Fans of Natural Track have had their hopes dashed before but recent news suggests that the FIL hasn't given up on getting the sport in to the Olympics! As recently as the 2005 World Championships in Latsch (ITA) there was still hope the sport would make the cut for the 2010 games in Vancouver. Thanks to a helpful tip from one of our favourite Hintonites we can pass on that FIL president Josef Fendt has confirmed that the organization is working with the IOC - with the intent of getting the nod to include the sport in the 2018 Olympics:
"Fendt said that the next application will be for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, which will be awarded in 2011. Until then all the tasks requested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should be implemented."
2018 is a long time away but the the stars might just be aligning to have natural track in an Olympics before then:
"The 2012 Olympic Youth Games have been awarded to Innsbruck. In a mutual effort made by FIL, the Austrian Luge Federation, the luge federation of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, and the organizers of the 2012 Olympic Youth Games, it could be possible to already include natural track luge there."
Ok, ok ... It's not the Olympics but it is an Olympics and that's something fans and athletes should all be happy about. You can read the full story here.
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