Track & Field News got a copy of a letter from Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, and Paul Tergat sent to IOC head Jacques Rogge and IAAF head Lamine Diack asking for cross-country to be reinstated into the Summer Olympics. It was once on the program but eliminated after 1924.
While the IOC is in no mood to add to the summer games, this is an intriguing possibility. The facilities and work required to add two XC races (one each for men and women) are about as minimal as you can get in the Olympics. If they were held early in the games, before the rest of the track & field competition began, you could have both track stars and marathoners meet head-to-head (as both would have ample recovery time before the main event). This is what the IAAF has always wanted with its World XC Championships but rarely gets.
I would absolutely love to see Beks and Sihine take on Wanjiru. Let's hope this movement gains traction.
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2 comments:
definitely a great olympics and a great closing ceremony! Here's what another blog had to say about it:
http://womenartmoney.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-olympic-heroes-part-4-pass-torch.html
Some other good posts about the olympics are the following:
http://womenartmoney.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-olympic-heroes-part-3-i-am-number.html
http://womenartmoney.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-olympic-heroes-part-2-longest-300.html
http://womenartmoney.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-olympic-heroes-part-1-battle-believe.html
Have a great weekend!
I am going to state the obvious here from my perspective. XC should be in the Olympics, but it is viewed as an "off-season" sport from Track and Field. Add it to the Winter Olympics! The Winter time stuff struggles with fewer sports, and it would be a very competitive race as there would be no conflicting marathon, 10K, etc. Just would have to be at a lower altitude, near the host site... Or RUN IN THE SNOW.
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