Interesting forum Nordicum

By Luis Mahlknecht

What is new in ski jumping is that at the World Cup station in Willingen, the athletes and service people will be in a “glass house” during the break between the two rounds in order to offer the audience even more insight into the “inner workings” of the ski jumping world.

The Nordic combined also wants to gradually open up to women, and the first youth test competition took place in Oberstdorf this summer. Two young South Tyroleans, Jessica Malsiner and Daniela Dejori, were also there.

The appearance of Alfons Hörmann, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), was very remarkable and insightful. With facts and figures, he highlighted the value of sporting events and underlined how sport alone in Germany, for example, generates an annual turnover of 22 billion euros, while the allocations only amount to nine billion, with a profit of 13 billion for the state.

Hörmann also defended the IOC's otherwise much-vilified organization, emphasizing that over 90 percent of the revenue was passed on by the International Olympic Committee to the national associations to promote youth sports.

Another statistic, however, is worrying when you learn that 96 percent of athletes in the German Ski Association admit that they take nutritional supplements, including 53 percent daily. And even in the youth sector, 68 percent can't do it without resorting to substitute food, an energy bar or a strength drink. And here it is also an extreme tightrope walk from good, recommendable products to tips from some quacks, as Evi Dingebacher-Stehle unfortunately had to experience the painful way.

Finally, a look at the TV numbers: In the FIS area, ski jumping has surpassed alpine skiing, only then does cross-country skiing follow. Last but not least, snowboarding is a wallflower sport and, with the exception of the Olympic Games, is hardly present on television. Of course, biathlon, which is managed by the IBU, is still an absolute hit. And here the odds are consistently high all year round, while there are clear “highlights” in ski jumping, cross-country skiing or alpine skiing, such as the Four Hills Tournament, the Tour de Ski or the Hahnenkamm Race.

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Interesting forum Nordicum

The annual meeting of media people covering Nordic skiing took place this fall in Willingen, Germany. In addition to the usual previews of the 2014 competition season in cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon, there were also a number of notable lectures and discussions.

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