It is the television, the spectators and the olympics, Babe!

Der IOF liefert in der jüngsten Ausgabe seines Newsletters in inside orienteering seinen Erklärungsansatz zur nicht allseits geschätzten Entwicklung des Weltcups.  Im Zentrum stehen die Punkte:

• Olympia
• Fernsehen
• Zuschauer
• Veranstalter*

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Our second goal is for the sport to be visible and attractive. The main part of this goal is for us to achieve far greater levels of TV coverage reaching well beyond our traditional base.
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Our third goal is related to the first two and that is for us to be positioned for inclusion in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Brian Porteous, IOF Präsident

NORT and Post Finance have built the events around a TV concept

Mikko Salonen Vorsitzender der IOF Fuss OL Kommission in inside orienteering

To get visibility and media exposure though, and to get closer to becoming part of the Olympic family, we need more attractive sprint races for TV audiences rather than too many long distance races just for onsite orienteering spectators.

Mikko Salonen Vorsitzender der IOF Fuss OL Kommission in inside orienteering

Of course we aim at having a fair balance between different formats, but we need to remember that – firstly – we need motivated organisers, and – secondly – inclusion in the Olympic Games is one of the IOF’s key goals, hence driving the development of the World Cup and World Championships and their goals

Mikko Salonen Vorsitzender der IOF Fuss OL Kommission in inside orienteering

The sprint format was in fact chosen because we wanted to make as much of a public spectacle as we possibly could.

Malcolm Ingham, National Controller, World Cup NZL 2013 in inside orienteering

Nordic Tour has from the start had discussions with TV, and we have listened to their recommendations on how to get TV time. ... We now have a good platform and we have shown that it works to do a TV production of orienteering.

Henrik Skoglund, Tourmanager NORT 2013 in inside orienteering

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*Gemerkt? - Es fehlen die Athleten...

Die Kandidaten für die IOF Präsidentschaft zur Olympiafrage

Gone are the days when the IOC simply counted flags to identify who was next to get into the Olympic Games. If we want to claim to be a truly global sport then we certainly do need as many countries to join the orienteering family as possible but we also need to ensure that we support the levels of activity within our federations.

Brian Porteous BOF

Another challenge is in balancing IOF’s ambition to become an Olympic sport with the pressure that IOF has until now put on those member countries that take on the organisation of international championships, which function as shop windows for our capability as seen by the IOC. I appreciate that we should have as a long-term aim that orienteering becomes an Olympic sport, as that gives status and political clout in many countries. But that is likely to lie far in the future; we mustn’t use all our member countries’ energy in a race that cannot be won in the coming 15-20 years – if ever.

Helge Søgaard DOF