Should cyclocross become an olympic sport?

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Permalink Reply by KillerB on February 22, 2010 at 10:50am

If it didn't occur on snow it would be out of place at the Winter Olympics. Yet if Olympic cross ALWAYS occured on snow, it would be a fundamentally different sport. Besides, do we really want IOC suits joining UCI suits sticking their noses in cross?

Now if they introduced snow cycling, which wasn't necessarily considered the same as cyclocross, that would be cool.

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Permalink Reply by Blondie on February 23, 2010 at 6:27am

Yeah I'd love to see cross in the Olympics but I don't think it currently meets the requirements stated in Chapter 1, article 6 of the 2007 edition of the Olympic Charter, which defines winter sports as "sports which are practised on snow or ice." I guess you'd have to get really creative to make the argument that it would fit under that definition.

However, if the cross community doesn't speak up the IOC will never just decided on their own to add cross. Speaking up now could mean that in 8 - 12 years cross could be added.

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Permalink Reply by Todd Hockenberry on February 23, 2010 at 12:22pm

Some people have mentioned that not enough countries would be represented. Actually, at cross worlds this year there were 23 countries represented from 4 continents. I think that is plenty. For a comparison, ski jumping is one of the more popular sports at every olympics. It has been around for a really long time, is dominated by a few countries and only has 18 countries competing. And, no womens event - which is lame.

Obviously the sticking point is the snow and ice rule. But didn't they helicopter snow in for aerials last week. Obviously this isn't the norm, but if the IOC can compromise and change the rule to 50% snow and/or ice, then why can't snow be brought in if needed? Something to think about.

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