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Will the IOC force only snow courses? Isn't there something that requires winter sports to be played on snow or ice? I wasn't impressed with the Val di Sole races in recent years.
It's an asinine rule, but if they force a snow course, it really doesn't matter either way. The result will be the same. The sport will gain international traction because it will be an olympic sport. In order to compete at the OG, riders will likely need to gather enough UCI points throughout the season or at least attent a minimum of races. Which means a more competitive and international startlist throughout the season. It can only have a positive effect on the sport. That the actual OG race ends up being in snow once every so many years... who cares.
It's hard to tell. The current "new generation" can't hold a candle to Van der Poel yet. It might well be very different in 6 years of course. On the women's side there has been a quite drastic turnover recently, with Pieterse and especially Van Empel being almost unbeatable last season. But Marianne Vos was still able to become world champion two years ago, so I wouldn't put it past Van Aert to snatch silver in 2030.
Wouldn't know. I'm just joking. I can see this serving as an inspiration to continue at least until 2030..
Nys sr. was competitive until he was 38 and faced WvA and MvdP when they were still teens. He became WCC CX at 36 and grabbed silver at 37. MvdP sr. went back after his road career and also became WCC CX at 36. He took the bronze medal when he was 39. There have been others to be competitive in CX at a late age and it's quite common in CX for riders being successful well into their 30s. Technique plays a big part and the big engines just simply last or even improve over a lengthy career. They lose some punch, which is why older rider often still shine in the hardest CX races/conditions and not on the punchy/fast courses.
Cross-country running is a sport with greater history, breadth and depth of elite field, and amateur participation than many others in the games. It is not really a fit for the winter olympics but neither is cyclocross. I don't really understand how IOC decides which new sports to admit, but xc running has a better case than many already included.
Doesn't CX running have a huge crossover with general long distance running? That part doesn't pass the sniff test for me.
Exactly. When winter and snow are required, you basically limit yourself to a small portion of the world to hold the event. You exclude so many athletes that don't have the opportunity to sport in/on snow or ice. And the way things are going, in a few decades you can simply scratch the entire winter OG because there won't be any snow left.
We have the summer Olympics for non ice or snow sports. Winter sports are based on conditions found in winter; that's how they developed. If you just start adding random sports like xc running it's not... logical. Even CX is a stretch because its winter season is based on training/diversion after road races.
And people could (and do) do table tennis, swimming, gymnastics, track cycling, and many other events that are in the 'Summer' Olympics all year around. It's not about the season, it's about (or was until this prediction comes to pass) the conditions.
I see RHD just beat me to it. Winter is not only snow and ice and it would be hypocritical to hold on to that "ideal" when summer Olympics don't have such a strict requirement. Summer sports aren't required to be beach/water sports, or held under dry/hot conditions. So why do winter sports? Shouldn't the goal be to include all relevant sports, regardless of the conditions, and bring all athletes of he world together to compete? Shouldn't that be the Olympic ideal? CX is a winter sport, it simply doesn't require snow or ice. You may find CX not relevant anymore, but considering it was exactly the OG that is to blame for that, this is no more than righting a wrong.
Why would it be disappointing to anyone? Does adding a sport, in any way affect the other sports that people do like? I don't give a flying F about rugby, or breakdancing as sports. I think breakdancing is cool, but not a sport, and i think rugby is stupid. In no way shape or form does it affect my enjoyment or lack of enjoyment of the summer Olympics. If you add breakdancing, you should also add ballroom and ballet for instance. I think chess is a much more competitive and relevant sport as well but somehow it seems logical to everyone that it is not included. They could make chess a winter sport maybe, force them to go play chess in the snow outside and spice it up a little.
www.merriam-webster.com
Yes, they finally understood the fallacy and decided to correct it. Let's not forget, the original Olympics, did NOT include winter sports at all. I'm sure at the time there were plenty of people who thought they had great reasons against adding them to start with. But like Bolder aptly called it, they decided to "dilute" the ideal, right? People who share that view, might want to go back to just the one sport that started it all, the marathon. Because basically every other sport that was added, was simply diluting the "OG ideal" (see what i did there).Winter sports is a meaningful compound noun in a way that 'summer sports' is not:
winter sports
1. sports that are done on snow or ice 2. sports that are done on snow or icedictionary.cambridge.org
Definition of WINTER SPORT
a sport (such as ice hockey or skiing) that takes place in the winter on ice or snow… See the full definitionWinter sport Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary
WINTER SPORT meaning: a sport (such as ice hockey or skiing) that takes place in the winter on ice or snowwww.britannica.com
Let's not deny that winter sports, so defined, is, at present, what the Winter Olympics are about. If they want to change that, it's their right to do so, but it changes the nature of that jamboree.
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