Sociognesis of Cross Country Skiing

Do not know what cross country skiing is? Take 3 minutes to watch this YouTube film. It is from the World Championship in 2011 which were held in Oslo, Norway.

Cross country skiing originated from Northern Europe (Scandinavia) around 4000 years ago. High mountains, big plains and deep fjords caused barriers to hunting, and the transportation and communication between the people in the North during the winter. Skis became a tool which more or less solved this problem. Today Cross country skiing is Norway's national sport, and is very popular in Europe together with the other nordic sports (alpine, ski jumping, freestyle and biathlon). In US, however, only a minor of the population have heard of the sport.   

The distinction to modern skiing as we know it today, came first in the 1700s. Skiing was used by the military, both for training and transportation. This is the first evidences of what we today call competitive sport in Norway. The first cross country skiing company was established by the military in 1747. 

In May 1861, Trysilgutten IL was established as the world's first ski club, but already as early as in 1776 different ski competitions was conducted. These competitions was reserved for men in the age above 20, and there was no timing! How fast you could ski was not interesting; what really mattered was the technic. Different "judges" were hiding around in the course and gave the participants points for their technic.    

From the start of 1900s skiing as we know it today started to take shape, and we find the first rules of timing, standardized distances, and classification. Today cross country skiing has two main techniques; classic and skating, and the distances raced are sprint, relay, 5km, 10km, 15km, 30km and 50km. The sport also contain duathlon, which indicates the participants switch from classic to skate half way thorough the race. 

Today the equipment has an essential role in the sport. After many years with developing of faster skis, and products to make ski glide faster, it has become impossible to succeed without the top performance equipment. Unfortunatley, this has made the sport very expensive, and you can observe children in the age of 10 wearing top carbon equipment worth thousands of dollars.

 

Until 1970 skiing was performed with wood skis and bamboo poles. Today most equipment are made of carbon for lightness and for ensuring top performance. The skis Petter Northug (the world's greatest skier) is wearing in this picture cost around $750. He has over 60 pairs of them. 

Cross country skiing was in the program when the first Winter Olympics were held in Paris in France in 1924. In 1952 the Olympics were held in Oslo, Norway, and for the first time women were allowed to compete. The sport has had great starts throughout time, like Bjærn Dæhli, Petter Northug, Marit Bjørgen and Therese Johaug. However, what might be very significant is the Norwegian dominance in this sport throughout its history. In spite of other nations, as Finland and Russia being caught for cheating and drugs, Norway has not had many scandals and nevertheless beaten people who have cheated. 

The sport today are currently facing challenges as cheating and drugs. Success is so highly valued that people are willing to whatever it takes to win. Injustice when it comes to equipment, economy and training facilities are under debate. For instance; the Norwegian national team receives thousand of dollars from the government to ensure success, while in US the sport is based on private contribution. Is that fair?  

Refrences: 

-       Enjolars, Bernard, Ørnulf Seippel og Ragnhild H Waldahl. 2005. Norsk idrett – organisering, fellesskap og politikk. Oslo: Akilles. 

-       Goksøyr, Matti. 2008. Historien om norsk idrett. (Kap. 4 og 5). Oslo: Abstrakt forlag.

-       Anita Koot. 2012. Skihistorien er norsk. Olavsrosa. http://www.olavsrosa.no/redaksjonelt.aspx?id=146728 (lest 25.09.12)

-       Holmenkollen. 2012. Skimuseet. http://www.holmenkollen.com/nor/Home-Holmenkollen/Skimuseet/Skihistorie (lest 25.09.12)

-       IL Trysilgutten. 2012. Organisasjonsplan IL Trysilgutten April 2012. http://idrett.speaker.no/Downloads/164167/docs/ILT_Organisasjonsplan_2012.pdf (lest 23.09.12)

-       Norsk Tipping. 2012. Norsk Tipping historie. https://www.norsk-tipping.no/selskapet/om_norsk_tipping/historie (lest 22.09.12).