Kerr calls for different jumps for men, women
VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — Jamaica’s lone Winter Olympics competitor Errol Kerr risked a sex row yesterday by claiming the jumps for men’s ski cross are too easy because they are designed with female snowboarders in mind.
Kerr, taking part in the ski cross on Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain on a course used by both skiers and snowboarders, called for different courses to be built to cater to the different abilities of athletes.
“My one issue is you have to build a course for female snowboarders and for male skiers. It’s like trying to make a race course exciting for a Volkswagen Beetle and a Formula One race car,” he said.
“A female snowboarder and a male skier travel at different speeds. You can’t make jumps for both, the jumps are too small for the men.”
Kerr, whose participation brings back memories of Jamaica’s Cool Runnings bobsleigh team at the 1988 Calgary Games, was born in New York and lives in California.
But he chose to represent the Caribbean island in honour of his Jamaican father who died when he was 14.
Kerr failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ski cross competition.