Well it has been a few weeks since I attended the IF3 and I must admit that the Kaunertal Opening and a unexpecte flooding of my apartement including a few days in Albania made quite a hole into my intended publishing schedule. 

Non the less Freeskiing and its further progression with the inclusion in the Olympics starting in Sochi in a few months is one of the hot topics that everyone seems to have an opinion about these days. Thanks to the IF3 organizers that exact topic was the main subject of the press-event that kicked off the “Innsbrooklyn” portion of the film festival. Of course I wouldn’t miss that so I took a day off the job and drove to Innsbruck for a Q&A.

First of all for the whole thing – athletes, Olympics, invitationals, doubles,  triples and a good Q&A check the press-conference recording. It is almost an hour so get out some popcorn. Definitely worth listening to 🙂 (oh and it`s 40 MB so it loads a bit).

Download it here:

The “panel” a word rarely used in connection with freeskiing was very diverse. We had legends like Pep Fujas, pros like Henrik Harlaut, the alpine skiing retired professional Stephan Görgl, local crews icon and Austrian Olympic coach Lukas Burcic, Olympic athlete proteges Lisa Zimmermann and Regina Rathgeb, “Stammtisch” Freeski-Crew filmhead Marius HÖFLINGER and even a representative of the city of Innsbruck, a town that has demonstrated immense support in the development of truism around skiing and all it`s facets Mr. Romuald Nescher.

We heard a lot of different perspectives on the whole issue of skiings future as a whole, and it`s development as a sport, but chief question that seemed to steer up quite a few opposing views was the question on what the IOC –  The International Olympic committee can do to, or for freeskiing and if it was more good or bad ?

The fact that the Olympics can attract more mainstream big money sponsors and give exposure to more mainstream households was brought up a few times. We know that the industry is cashstrapped and oversaturated with products that would welcome new customer groups regardless of whether they find skiing a fad or a way of life.

Pep Fujas, powderski film legend, described this nicely. Skiing, as a form of expression is art. It comes in so many varieties that you can not define it all with one thing, like football or fencing. It has a lot of soul and we have to take care not to lose that. The IOCs main “official” mission is to promote sports.The ugly and often unsaid truth is that it is a giant birocratic apparatus that eats sports as a whole and is a good way for certain influential groups to gain access to funds or even redistribute them without a papartrail. In short it`s kinda like a venture capitalist.. it smells stuff that is progressing and milks it for all it`s worth while promising the athletes the stars… all under the banner of promoting the Olympic spirit of a “contest for everyone” . Having itself a fundamental problem of appealing to younger demographics it has been adding popular sports to it`s roster for quite some time now.

I  had the opportunity at the Schladming SkiWM to meet one of it`s highest representatives with a delegation and to be honest the protocol was akin to meeting the queen of England. Now how can freeskiing with it`s restless and unbound nature work inside such a hierarchy is beyond me.

“…the young modern scene… a absolute enrichment for us.” – Romuald NESCHER on modern athletes and Innsbruck

We have to be very careful not to get into the same position that snowboarding is in with the IOC. Events like the X-Games and the DEW Tour, freestyle.ch as well as tons of Invitationals should be enough to leverage our sport in a good way. Participation at the Olympics should be on our terms. Films, as an example, show the passion and capture the rapid progression of skiing. They have the soul, the sweat and tears and the lives of the individuals who make them within them.  They are a expression of our life as skiers. A lifestyle choice like any other with it`s ups and downs … with loss and reward and of course all the things one leaves behind with a choice.

But we also have to look at the positive sides. Like Lisa Zimmermann and Regina Rathgeb noted. The Olympics allow individuals who are good at what they do and maybe not super marketable characters to rise beyond that and perform on a level, that has not been seen before. The “old way” of sponsorship and training is also good because not every talent and athlete is also a super charismatic persona per Se and a good actor/performer in front of the media. Something big name modern day sponsors like Red Bull and Monster give a big emphasis on.Also the rigid IOC seems to be showing some progress in coming to terms with the changing times. As Stephan Görgl said. A few years back a dude like Henrik with the dreadlocks and the rasta attitude would never be considered an athlete in IOC circles.

So where does that leave us ? Do we just ride along and see where the IOCs allmight wing takes us. Or do we actively try to define our sport in a slower pace with our events, like the IF3, XGames, Freestyle.ch the films and the people as we used to until now ? Is the lure of Olympic gold in the short term a Trojan horse in disguise ? The IOC is big and there are a lot of people there who are also passionate about the sport and it`s future and  I did meet a few of these optimists too… As for now I can say that we are going to have to wait for Sochi to see what will happen. An undeniable fact is, that train has left the station and all we can do is wait for the call that it has arrived at its destination(safely or in disaster).