Winter Olympic Games 2030 Bid Process

[Olympian1010 8,229]

A fun possibility with the inclusion of natural track luge is the simultaneous inclusion of ice cross downhill. You could have natural track luge the first week, and then take a few days in the middle of the Games to remodel the track and prepare it for two or three days of ice cross downhill at the end of the Games.

[Josh 11,497]

16 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

A fun possibility with the inclusion of natural track luge is the simultaneous inclusion of ice cross downhill. You could have natural track luge the first week, and then take a few days in the middle of the Games to remodel the track and prepare it for two or three days of ice cross downhill at the end of the Games.

Ice cross at the Olympics? Yes please   One of my favourite non-olympic winter sports by far. So exciting to watch. 
 

For those who have never seen ice cross before, and have no clue what it is, here’s a video explaining it for you 

 

 

[Quaker2001 255]

5 hours ago, Josh said:

Ice cross at the Olympics? Yes please   One of my favourite non-olympic winter sports by far. So exciting to watch. 
 

For those who have never seen ice cross before, and have no clue what it is, here’s a video explaining it for you 

 

I have seen it before and I think this would be a great addition to the Olympics.  Not like they need a big fancy permanent venue for it, either.  They probably don't have the appropriate international organization to make it happen, but I like the idea

[intoronto 6,393]

12 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

I have seen it before and I think this would be a great addition to the Olympics.  Not like they need a big fancy permanent venue for it, either.  They probably don't have the appropriate international organization to make it happen, but I like the idea

The ISU recently sent out a fan survey asking about ice cross. They would be the most logical to take it over.

[Olympian1010 8,229]

2 hours ago, intoronto said:

The ISU recently sent out a fan survey asking about ice cross. They would be the most logical to take it over.

ATSX might have something to say about that plan 

 

Link: https://www.icecross.org/en/atsx/

[heywoodu 16,000]

12 hours ago, phelps said:

as the article says, it's a youth / junior facility.

 

there's no way you can host a senior race on a track 700m short and with only 6 curves (and tbh I also think it's not enough even for the junior class, it's good just for the babies, to start the activity already on an artificial track instead of the natural tracks, like it happens right now in South Tyrol and sometimes also in Austria).

 

50 million venues just to let  win 10+ gold medals at the Games...not really necessary...

To be fair, natural track luge is even less competitive and more super obscure than artificial track luge  

 

Artificial track luge already looks sort of silly to a majority of people, especially doubles is something nobody outside of the small community of luge enthousiasts (like myself, I love it) can take seriously and is usually the butt of all kinds of jokes. Try getting non-luge enthousiasts warmed up for natural track luge, which to the masses looks even more like regular people sliding for fun  

 

Not to be negative about the sport myself, I have no problems with it, but where the general masses already ignore artificial track luge, I can only see that be even worse for natural track (outside of the one or two strongholds in the world).

 

Personally I'd be fine with having both, btw.

Edited April 3, 2023 by heywoodu

[heywoodu 16,000]

10 hours ago, Josh said:

Ice cross at the Olympics? Yes please   One of my favourite non-olympic winter sports by far. So exciting to watch. 
 

For those who have never seen ice cross before, and have no clue what it is, here’s a video explaining it for you 

 

 

Does it still exist? I know a few years back there was the pretty big Red Bull sponsored series, but I haven't heard much of it the past 2-3 years or so...which is sad, because yeah it's absolutely awesome and would be a fantastic addition  (although the main issue is/was it being of course basically entirely Red Bull guided, which isn't great for Olympic inclusion one can imagine)

[phelps 8,278]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

To be fair, natural track luge is even less competitive and more super obscure than artificial track luge  

only because it's not an Olympic sport.

 

give them a proper recognition and the sport (which already have more Countries participating at the world champs than the artificial track luge) will bump up their numbers and will have a lot more competitive Nations.

 

look at Karate...it used to have the same old 5/6 Countries at the top...then suddenly there were at least 30 Nations with legitimate gold medal ambitions when it entered the Olympic program...now, a year and a half after the Olympic dismissal, it's back to the usual suspects.

 

it's the Olympic status that makes a sport great, not vice versa. 

 

p.s. my first intention was just a joke...but I see that the argument has been taken seriously way more than I expected...

[heywoodu 16,000]

1 hour ago, phelps said:

only because it's not an Olympic sport.

 

give them a proper recognition and the sport (which already have more Countries participating at the world champs than the artificial track luge) will bump up their numbers and will have a lot more competitive Nations.

 

look at Karate...it used to have the same old 5/6 Countries at the top...then suddenly there were at least 30 Nations with legitimate gold medal ambitions when it entered the Olympic program...now, a year and a half after the Olympic dismissal, it's back to the usual suspects.

 

it's the Olympic status that makes a sport great, not vice versa. 

 

p.s. my first intention was just a joke...but I see that the argument has been taken seriously way more than I expected...

To be fair, sports that need the Olympic status to be a competitive sport might need to take a good hard look at themselves  (and yes, I know that'll be a majority of sports)

[Josh 11,497]

16 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Does it still exist? I know a few years back there was the pretty big Red Bull sponsored series, but I haven't heard much of it the past 2-3 years or so...which is sad, because yeah it's absolutely awesome and would be a fantastic addition  (although the main issue is/was it being of course basically entirely Red Bull guided, which isn't great for Olympic inclusion one can imagine)

Yes it absolutely does! All events are streamed live on the ATSX Youtube Channel, if you want to watch in the future