Way back in the 1800’s, in rural Norway many skiers would gather each winter for a series of winter sporting events and entertainment. The best athletes being those involved in what is now known as the Nordic combined. The cross country skiing utilizes strength and endurance whilst the ski jumping requires much physical strength along with the mental ability to have sound technical control. The Nordic combined events during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will only consist of a men’s competition as there is no women’s events for these combined disciplines to date.

The Nordic Combined is one of the most enduring tests any of the athletes will face during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The Nordic Combined events joined the Winter Olympic ranks in the 1924 games (the first official winter games) in Chamonix, France where the name was officially changed to 1 Olympic Winter Games. The competition that the Nordic Combined is going to bring to the Vancouver Olympics is going to be something spectacular from the ski jumping aspect to the test of endurance in the cross country skiing portion of the event.

Over the years the Nordic Combined event has changed many times in terms of the distance portion of the cross country discipline. In the case of the Vancouver Winter Olympics the Nordic Combined will consist of a 10 km individual normal hill event including one jump from the individual normal hill followed by a 10 km cross country race utilizing the Gundersen method. This will be followed by the final 10 km individual large hill event. The Gundersen scoring method means that the 10 km cross country portion of the competition will change from an interval start race to a pursuit race, meaning that who ever crosses the finish line first will win the event. The team competition was introduced to this event during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta and then in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City the sprint competition was born.

The first portion of the Nordic combined begins with the ski jumping which is then followed by the free technique cross country race. In a normal Nordic combined event the time between jumping and starting the cross country leg can be a short as 35 minutes and possibly as long as a two hours. The pursuit start (Gundersen method) order of the athletes starting the race is pre-determined by the jumping scoring results. All of the jumpers starting the cross country portion within seconds and in some cases even minutes behind the lead jumper.

A very common strategy in the cross country pursuit start and one that will been seen many times in the Vancouver Olympics is known as “ trains”, this takes place when the athletes start chasing down other athletes trains in pursuit of victory. Traditionally the winner of the Nordic combined pursuit race is the first to cross the finish line. Over many of the past Winter Olympics the Nordic combined events have been dominated by the Scandinavians, but most recently the throne has been taken over by the Norwegians taking 10 of the last 18 possible gold medals. In 2002 at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics the Nordic combined was dominated by Finland, winning gold medals in both the Men’s individual and team events.

In the case of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics the Nordic combined event will take place in Whistler, BC, a world renowned ski resort consistently ranked number one year after year. The venue for this event will be in the Whistler Olympic Park, with a gross venue capacity of 12,000 spectators in each of three stadiums. Although compact, the one-square kilometer Olympic Games core area will include three separate stadiums, a cross-country skiing stadium, the biathlon stadium, as well as the ski jumping stadium, all of which are located approximately 400 metres apart. The 15 km of competition trails for the cross-country skiing and biathlon portions of the Vancouver Olympics were built as well as tested during the 2007 – 2008 ski season. For the biathlon, the stadiums area consists of 30 shooting lanes that are equipped with fully electronic target systems that are capable of detecting and reporting the precise time along with the hit and miss ratio of the bullets fired. In the case of the two ski jumps, the normal hill and the large hill, have been equipped with the worlds most sophisticated ski jump snow refrigeration and track setting systems. This will enhance the experience for spectators and athletes alike during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. As for the permanent elements in the Whistler Olympic/Paralympics Park construction commenced in April of 2005 and was complete by the fall of 2007, all other temporary construction for the facilities set-up will begin during the summer of 2009.

The total construction costs of the Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Paralympics Park was estimated at $119 million. This was made possible in a joint effort of the Canadian and British Columbia Governments to fund the construction costs.

Below is an outline of the major sustainable attributes as presented by the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic committee other wise known as VANOC:

In the case of the construction aspect of this venue the project included:

Once the Vancouver Winter Olympics have long passed the Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Paralympics Park will be operated and run under the Whistler Legacies Society. The venue will then showcase Nordic sports as held in International competitions and also will play a major roll in developing Nordic sports within the local community.