OPINION

No O in the Olympic Games

IAN BAKER (former Editor of The Australian Orienteer)

Why orienteering will never get into the Olympics’ is the title of an article by Raphael Mak in this magazine in December 2021. The article gives telling reasons for the failure of any form of foot orienteering to have a chance of becoming a part of the summer Olympic Games, in particular its complexity with specific navigation techniques hardly understood by outsiders. At the end of the twentieth century there was a belief that ski orienteering should aim to be granted a place in the Winter Olympic Games program. There was a place for more sports to be included in the winter program and the criterion of the number of countries practising the sport was lower than for the Summer Games. The thinking was to show the International Olympic Committee that SkiO was a sport in a significant number of countries on several continents. Australia had the chance to be one of these. The overall aim was to gain more recognition and more publicity on the very broadest scale.

SkiO and Australia

At this time I was an active cross-country skier as well as a longtime orienteer: I took on the project of organising the first Australian SkiO Championships at Lake Mountain near Marysville, north-east of Melbourne, in August 1995. Robin Rishworth, also a xc skier and orienteer (multiple winner of the Melbourne Rialto Tower and the New York Empire State Building run-ups), a cartographer by profession, prepared a colour map of the area with its 35km of groomed trails and was the course-setter. We promoted the event to orienteers, to xc ski clubs and by posters in Alpine resort areas. 41 participants took part. Feedback was enthusiastic, stimulating later mapping and events at Falls Creek and Mt Hotham in north-east Victoria. However participation never again reached the level of the first Lake Mountain event. Negative factors included unreliable snow seasons and the distances to travel from urban centres. The 1998 Winter Olympic Games were held at Nagano in Japan; SkiO was organised nearby to demonstrate the sport. I remember visiting Ian Chesterman of the Australian Olympic Committee to brief him on planned Australian participation (he has recently been elected president of the AOC). Australian orienteers Jacquie Rand, Hughes Little and Marg Purdham took part, scoring a win in the Mixed Relay. But little further was heard about inclusion of SkiO in the Olympic program and the encouragement to establish it in more countries waned. [Editor’s note: in the Winter Olympics scene, SkiO appears to have been brushed aside by events more exciting and attractive to spectators such as Moguls (where AUS won Gold), Snowboard Half-pipe (where Scotty James, the Wizard from Warrandyte, won Silver), Freeski Half-pipe (where NZ won Gold), Aerials, Freeski Slopestyle & Big Air, Ski Cross, Snowboard Slopestyle (in which AUS and NZ won Bronze and Gold), Snowboard Cross & Big Air (in which NZ won Silver).] These events are all more attractive to television, the major financial support of the IOC. They take place in well-defined arenas, where it is easy for TV to cover the competition and the scoring is easy to understand. Be realistic - SkiO is a nonstarter for the Olympics. In Australia SkiO seems to have faded in Victoria, but there have been events in the Perisher ski area of southern NSW. Fedor and Marina Iskhakov, former Sydney orienteers who had moved to Canberra, took over. With OACT involvement, the number of participants grew to nearly 50. Those Perisher events are described as the ACT & NSW SkiO Championships and the 2022 Championships are planned for Sunday 14 August (see Eventor). In Victoria on the whole it’s a fairly sorry story of lack of snow and suitable terrain, and low turnout when events went ahead. Back in the days when we had adequate snow SkiO events were held annually at Mt Baw Baw in Victoria between 1972 and 1978, organised variously by members of the Baw Baw Touring Association, Super Turtles and Latrobe University Mountaineering Club. Much later, attempts were made to hold events elsewhere: • 1995 – held 17 August at Lake Mountain, VIC. Billed as the

First Australian Ski-O Championships – 41 participants. • 1996 – held 29 August at Lake Mountain. Billed as Victorian

Ski-O Championships. • 1998 – held at Falls Creek, VIC. - 24 participants. • 1998 & 1999 - Mt Hotham - map produced by Alan Davis, but events cancelled due to lack of snow. In the following years more events were planned but then cancelled as snow conditions were too poor. SkiO is just one chapter in a comprehensive history of orienteering development in Australia 1969 - 2019 being compiled by David Hogg, an orienteer since the first event in Australia in 1969, with assistance of many past and present orienteers in providing information and reviewing its 54 chapters. Publication details will be advised in due course.

Why not the Commonwealth Games?

IAN BAKER

Several regional Victorian centres have been confirmed as co-hosts of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Does this present a worthwhile opportunity for Orienteering? The Commonwealth expects some 72 countries to take part; many of these are ‘small states’. Of the total, eight countries are members of the International Orienteering Federation: South Africa; Asia – India, Malaysia, Singapore; Americas – Canada; Europe – UK (includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man; all of which compete separately at the Comm Games); Pacific – Australia, New Zealand. While Orienteering is not a Commonwealth Games sport, an option could be to organise a major Orienteering event in parallel with the Games at a regional centre (such as Bendigo or Ballarat). The format should be focussed on attracting spectators and could be along the lines of Day 3 of the recent Melbourne Sprint Weekend with a Knock Out Sprint series to showcase our Elites, and an age-class Sprint (or two) to demonstrate the spread of our sport. Participation would be open to Commonwealth orienteers.

It would be too complex and probably too late to seek to have Orienteering an official sport within the Games. The objective is to cross-market to promote Orienteering and to maximise participation in the orienteering carnival. The Games are provisionally scheduled for March 2026, so there will be no clash with the 2026 World Orienteering Championships provisionally listed for 7 - 11 July in Italy. Easter 2026 will be April 3 – 6 so there may be an opportunity to link a Comm Games event with our Easter Carnival, if OA were to schedule it in Victoria.

“Turn your face to the sun; and your shadows will fall behind you.” (Ancient Egyptian).

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VICTORINOX AWARD

This issue’s Victorinox Award goes to Janet Fletcher (WA) for her letter (on page 15) suggesting a way for bringing the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame up to date. Janet will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $139.