"I've always wanted to see cross country back (in the Olympics). I think it is obviously more at home in the winter. It is historically and traditionally a winter sport. And it really does give Africa an opportunity to have a really serious part of the Winter Games. We'll see where we get to but there's a lot of goodwill. I certainly want it... I've already had tentative discussions with the USOPC and the organizing committee in Salt Lake City. So let’s see where we get to."
Seb Coe said WA is exploring a joint proposal to have cross country and cyclocross share a course at the 2030 Winter Olympics in France. Plus Coe shares his thoughts on Grand Slam Track.
97% of this forum is too young to know who Tergat is. I have Guinness World Record books from the 90s that have full pages dedicated to Tergat. None of the new Guinness books have that, and it's not because of kipchoges dominance. It's because the overall general interest in cross country has declined.
I agree with your sentiment, Ronald. Cross country should be an Olympic sport. There are 3 main surfaces in running- track, road, and xc. Some people are better on certain surfaces than others. Examples of those people are Tim Broe, Jorge Torres, Sally Kipyego, and Paul Tergat. All were "Billy goats" on hilly grass xc courses.
"I've always wanted to see cross country back (in the Olympics). I think it is obviously more at home in the winter. It is historically and traditionally a winter sport. And it really does give Africa an opportunity to have a really serious part of the Winter Games. We'll see where we get to but there's a lot of goodwill. I certainly want it... I've already had tentative discussions with the USOPC and the organizing committee in Salt Lake City. So let’s see where we get to."
I think it would be much better as a winter sport, having XC in the summer would dilute the marathon/10/5k fields and the XC field wouldn't be great either.
However if we get XC in the winter, there really isn't an excuse for all the contenders to be there, maybe we even get some milers (ie jakob and his fairly extensive XC background). Winter XC would be a great event with the best of the best competing at one distance head to head. Summer XC wouldn't be a good field, and would water down the track events.
97% of this forum is too young to know who Tergat is. I have Guinness World Record books from the 90s that have full pages dedicated to Tergat. None of the new Guinness books have that, and it's not because of kipchoges dominance. It's because the overall general interest in cross country has declined.
I agree with your sentiment, Ronald. Cross country should be an Olympic sport. There are 3 main surfaces in running- track, road, and xc. Some people are better on certain surfaces than others. Examples of those people are Tim Broe, Jorge Torres, Sally Kipyego, and Paul Tergat. All were "Billy goats" on hilly grass xc courses.
Good post, but your American example should have included some of our best... Virgin, Porter, Ritz, Jennings, Kastor, to name a few.
Snow volleyball is a winter team sport played by two teams of three players on a snow court divided by a net. The objective of each team is to score points by sending a ball over the net so as to ground it on the opponent's c...
It would be great for running in general as it would give runners twice as many Olympics they could compete in. This would allow some people with great range to become huge Olympics names. Like everyone knows who Phelps is just because he has a bazillion medals even though swimming is more boring to watch than running. But way less people know who Bekele is. If Bekele had another 3 or 4 gold medals he'd be much more well known.
It would also incentivize people having range instead of specializing, which would create more matchups between people who currently don't race each other much. Marathoners vs milers, etc
It would also create a distance running related team sport.
It could also be more compelling because the weather would make predicting the winner much more difficult. Imagine a race in cold, icy conditions vs muddy wet conditions. Often a different person would be better depending on the conditions and you wouldn't know the conditions until right before race time.
The more I think about it, the more I can think of good reasons to have XC in the Winter games. I can't think of a single good reason not to do this.
If Sebastian Coe is having discussions with Salt Lake City then he's already well aware that the IOC is willing to bend tradition and stipulation if it means greater viewing eyes, interest and dollars. The key component was opening up the Winter Olympics to Africa.
It definitely happens if Coe becomes IOC president. But it's looking like Thomas Bach may wrangle a third term out of back pocket maneuvering toward a rules change.
"I've always wanted to see cross country back (in the Olympics). I think it is obviously more at home in the winter. It is historically and traditionally a winter sport. And it really does give Africa an opportunity to have a really serious part of the Winter Games. We'll see where we get to but there's a lot of goodwill. I certainly want it... I've already had tentative discussions with the USOPC and the organizing committee in Salt Lake City. So let’s see where we get to."
I think it would be much better as a winter sport, having XC in the summer would dilute the marathon/10/5k fields and the XC field wouldn't be great either.
However if we get XC in the winter, there really isn't an excuse for all the contenders to be there, maybe we even get some milers (ie jakob and his fairly extensive XC background). Winter XC would be a great event with the best of the best competing at one distance head to head. Summer XC wouldn't be a good field, and would water down the track events.
XC would probably have even less cachet than the steeple, and would not water down the 5/10/marathon fields at all. Do you believe someone is going to trade running on the track in front of 90K, to being on a nearby golf course?
Agree about it "not completed primarily on ice or snow," but it is absolutely a winter sport. When are all the international meets held?! December thru March.
There's the small matter of XC being one of the five events in the Modern Pentathlon in the Summer games, which makes a good case to have it returned as an event to the Summer Games like the other four events.
XC added to the Winter Olympic catalogue makes perfect sense, and I want to see it happen. RoJo's right, it brings an event that welcomes the global south to the medal table, it adds a new dimension to professional running and professional team running that isn't a marathon or track event, and great athletes will show up because gold medals are on the line.
Also, for those saying XC is not a winter sport, I disagree. In the US, both High School and Collegiate XC championships happen in November and December. I ran HEPS in a snowstorm. And who cares if the race has to happen far away from the mountain, look at surfing right now in the Olympics. It's 2,900 miles away during the "winter" in Tahiti. Imagine an XC race in Moab while the skiing happens up in Salt Lake. It would be epic.
Cross country would be awesome, They used to have cross country in the Olympics in the beginning. If you can have "sports" like skate boarding you can definitely have cross country!
All the winter olympics involve snow and ice. I think maybe having the world XC championships in the same city/area as the Winter Olympics would help with exposure every four years.
PLEASE LET THIS BE REAL... think of how much this would do for the sport sure, but also just how much fun it would be! I'd actually do anything for Sebby to make this real, hit me up Mr. Coe fr
I'm from Iowa. I ran cross country with snow on the course as a kid more times than I can count. I remember an AAU meet in Fargo, ND that took place after a blizzard. Check out the last NCAA cross country meet that was held at Wisconsin. That looked like snow to me.
i was just thinking about cross country in the winter olympics the other day. i'm fine with it. even if the runners hate it, it still adds more elite competition for us to watch from the comfort of our homes.
with that said, i'm also down for cross country in the summer olympics as well. it gives a country an opportunity to show off their nature part their world. putting it maybe 1000-2000ft above sea level would provide us with some nice scenery. i'd be fine if they kill off the 5000/10000 from track to have it in cross country.
