Not Long Until The Next Olympics

By: Mark Bartley Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Being reminded that the next summer Olympics are just 1000 days away will have been a welcome wake-up call for many athletes. Potential spectators too would have realised that if they are hoping to be present at their favourite Olympic competitions in just less than three years time, then they should start to put the necessary plans in place to make sure they have access to the finances and tickets to allow them to do so. Such is the importance and significance of the next Olympics in London in the eyes of the British people that the more imminent Winter Games in Vancouver have almost been forgotten for the time being.

That will surely change quickly though. The weather is turning and the colder temperatures will remind people of the pleasures of winter sports. Vancouver's own countdown clock will drop down to 100 days shortly and the world media's attention will divert to the next winter Olympics that start in Canada on 12th February 2010.

The number of British athletes competing in the Winter Olympics has always been at a low level compared to the levels of other nations. The spoils of Winter Olympic success are usually split between a handful of countries which dominate proceedings. The usual suspects are Germany, United States, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Korea, China and Italy. The only surprise at the sharp end of the medal table is the Netherlands, whose position is achieved exclusively through their successes in speed skating. It does however illustrate what can be achieved through focus and access to suitable training venues.

The city of Eindhoven boasts an indoor ice sports centre with a 400m ice skating track. The town of Thialf also has an indoor 400 ice skating track which opened in 1986. The facility has hosted many high profile speed skating competitions and has provided an indoor training venue for Dutch Olympic skaters.

You may be surprised to learn that when the Dutch canals finally froze over in January 2009, it was the first time that had happened in twelve years. Generations of young Dutch children have grown up in their country without ever experiencing the joys of a national sport, so you can imagine the frenzy that took place as parents and grandparents made the most of the conditions last year to re-introduce their young ones to the pleasures of skating.

The Famous Elfstedentocht ice skating marathon is a one day, long distance skating race over a track of 200 kilometres that passes through the 11 cities indicated by its name. The race is always over subscribed with only 16,000 of the 30,000 candidates able to take part. It does however require sub-zero temperatures to create the course and such has been the weather in the Netherlands recently, that the race was last held in 1997. Even then techniques had to be adopted to make safe the course which needs to have an ice depth of 15 centimetres along the whole route. The measures included transplanting ice to strength weaker sections. Since the 1997 event, when the winner took almost seven hours to complete the race, warm weather has prevented the race taking place. In attempts to uphold the tradition, alternative methods of racing including cycling, rowing and walking have all been tried out.

The fact the Netherlands have had no good outdoor ice for so many years may come home to roost in the Vancouver Olympics though and the nine speed skating medals the Dutch won in the 2006 Torino games may not be repeated.

In Europe a few of the high altitude glacier resorts opened during October but nowhere has the ideal conditions required to emulate those which athletes can expect to find in Vancouver during February. Some Austrian resorts are reporting fresh falls of snow but unless temperatures remain low that snow will not last. The same is to be said of the snow-making initiatives of some Alpine resorts. They now claim to have access to new snow generation technology that can produce snow even when the air temperature is greater than zero. Again the benefits will be limited if that artificially generated snow immediately starts to melt.

Even with 100 days remaining, most winter Olympic athletes will not yet have access to the outdoor conditions required to train effectively for their sport. Where in the world during October can you take part in a full downhill skiing race, where can you drive a bobsleigh down an Olympic-length run and where can you practice your ski jumping technique on a 90m hill? Even though Great Britain has almost no outdoor venues that provide for Olympic winter sports, don't write off British chances just yet.

With six indoor winter sports centres now fully operational in the UK, it could be argued that Team GB has better training facilities than even the top winter sports nations at this time of year.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: The advantages of an indoor ski school can benefit amateur skiers as well as Olympic athletes. Mark Bartley explains how these indoor snow sport facilities are growing in popularity.