IOC member Dick Pound believes Canada’s chances of hosting another future Olympics could be scuppered if the British Columbia Court of Appeal orders Vancouver 2010 organisers to stage female ski jumping.

At present, a group of female ski jumpers are appealing against a high court decision which ruled that VANOC did not have to stage a competition for them at next February’s Winter Olympics.

The female athletes took VANOC to the high court, arguing that the organising committee were contravening the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by allowing men to jump but not women.

Saying they are to be admired for their tenacity, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has nonetheless rejected a personal appeal from 15 female ski jumpers to allow them to jump in the 2010 Winter Games.

A group of female ski jumpers have said they will appeal a court ruling that dismissed their bid to force Olympic organisers to let them compete in next year’s Winter Games in Vancouver.