champ Michael Phelps was already “planning a return to competitive swimming” after only a year or so away from the…
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Amateur International Boxing Associating president C.K. Wu of Taiwan has also apparently thrown his hat into the ring in hopes of becoming the next IOC president when current leader Jacques Rogge’s tenure is up this September. “Dr Wu handed over a letter this morning to Dr Rogge informing him about his candidacy,” a source explained…
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After the Iranian national wrestling team put a 6-1 whooping on the U.S. at Wednesday’s “Rumble on the Rails” at New York’s historic Grand Central Station, the two teams were preparing to square off again in Los Angeles Sunday as part of the “United 4 Wrestling” event to help save the sport. But USA Wrestling…
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Nintendo Global
In addition to Olympic champs like Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, and Evan Lysacek all prepping for the Sochi Games next February, a couple other familiar faces are getting ready to compete as well: Mario the plumber and Sonic the hedgehog. Nintendo Global president Satoru Itawa announced Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter…
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While many were simply mourning the IOC’s recommendation to remove wrestling from the 2020 Olympics schedule, Billy Baldwin was busy doing something about it. And trust us, he went full Baldwin. Billy named himself Hollywood Point Man for the “Keep Olympic Wrestling” effort and has has asked Olympic champs, Hollywood friends, and strangers on the…
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Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE
After the World Baseball Softball Confederation was unceremoniously shot down by MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who said he won’t stop his season for the Games, the governing body is giving one last ditch effort to earn a spot in the Olympics before the IOC votes on its fate. Members of the WBSC met with the…
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For those intently waiting for the IOC to reveal the Sochi Olympics medals – and yes, we’ve received emails – you only have to hold out a couple more weeks. The medals will be unveiled by Sochi organizing CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko at the IOC’s meeting in St. Petersburg on May 30. “A record number of…
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NYWrestlingNews.com
A day after four-time NCAA wrestling champ Kyle Dake beat Iran’s Hassan Tahmasebi at Wednesday’s “Rumble on the Rails” – the lone American win against the world’s top team – Dake woke to a much simpler task: taking down Dan Patrick radio show producer Paulie Pabst. Dake pinned him in eleven seconds. Check out the…
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Q&A: Mark Ruffalo joins effort to “Keep Olympic Wrestling”
May 16, 2013, 12:00 PM EDT
Sue Schneider, MGP Agency
On top of all the incredible athletes wrestling at Wednesday’s “Rumble on the Rails,” many familiar faces showed up to the event in support of the Keep Olympic Wrestling movement, including champions like Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, and Kurt Angle, NFL hall of famer Ronnie Lott, ESPN personality Mike Golic, and Hollywood point man Billy…
