Cross-country skiing (also known as XC skiing) is a winter
sport popular in many countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe
and Canada. However, the popularity of the sport is quickly growing in the
United States.
Cross-country skiing as a sport is part of the Nordic skiing family, which
also includes ski jumping, and a combination sport of cross-country skiing and
ski jumping called Nordic combined. Free-technique cross-country skiing is also
the method of locomotion in the combination sport of Biathlon, which adds rifle
shooting to skiing.
The hobby and the sport
As a hobby, cross-country skiing may be viewed as a kind of "bushwalking on
skis", where skiers tackle trails of various lengths and difficulties. Some
skiers stay out for extended periods using tents and equipment similar to
bushwackers, whereas others take relatively short trips from ski resorts.
As a sport, cross-country skiing is one of the most difficult endurance
sports, as its motions use every major muscle group and it (along with rowing
and swimming) is one of the sports that burn the most calories per hour in
execution. Successful cross-country athletes must have the strength of a
sprinter and the endurance of a distance runner. Modern cross-country ski
competition is experiencing a revolution that is resulting in greater
compatibility with audiences. This revolution began with the addition of the
Sprint event to the World Cup and Olympic competitions. Today more and more
races are being held in audience friendly formats, such as mass start, sprint,
relay and pursuit (a race that involves switching skis and styles halfway
through the race). The modern events in which athletes compete in at the World
Cup and Olympics are (distances presented in Female/Male format): 1km Sprint,
2X1km Team Sprint, 10km/15km Individual Start, 15km/30km Pursuit, 30km/50km Mass
Start and the 4x5km/4x10km Relay.
Sports events
Today, there are several types of cross-country competitive events, involving
races of various types and lengths, as well as biathlon, involving a combination
of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
The Winter Olympics, the FIS World Championships and the FIS World Cup events
have long been a showcase for the world's fastest cross country skiers. There
are also special distance ski races, sometimes called ski marathons, like
Vasaloppet in Sweden and Birkebeinerrennet in Norway. The skiing styles in these
races might be fixed, or, in case of the so-called "double pursuit" event, the
two styles are used each in their own separate half of the race (with a change
of equipment in "pit stops" half way through).
History
Cross-country skiing originated in Scandinavian countries in prehistoric
times. It may have also been practiced by Native Americans for similar lengths
of time, although the Norwegian emigrants Snowshoe Thompson and Jackrabbit
Johannsen are widely credited for introducing the sport to North America.
The sport has been used by explorers by means of transport, and all
Scandinavian armies train their infantry on skis for winter operations.
Traditionally, all of the equipment was made of natural materials: wooden skis
and bamboo poles with leather hand straps. Footwear was usually sturdy leather
boots with thick soles. Bindings evolved from simple straps made of twisted
wood-based thread, to the so-called Kandahar binding with the fastening of both
the boot’s front and back, to the ‘Rat’s Trap’ front-only binding, which is
today known as the Nordic normrm,
and has evolved in various modern bindings.
| 2006 Winter Olympics
medal count |
| Pos |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| 1 |
Germany |
11 |
12 |
6 |
29 |
| 2 |
United States |
9 |
9 |
7 |
25 |
| 3 |
Austria |
9 |
7 |
7 |
23 |
| 4 |
Russia |
8 |
6 |
8 |
22 |
| 5 |
Canada |
7 |
10 |
7 |
24 |
| 6 |
Sweden |
7 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
| 7 |
Korea |
6 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
| 8 |
Switzerland |
5 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
| 9 |
Italy |
5 |
0 |
6 |
11 |
| 10 |
France |
3 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
| Netherlands |
3 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
| 12 |
Estonia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 13 |
Norway |
2 |
8 |
9 |
19 |
| 14 |
China |
2 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
| 15 |
Czech Republic |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 16 |
Croatia |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| 17 |
Australia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| 18 |
Japan |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 19 |
Finland |
0 |
6 |
3 |
9 |
| 20 |
Poland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 21 |
Belarus |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Bulgaria |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Great Britain |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Slovakia |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 25 |
Ukraine |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| 26 |
Latvia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| |
|
84 |
84 |
84 |
252 |
|
