International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge today denied that the exclusion of women's ski jumping from the Vancouver Winter Games was gender discrimination.

"There is no discrimination whatsoever," Rogge insisted in response to a question during his press conference that concluded several days of meetings between IOC officials and the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).

"The decision of the International Olympic Committee not to include women's ski jumping was taken on technical grounds not on gender issues," he said.

Rogge said there were too few women competing at a high international standard in the sport to warrant its inclusion in the 2010 Games, although men's ski jumping has been on the programme since 1924.

"We do not want the medals to be diluted and watered down," Rogge said. "This is not discrimination, this is just respect of essential rules that say to become an Olympic sport a sport must be practised around the world."

The matter has become an issue for the Vancouver Games because supporters of women's ski jumping in Canada have said excluding women in the sport would violate anti-discrimination laws in Canada.

The Vancouver City Council has joined the national and provincial governments in calling for the addition of the event, and last week billboards appeared in Vancouver backing the women jumpers and invoking the Olympic Charter's "principle of equality of men and women."

Rogge was to discuss the matter with Helena Guergis, the Canadian secretary of state for sport.

AAP