posted May 9th, 2016 - It was September 2013 when I last touched on the delicate subject of gender separation in our sport. I had finally made peace with the fact that there are two different belly-flying 4-way categories that the International Parachuting Committee (IPC) had forced upon us: one only for girls and the other one for everybody.

I had argued the logic of the IPC move since the new category was introduced in 2001 and gave us new and additional 4-way world champions on a performance level that was significantly below the 4-way open class scoring level. I felt bad for the female 4-way open class world champions (Natasha Montgomery in 2006, Eliana Rodriguez in 2008) and even more so for the female world class competitors who were performing on a higher level than the 4-way women world champions and did not get any official recognition for their achievements.

I had realized that no arguing and no logic would change the situation, and I had finally decided to embrace the 4-way women world within our actual 4-way world.

TURNING POINTS: 4-way Girl Power - Part 2

I have lived up to my commitment ever since, but I am breaking it now, three years later. In fact, it isn't me to blame for the making of new waves in the quiet 4-way rules waters. I don't really know who is the real troublemaker this time; was it the French FLY-IN Girls who dared to put all 4-way teams in the world, except for NMP PCH Hayabusa and Arizona Airspeed, in their places (behind them), or was it the host of the World Challenge 2016, Paul Mayer, who picked up the topic?

It began to dawn on many people that something revolutionary was in the air when the French Girls tied one of the Hayabusa scores fair and square in Round 5. The Belgians are the reigning indoor and outdoor world champions, and they have been undefeated at all wind tunnel competitions they have attended since 2011.

Then come four young ladies from France, whose names are hardly known to most people, and who were put together in the French national lineup for the 4-way women category just this year. They finish in second place in the open class, tying one of the Hayabusa scores? There is something wrong with this picture.

World Challenge 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		P,2,10	8,F,15	G,14,17	L,H,E,13	M,7,O,1	16,21,11	N,D,4,9	18,20,A	G,19,3	C,K,B,22	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH Hayabusa	BE	27	31	28	39	35	25	38	30	31	36	320	32.0
2	French FLY-IN Girls	FR	22	27	27	34	35	22	33	24	29	33	286	28.6
3	FLY-IN France	FR	24	26	26	34	32	23	33	23	27	28	276	27.6

Actually, there is nothing wrong with that (to my own - now silent - understanding), while many people seem to be much surprised and impressed.

It was host Paul Mayer who called the topic back to the surface and asked his TV staff to address it, live on World Challenge TV. I AM INNOCENT!!!

It was hard to ignore the fact that there is now a complete 4-way lineup of female competitors who are challenging the open class top position in the world, or at least a medal position.

Not only the lonely girls in other open class teams performing on a world class level (Laurence Herve, France FLY-IN; JaNette Lefkowitz, SDC Rhythm XP; Julia Swallow, Satori XL; Perrine Sanchez, Weembi Parasport).

No, the French Girls are going a step further and have Hayabusa and Airspeed as their targets. Targets, not idols or role models - just ask them; the French Girls want to beat them.

FAI World Meet 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Synchronicity	US	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
2	Norgie Girls	NO	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
3	4 Pleasure	SE	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
4	V-Max	UK	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1
5	Russia	RU	11	11	12	12	9	12	12	13	11	12	115	11.5
6	South Africa	ZA	12	12	11	9	11	8	11	13	10	-	113	12.6
7	Italy	IT	10	10	11	9	5	11	11	9	11	-	87	9.7
8	Parat	DE	8	10	8	7	9	9	9	9	6	-	75	8.3
9	Spain	ES	4	7	6	4	8	6	4	9	5	-	53	5.9
10	Austria	AT	6	4	5	4	3	6	5	7	6	-	46	5.1

Sophia Pecout, Christine Malnis, Pamela Lissajoux and Clementine Le Bohec posted a 28.6 average in Bedford, while the winning average in 4-way women was 23.2 after the same 10 sequences that the open class teams performed. I am not making this up; numbers don't lie, and neither do leaderboards.

Two (new) arguments in the latest podium discussion caught my attention. One was the assumption that female competitors were not easily accepted into 4-way teams in the past, and that a separate category would make it easier for girls to form teams. I remember that there were mixed national teams in the '80s and '90s, including my own German national 4-way team.

There is also no logical reason why four girls cannot simply form their own team to compete in the open class category. The French Coca Cola all-female 4-way team was one of the best 4-way teams in the world in the '80s and placed in the medal rankings as a guest team at a World Cup. There was no female category then.

FAI World Meet 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne French Girls	FR	21	25	22	20	27	21	18	17	19	24	214	21.4
2	Golden Knights	US	22	25	21	21	23	18	16	15	19	24	204	20.4
3	Kaizen	UK	15	20	16	18	19	14	14	13	15	17	161	16.1
4	Fuzion	CA	17	16	17	15	16	14	11	12	13	16	147	14.7
5	Infra Red Band	RU	12	12	14	15	16	16	13	9	14	11	132	13.2
6	Les Stunts	BE	14	14	13	14	16	13	8	11	10	12	125	12.5
7	Sistermatic	AU	11	13	11	9	13	9	9	9	9	-	93	10.3
8	CZ Ladies	CZ	10	10	10	7	12	8	11	7	8	-	83	9.2
9	SolarFlakes	LT	7	10	10	10	8	7	9	7	8	-	76	8.4
10	Dubai Asaar Ladies	AE	13	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	24	2.7

Differences in physical strength between males and females cannot be argued; it's a fact. However, it becomes only a factor when maximum strength is required for athletic performance. Formation skydiving competitors are far from being challenged to their maximum strength levels. Yes, a girl may have to use 50 percent of individual maximum strength where a boy has to put in only 40 percent.

So what? I have never heard of a female 4-way competitor who complained that skydiving is physically too hard for her.

The IPC had no good reasoning to create a female category; they were mistaken from the get-go. They wanted to attract media attention. But how much sense did a female category make if there was no male category? The media and the public probably smiled and still smile at our poor attempt to make the sport more appealing when they take a closer look at the structure and the format.

The IPC promised then that they would reverse the decision if there was no progression in participation. Well, 10 teams competed at the first World Meet in 4-way Women in 2001. Ten teams competed at the World Meet 2014 in Prostejov. Where is the progression? I understand that it is hard to admit a mistake and fix it. Maybe the performance of the French FLY-IN Girls in Bedford and Paul Mayer's common sense will have an impact on the lawmakers this time...