McKee's McThoughts: FIS plays numbers game

By Published On: November 20th, 2006Comments Off on McKee's McThoughts: FIS plays numbers game

Gian Franco Kasper’s comments dutifully reported on the FIS Web site (www.fis-ski.com) piqued a bit of interest.
    Kasper said he was happy to have the various World Championships so widespread geographically — Japan hosts nordic, Sweden hosts alpine and Switzerland snowboard. Freestyle, which he failed to mention, is in Italy.
But what really caught my eye was that the FIS would oversee 5,000 international competitions over these next five months. Do the math and that’s 33 plus events a day. As we all know, there’s a lot more racing on a Saturday than a Tuesday. Whichever day of the week, that’s a lot of events, though I suspect there are numerous domestic race program volunteers who would say, “Yeah, but did they have to put ALL of them on our hill?”
FIS PRESIDENT
Gian Franco Kasper’s comments dutifully reported on the FIS Web site (www.fis-ski.com) piqued a bit of interest.
    Kasper said he was happy to have the various World Championships so widespread geographically — Japan hosts nordic, Sweden hosts alpine and Switzerland snowboard. Freestyle, which he failed to mention, is in Italy.
But what really caught my eye was that the FIS would oversee 5,000 international competitions over these next five months. Do the math and that’s 33 plus events a day. As we all know, there’s a lot more racing on a Saturday than a Tuesday. Whichever day of the week, that’s a lot of events, though I suspect there are numerous domestic race program volunteers who would say, “Yeah, but did they have to put ALL of them on our hill?”
    Which raises a point: How many volunteers does it take to hold 5,000 competitions in five months? The answer is a lot. Be nice to them … even if they are your parents.
    The other point here is that ski racing is a pretty big deal. Especially when considering the international flavor. I don’t feel qualified to get into a dissertation on international politics, but I do hear we in the U.S. of A are viewed with some trepidation around the globe. Young ski racers are, generally speaking, well-rounded and educated folks. I’ll take my chances with the impressions they leave.
    There was no alpine World Cup this weekend, but what cool cross-country results. And just how good are the biathletes? Ole Einar Bjoerndalen put down his rifle and spanked the field at Gallivare. While it was Norway and Germany holding dominant control, it is worth praising Kris Freeman’s top-20 result … and that of Canadian Devon Kershaw in 15th.
    The news of the weekend came from the FIS Council meeting held in Switzerland. In addition to the selection of a weapons of mass destruction inspector to head the anti-doping effort, there were many more decisions made at the meeting.
    For instance, the World Junior Alpine Championships of 2010 will take place in Chile. The last big ski event in this memory in Chile was the World Championships when Serge Lang suggested the world might be ready for a skiing World Cup, in 1966. A betting man might think such a monumental event is not likely to come forth from the 2010 venture.
    In 2008, Bormio, Italy, will host World Cup Finals in alpine, cross-country, freestyle and snowboarding. What, they can’t build a ski jump?
    A “knock-out” format in freestyle aerials has been put in the rulebook. It’s hard to resist a comment here about landing on the head, though that is certainly no laughing matter.
    Minimum liability coverage for a World Cup event was boosted from one to three million Swiss francs. Here’s a suggestion: Do away with skier/boardercross. Try to imagine a more susceptible event, and tell me if you find one in any other major sport.
    Serbia and Montenegro were officially accepted as associate members, and Kosovo can enter skiers in FIS-level children’s events.
    And, they postponed making a decision on where to hold the 2010 International Ski Congress.
    One other tidbit the major news outlets did pick up on: Swiss racer Urs Imboden will be allowed to ski for Moldavia. The Uncyclopedia reports: “Moldavia is a small part of Mother Russia bordered by Lithuania, which is pretty much like Moldavia excepting the fact that all Lithuanian men are poor whilst Moldavians are very poor.” One might venture Imboden will not spend large quantities of time in his newly adopted country.
    Loved the line in the Swiss tabloid Blick on Maria Jose Rienda Contreras’ unfortunate season-ending injury: Spanish coach Mauro Pini is now “largely unemployed.”
    

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About the Author: Pete Rugh