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Extreme Park Crashes Taking Outsize Toll on Women
New York Times ^ | February 18, 2014 | JOHN BRANCH

Posted on 02/18/2014 1:32:57 PM PST by reaganaut1

...

Through Monday night, a review of the events at the Extreme Park counted at least 22 accidents that either forced athletes out of the competition or, if on their final run, required medical attention. Of those, 16 involved women. The injury rate is higher when considering that the men’s fields are generally larger.

The question, a difficult one, is why.

The Winter Games have always had dangerous events. But the Extreme Park, as the name suggests, is built on the ageless allure of danger. All of the events there have been added to the Olympic docket since 1992, each a tantalizing cocktail of grace and peril.

But unlike some of the time-honored sports of risk, including Alpine skiing, luge and ski jumping, there are few concessions made for women. For both sexes, the walls of the halfpipe are 22 feet tall. The slopestyle course has the same tricky rails and the same massive jumps. The course for ski cross and snowboard cross, a six-person race to the finish over jumps and around icy banked curves, is the same for men and women. The jumps for aerials are the same height. The bumps in moguls play no gender favorites.

“Most of the courses are built for the big show, for the men,” said Kim Lamarre of Canada, the bronze medalist in slopestyle skiing, where the competition was delayed a few times by spectacular falls. “I think they could do more to make it safer for women.”

Compare the sports with downhill skiing, in which women have their own course, one that is shorter and less difficult to navigate. Or luge, in which female sliders start lower on the track than the men.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: olympics; sexdifferences; sochi; sports; winterolympics
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Not wanting women to get hurt at dangerous sports (Do we need female Olympic boxing?) or in the Marines marks me as a reactionary participant in the War on Women. In some ways the world is getting awfully stupid.
1 posted on 02/18/2014 1:32:57 PM PST by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

This is obviously because extreme sports are misogynist.


2 posted on 02/18/2014 1:36:32 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a religion of peace, and Moslems reserve the right to behead anyone who says otherwise.)
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To: reaganaut1

Is this the same kind of folks pushing for women in ground combat positions because women and men are equal?


3 posted on 02/18/2014 1:36:56 PM PST by PeteB570 ( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)
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To: reaganaut1

1) Just guessing here, but I would suspect that the venues for these same sports in pre-Olympic competition are set up the same for both genders?
2) Can you imagine the cost to make duplicate facilities for both?
3) Are the women even complaining about this, or is this someone wanting to throw a new log onto the “war on women” fire?

Just askin’.


4 posted on 02/18/2014 1:38:08 PM PST by NEMDF
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To: reaganaut1; All

Women’s injury rates are higher in all sports, not just extreme sports, compared to men

Women’s basketball players have a higher incidence of ACL and other leg injuries...and numbers are similar in volleyball, softball, and every other sport

Wonder if this article is an underhanded attack on extreme sports women because, by and large, they are attractive and like men....they sure weren’t using Tinder to pick up other girls.

For years the Lesbian Left has started attacked certain womens sports, like gymnastics and figure skating, because the women are straight (only male skaters are gay) and their sports emphasize aspects of beauty. There is a large contingent of womens sports that want to keep it Lesbian only


5 posted on 02/18/2014 1:42:32 PM PST by SeminoleCounty (Diversity is just racism against white folks)
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To: reaganaut1
“Most of the courses are built for the big show, for the men,” said Kim Lamarre of Canada, the bronze medalist in slopestyle skiing, where the competition was delayed a few times by spectacular falls. “I think they could do more to make it safer for women.”

But, but, but....women are equal to men, that's what all the feminists and women-in-combat supporters say!

6 posted on 02/18/2014 1:43:52 PM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: reaganaut1

Maybe the wimmen folk should be home knitting warm socks for the sportsmen. < /sarc>


7 posted on 02/18/2014 1:46:02 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Recycled Olympic tagline Shut up, Bob Costas. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!)
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To: reaganaut1

The women are getting what they want

If they are maimed or die in the process, so be it.


8 posted on 02/18/2014 1:48:25 PM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... History is a process, not an event)
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To: FReepers
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9 posted on 02/18/2014 1:51:07 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Just googling "what is Olympic extreme park" does nothing ...

So I suppose extreme park is a number of different skills .. snowboard, ski ... etc.

Am I right ?

(Some things need to be defined)

10 posted on 02/18/2014 1:51:12 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true .. I have no proof .. but they're true.)
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To: SeminoleCounty

Increase Q angle because of wider hip makes women more susceptible to ACL tears, patellar tracking problems and more
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/women/a/Q_angle.htm


11 posted on 02/18/2014 2:01:28 PM PST by Bulwinkle (Alec, a.k.a. Daffy Duck)
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To: SeminoleCounty

Increase Q angle because of wider hip makes women more susceptible to ACL tears, patellar tracking problems and more
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/women/a/Q_angle.htm


12 posted on 02/18/2014 2:04:33 PM PST by Bulwinkle (Alec, a.k.a. Daffy Duck)
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To: reaganaut1

Just an extention of the GOP’s War On Women.

The GOP must be in bed with Putin.


13 posted on 02/18/2014 2:06:23 PM PST by moovova
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To: bert

I think we ought to let women compete head to head with the men. Same sport, same risks. If women are equal to men, let them prove it.

(Isn’t the Alpine skiing track substantially shortened for women already? I thought accomodations were made in that arena.)


14 posted on 02/18/2014 2:09:35 PM PST by punknpuss
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To: reaganaut1
The weather we've been having has me watching the Olympics for the first time in decades. Here's my impression:

The winter Olympics is about various ways to move on ice or snow. You can skate and sometimes to music, board or ski, ride a sled, or push an object. Some people do silly things in the air and some people shoot at targets to enhance the experience. They keep trying to outdo one another with maneuvers that will eventually kill someone. And then they're surprised that people get hurt.

I have an idea. Why don't they leave all of those athletes off in Siberia with a GPS and guns or knives for hunting, let them choose skis or skates or sleds, and make it a survival game. Everyone who gets to Sochi alive gets a medal and an interview with the NBC interviewer of their choice.

15 posted on 02/18/2014 2:13:14 PM PST by grania
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To: reaganaut1

“But most women grew up in a time when they view themselves as capable as men.”

There’s your trouble. Ideology clashing with biology.


16 posted on 02/18/2014 2:14:46 PM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (Things are only going to get worse.)
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To: knarf
Rosa Khutor Extreme Park
17 posted on 02/18/2014 2:22:25 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: reaganaut1

Sounds like a bunch of girlie whining to me. If you can’t take the heat, etc. (And I am a woman.)


18 posted on 02/18/2014 2:22:25 PM PST by Bigg Red (O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Ps 8)
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To: reaganaut1
Men are built to fight.

Women are built to breed.

Anybody who steps out of that architecture to do otherwise is doomed.

19 posted on 02/18/2014 2:36:15 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: reaganaut1
The bravery and determination of the women athletes is not in question.
The matter of structural strength can not be ignored away.
Women's bones, muscles and tendons are not as thick as those of the males, even in top athletes. That's just how it is.

20 posted on 02/18/2014 2:39:22 PM PST by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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