Winter sports in summer are annoying

The seasons are shifting. Winter has long since taken its time to present itself. He used to get some fresh air at least at Christmas, but now autumn is pushing him further and further back. Often even into the new year. And summer isn't always in a hurry either. Not sporty anyway. Ice hockey will still be played until the end of April, before the playing surface finally flows into the storm drain. The “Four Seasons” by Vivaldi. A classic. And isn't it nice to experience the blossoming and also the withering. To observe how nature changes, knowing that the cycle will never be interrupted? Of course everything is happening quickly, too quickly. The days are already getting shorter again. Let's not think about it. Let's look forward to hot days and summer sports. Ski jumping, for example. Or biathlon. Don't worry, I'm not sun-drunk or in any other way under the weather. It's all right. But from year to year I can't cope with the fact that some people simply don't want to accept the rhythm of life. Winter should last forever. At the European Games in Poland, mat jumping was actually on the program as a discipline. I get cold there in the middle of summer. Does that really have to be the case? In winter, when there's a lot of snow and stuff like that, everything often becomes too much for the active ones. Every weekend there is a competition or even qualifications during the week. Suitcase open, suitcase closed. From here to there. It's pure stress. Travel stress especially. Does anyone object? No. Because there is prize money and prestige, medals and trophies everywhere. Plus the public perception that makes sponsors happy. More and more and more. Biathletes go to the city centers. To Wiesbaden, for example. This is called “City Biathlon”. Logical somehow. Some of the world elite are coming. Also from Sweden or Norway. The German aces are of course there. Above all, they should activate the fans. Suddenly there is no longer any talk of overload. Now the prize money is tempting here too. This always justifies an interruption in training, which is then suddenly presented in a positive light. As a cheap change. Biathlon has not yet made it to the European Games. But what is not, can still become. The field of participants will then thin out again for the Summer Biathlon World Championships organized by the International Biathlon Union (IBU). It can be heard everywhere that they would now suddenly disrupt the preparation for the winter. Interesting. Basically, it's all relatively easy to explain these wintry impulses in summer: everything has long had monetary causes. More more more. The diversity we are led to believe is pushed forward from many directions. The officials, the presidents of the international associations, are pushing forward. No matter what sport. They want to present their sport and it's always not enough for them. Marketing heads of the companies encourage. They want to show their products all year round. Ambitious politicians are hunting for votes for the next election by supporting sport. Suddenly money no longer plays a role. It's the taxpayer's responsibility. The starting signal beckons and the picture in the newspaper. Tourism managers rub their hands. The magic word is value creation. More, more and more. We are already covered in football to the hilt with countless new cup competitions and ever larger starting fields in championships. But does winter sports still have to serve for this? In the summer I want to watch sailing, beach volleyball, cycling, swimming, golf, climbing, athletics, mountain biking, windsurfing, even tennis, rowing or whitewater canoeists bracing themselves against the waves. I want to feel the summer in sports and not see skiers whizzing over tar roads on strange scooters and then stopping for a shooting session. That's what I chose winter for. And ski jumping without snow is simply boring. Without atmosphere. It is an art product that comes from greed and not from the fear of being forgotten. Actually, the summer hopping robs us of the anticipation of the winter flight from the ski jumps around the world. If it can take place like that. Because last year the winter was pretty slow again, so that the first competitions of the “normal” season actually had to be held on ceramic inrun tracks and mats. The seasons visibly merge with each other. The sporty sprinkling has long since become a permanent shower. The lever to turn it back a little is stuck or shouldn't work at all. There is still so much potential. Grass skiing. It already existed. Fortunately, this didn't catch on, nor did skiing on the new scree fields that were increasingly being opened up by the glaciers. But we don't have to helplessly watch the winter hustle and bustle in summer time. We have the games console in our hands. We, the sports consumers, can switch on or switch off. And if we behave according to the seasons, winter sports have no chance in summer anyway, because then we are in the swimming pool, at the lake, on the shores of the Adriatic or even in the mountains at lofty heights and narrow paths with a wonderful view of the valley and the dream that it will always stay that way. About the author: Sigi Heinrich The multi-award-winning sports journalist (including German Television Prize, Bavarian Sports Prize, World Sports Trophy, Biathlon Award), book author and Eurosport commentator, dedicates his column “Sigi's Peaks” to the entire diversity of sport and also enjoys poaching foreign realms. Sometimes with a smile and a wink, or serious and matter-of-fact and sometimes deliberately provocative. There should be something for everyone.

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Winter sports in summer are annoying

Both ski jumpers and biathletes simply can't let go and extend the winter into the summer with a variety of competitions. Our columnist Sigi Heinrich, on the other hand, advocates seasonal sport, especially since the range of sports on offer leaves nothing to be desired, even on hot days.

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