Mountain bike-styled sport makes its case for an Olympic entry
The Winter Olympics are an exciting time for Canadians. Our athletes excel in a variety of sports that are included in these games. We always look forward to the usual events: hockey, skiing, speed skating, and figure skating, among others. During the recent Sochi games, viewers in Canada, and around the world, were able to cheer on athletes in newly added events, such as Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe and Snowboard Slopestyle.
Most Canadian spectators were on the edge of their seat, embracing these new sports and the excitement that comes with them. But have you ever wondered how new events end up in the most prestigious winter athletic event in the world?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluates a variety of factors to determine the inclusion of every Olympic sport. These include viewership ratings, competition level of the sport, and participation rates of countries around the world. It can be argued that the IOC is taking initiative to increase the diversity of sports within the Olympics, and specifically within the Winter Olympics, as can be seen in the addition of “X-Game” type events.
This increase in diversity was furthered when the world governing body for cycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), engaged in talks with the IOC regarding the inclusion of a cycling based sport called “cyclocross” into the Winter Olympics.
For those unfamiliar with cyclocross, a few key words commonly used to sum up this cycling discipline include mud, beer, cowbells, and barriers – not quite the Tour de France.
This high intensity sport is raced on bikes similar to road bikes, but with features that allow them to ride on harsh terrain such as grass, gravel, mud, and even snow. Primarily raced in the fall and winter months, riders typically have 60 minutes to complete as many laps as possible on a course riddled with barriers and stairs that often require them to dismount and carry their bike over.
Cyclocross has recently surged in popularity within North America, due particularly in part to the World Championships being hosted in Louisville, Kentucky, in Feb. of 2013. This was the first time in 64 years that the World Championships were held outside of a European country.
Brian Cookson, recently-appointed President of the UCI, is in favour of cyclocross being involved in the Winter Olympics, as most major cycling disciplines such as road, XC mountain bike, BMX, and track are currently in the Summer Olympic Games. However, he recognizes some hurdles will need to be jumped (no pun intended) for cyclocross to one day reach the Olympics.
The Olympic Charter states in Rule 6, Section 2, that a sport must be practiced on snow or ice to be included in the Winter Olympics. Cyclocross course conditions often involve snow and cold temperatures – especially in Belgium, where athletes are trained to race in brutal conditions in the winter months – but these are not pre-requisites for participation in the sport.
If newly appointed IOC president Thomas Bach is open to expanding the depth of the Winter Olympics, as we have seen recently, the rule may be altered. Perhaps, in future Olympic games, we’ll see some mud-caked Canucks running their bikes over wooden barriers, all the while being screamed at by rowdy fans. This is not the typical image of a Winter Olympic sport, granted, but 10 years ago, not many people expected athletes like Shaun White, in sports such as snowboard half pipe, to be participating in the Olympics either.