Oslo 2011

The World Championship in Oslo is over after 11 days with cross country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined (cross country skiing & ski jumping).

Norway ended up at the top of the medal tally with 20 medals; 8 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze.

NATION	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
Norway	8	6	6	20
Austria	7	2	1	10
Sweden	2	2	1	5
Germany	1	4	3	8
Finland	1	1	2	4
France	1	0	1	2
Canada	1	0	0	1
Poland	0	2	2	4
Russia	0	2	2	4
Italy	0	2	0	2
Slovenia	0	0	2	2
Switzerland	0	0	1	1

Source: Oslo2011

Has Oslo 2011 been a success?

The World Championship had its starting problems with a traffic chaos on Saturday, February 26. But it learnt from it, and the rest of the championship ran perfectly.

The attendance at the championship has been higher than expected, although on some days the weather let the spectators down and it was hard to see anything. This shows how much Norwegians love cross country skiing, ski jumping and the combination of the two. And the questions running through my mine in this moment is:

Should Norway bid to host another Winter Olympic Games?

It’s a lot of costs involved in hosting the Olympic Games. But it was a lot of money involved in hosting the World Championship too. Did Norway get anything back for the money they spent on the championship? Most of the viewers and spectators were Norwegian and Swedish. The FIS World Championship doesn’t get the coverage around the world as the Winter Olympic Games get. Maybe Norway would have been better off by not hosting the FIS World Championship but instead bid for hosting the Winter Olympic Games. Just a thought!

Is it fair?

Is it fair that male ski jumpers can participate in 4 events in the FIS World Championship 2011, while the female ski jumpers only can participate in 1 event? I think not.

The female ski jumpers should at least be able to participate in 2 events; a small hill event and a big hill event.

Women’s ski jumping has taken a lot of step in resent years. Two years ago, in Liberec, was the first time female ski jumpers were able to participate in the FIS World Championships. Unfortunately, they were denied entry into the 2010 Olympics by the Internataional Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Have a look at this YouTube video:

The women’s 2011-2012 ski jumping competition will for the first time be known as “World Cup”.

It is important for women’s ski jumping that the FIS and the IOC take them seriously, and I think they have no reason not to. The participation among female ski jumpers is increasing, as well as the countries participating is expanding.

So I really hope that women’s ski jumping is on the 2014 Olympics programme in Sochi.