Orienteering in London Olympics

[Taybank]

Mharky -
Sorry son, the Olympics have nothing to do with faith.
Get real

[mharky]

WTF are you talking about?

I think you are the one who needs to get real with your line-o concept called Sko.

The reason I have no faith in the world isn't because sports have to change their nature to get in the olympics, I accept that. My problem is that people come up with crap like that and think it's a good idea.

Why would the IOF want to remove the name of orienteering from their sport. Isn't the whole idea of getting in the olympics to raise the profile? How is changing it's name going to help raise the profile. And how is changing it's name possibly going to help with getting into the Olympics?

People don't know what to call someone who competes in Judo, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I seem to have been the first person on here to actually think how orienteering might genuinely be accommodated into the Olympics. Lots of people talking about things that would be amazing, or cool, or nice. But you have to think seriously.

Do you think your suggestion would be taken seriously?

[Freefall]

From article in Herald Scotland (previously mentioned http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/oth ... g.18258066)

Ultimately, the destination is the Olympic Games. As a consequence of its various forms – ski, canoe or trail – orienteering could feasibly become part of either the summer or winter version but, first, the sport must enhance its profile. Hosting the general assembly on the doorstep of the Olympic movement in Lausanne was the beginning of a charm offensive and Porteous will now work towards adding to his organisation's 73 member countries and increasing the worldwide audience with a view to targeting a place in 2022.

Administrators and athletes need to work together for something that will work.

[Taybank]

Mharty-
Well, you have to keep an open mind and not view the problem with blinkers on.
You can end up saying "No I don't agree with that" but throwing things out without due consideration and shooting your mouth off "from the hip" won't get us anywhere.
What we need is a lot of different ideas being discussed sensibly.Taking the fact that current attempts have not been very effective and have produced some of the most boring TV on record (unless you are a O-geek viewer) and that spectating at orienteering events is a non-event, we need something very different.

[Marco Polo]

From article in Herald Scotland (previously mentioned http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/oth ... g.18258066)

Ultimately, the destination is the Olympic Games. As a consequence of its various forms – ski, canoe or trail – orienteering could feasibly become part of either the summer or winter version but, first, the sport must enhance its profile. Hosting the general assembly on the doorstep of the Olympic movement in Lausanne was the beginning of a charm offensive and Porteous will now work towards adding to his organisation's 73 member countries and increasing the worldwide audience with a view to targeting a place in 2022.

Administrators and athletes need to work together for something that will work.

Was "Canoe" a misunderstanding? MTBO must be more developed and have some olympic potential?

[awk]

I thought demonstration sports had been removed. If (and its a BIG if) O gets into the Olympics, then I hope that real orienteering is used, not urban sprint version (O-lite). Several other sports are being held off-site - eg sailing/windsurfing, so basing O in a proper forest within 50-80km would be a far better option.

Probably not realistic - no spectator value at all - at least not live spectating, and I don't think tracking or cameras would do. In spite of your misgivings (with which I have some sympathy), I think park based orienteering is a far more realistic option. In that instance, London could have provided any number of venues. One that intrigued me, having seen the overhead shots during the TT, was Hampton Court Palace and the grounds.

Don't know what they'd do about local knowledge/embargoes etc though - once Olympic medals are up for stake, it becomes a whole different ball (?!) game.

[Arnold]

Given it's unlikely O will be in the Olympics anytime soon, the next best thing would be an Orienteering event round the Olympic park.

I know that Simon Errington had mooted the idea of having the British Sprints there sometime after 2012, though given current plans it could be 2015 onwards before it's all properly finalised (assuming we can get permission).

Certainly the race around the Sydney park for WMOC a few years ago looked pretty cool!

[madmike]

Certainly the race around the Sydney park for WMOC a few years ago looked pretty cool!

It was indeed pretty cool and so exciting one well known nopesporter even ran up to the top of the main stadium to take in the view during his race

[EddieH]

[Jayne]

I suspect there may be a map of the Olympic Park already underway - given a certain SLOW member is volunteering there.

[Big Jon]

I suspect there may be a map of the Olympic Park already underway - given a certain SLOW member is volunteering there.

Better watch out for Met plod - he'll be arrested/possibly shot if he is spotted with a map and compass in hand as a terrorist threat - the Met gunmen must be twitching to kill someone else.

[alanbrett]

CHIG are looking forward to expanding our Lee Valley Park map, now very out of date with all the changes at the White Water Centre.
Our existing map and permanemt course at Becton, supported by LB of Newham, is a candidate for expansion. This is a candidate for a FROLIC or park Race next Summer.
We look forward to talking to Newham on further maps in the Borough - coming out of the Southern Champs and the Sportivate programme in Newham, we will be targeting increases in participation in the borough.
This will be an exciting couple of years for orienteering in our North East London heartland

[FATBB]

I think that a version of "line orienteering" - following the line on a map with no control sites shown but with a list of control descriptions would get over the major problems of bringing orienteering to the public / olympics.

I completely agree with this idea, whats more I have another idea, we could use a pre existing olympic venue for the race. The track. This has a few major advantages over traditional orienteering
1 There could be one camera mounted in the stadium that would follow the runners around and show the action
2 Spectators could be herded into seating areas to cheer and shout
3 It could use an existing olympic venue
4 Courses could always have the same structure, say with distances varying from short to long distances(say 100m to 10,000) (easy for people to understand and get excited about)
It's not orienteering as we know it but then...........

[Becks]

This is a joke, right?

[graeme]

Not compared with some of the earlier posts.