Abstract

Today cross-country running celebrates over 200 years of being a practiced organized sport Originally adapted as a form of imitation fox hunting by schoolboys in England it is now a globally sanctioned program governed by World Athletics which oversees marathon running track and field and other athletics events First introduced to the International Olympic Committee by Percy Fischer a member of the Olympic track committee of the Amateur Athletics Association in October 1910 crosscountry running appeared three times on the program for the Summer Olympic Games in 1912 1920 and 1924 as both a team and individually-scored event Due to the overwhelming popularity of track and field and marathon events in the current Olympic Games program in the summer recent attention has turned to promoting cross-country running largely practiced in the autumnal and winter months the world over for inclusion on the Winter Olympic Games schedule Despite a history of nearly 100 years of effor ts for reinclusion back into the Olympics crosscountry running has had difficulty in gaining traction for support for the winter program largely due to the winter olympic charter mandating all sports be practiced exclusively on snow or ice