Discussion: Should there be any minimum standard for WOC LONG/MIDDLE participation?
in: Orienteering; General
Jul 9, 2014 8:50 AM
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IOF Council:
"It should be the event to celebrate the best, but also the yearly festival for world orienteering, involving the entire IOF family."
FOC proposal
"The Council proposals, as they currently stand, guarantee every country a minimum of one place. It is likely that this means that the very weakest competitors in the field will be competitors who have little or no chance of finishing inside the time limit as expressed in current rules.
The ability of division 3 countries to start 1 runner in the final should be conditional on that runner having achieved a World Ranking score of at least 500 points at least once in their career prior to the WOC event (this could occur at earlier events in the same WOC, e.g. the Sprint Qualification)."
WOC 2014
Council's predictions were simply wrong. The weakest countries didn't send a sprint relay team and only 34 countries competed. On the other hand we have probably all 54 countries on MEN Long start list and some runners are without WRE points.
It is evident that the Council wants a broad participation no matter of "minimum quality" on the expenses of 2nd & 3rd division countries. I hope that FOC will put this issue on table after the WOC (again) to preserve competitive orienteering in these countries.
I am really interested to know why some newbies from exotic countries have the privilege to run WOC long? Do they personally feel that they can make it? How many of these "exotic" WOC Long runners in the past 10 years are still in orienteering? Do IOF think that this is better for media and IOC image?
I greatly support their interest in orienteering but they should prepare themselves in advance and achieve minimum standard as FOC proposed. It is not a very high bar but at least shows that it is not possible to come to WOC LONG straight from the "McDonald's".
"It should be the event to celebrate the best, but also the yearly festival for world orienteering, involving the entire IOF family."
FOC proposal
"The Council proposals, as they currently stand, guarantee every country a minimum of one place. It is likely that this means that the very weakest competitors in the field will be competitors who have little or no chance of finishing inside the time limit as expressed in current rules.
The ability of division 3 countries to start 1 runner in the final should be conditional on that runner having achieved a World Ranking score of at least 500 points at least once in their career prior to the WOC event (this could occur at earlier events in the same WOC, e.g. the Sprint Qualification)."
WOC 2014
Council's predictions were simply wrong. The weakest countries didn't send a sprint relay team and only 34 countries competed. On the other hand we have probably all 54 countries on MEN Long start list and some runners are without WRE points.
It is evident that the Council wants a broad participation no matter of "minimum quality" on the expenses of 2nd & 3rd division countries. I hope that FOC will put this issue on table after the WOC (again) to preserve competitive orienteering in these countries.
I am really interested to know why some newbies from exotic countries have the privilege to run WOC long? Do they personally feel that they can make it? How many of these "exotic" WOC Long runners in the past 10 years are still in orienteering? Do IOF think that this is better for media and IOC image?
I greatly support their interest in orienteering but they should prepare themselves in advance and achieve minimum standard as FOC proposed. It is not a very high bar but at least shows that it is not possible to come to WOC LONG straight from the "McDonald's".
Jul 9, 2014 9:25 AM
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True. Can someone make a WOC 2014 LONG MEN and WOMEN start list by WRE points?
This discussion thread is closed.