May 23, 2008 – Here’s the latest news from FIS including the first ever International Ski Congress to be held on the African continent in Cape Town (RSA) beginning May 25; IOC launches Olympic Express; Telemark Committee in Oberhofen; FIS Congress Special.

Just days now: 46th International Ski Congress
It is just a few days until more than 1,000 participants will be making their way down to South Africa for the 46th International Ski Congress. The Congress week will begin with the official welcome reception on Sunday, May 25 at the Hotel Westin Grand in Cape Town on invitation of the City of Cape Town. The week at the Southern end of the African continent promises to be a fantastic occasion for the worldwide skiing family.

The meetings – several dozen of official meetings of the FIS Council, Technical Committees and Working Groups (see here for the latest schedule) along with countless unofficial gatherings will take place during the Congress Week – will begin already on Sunday afternoon with meetings of the FIS Injury Surveillance System Steering Committee and the Timing Working Group.

The first official meeting of the FIS Council will take place on Monday, May 28. The Council will continue to meet until Wednesday, reviewing the items on the program of the FIS Congress on Friday, May 30, as well as considering various proposals from the Technical Committees that are also meeting from Monday till Wednesday, and various other topics. One of most important items on the Council’s Agenda includes the confirmation of the FIS World Cup schedules for the 2008/2009 season.

Given that it is autumn time in South Africa now, the weather forecast for Cape Town for the next 10 days looks very promising. With temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius (ca. 68F) during day time and from sunny to partially cloudy skies (chance of precipitation only 5% from Sunday-Wednesday; for more see here), the travelers can hopefully look forward to a beautiful week following rainfall today and yesterday.

Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many government offices are located. Cape Town is famous for its harbor as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is often regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful cities in particular because of its geography.

In light of the recent conflicts in Johannesburg: for those travelling through Johannesburg to Cape Town, no problems have been reported at the airport there. Caution is recommended for anyone who has planned to visit Johannesburg as a pre- or post-Congress tour, however, although no official travel alerts have been issued by governments according to FIS’s knowledge. Please check with your consulate for up-to-date information.

IOC launches Olympic Express
The International Olympic Committee has just launched Olympic Express, the first Olympic Games “e-journal” for young people from all over the world. Olympic Express is interactive, contains various animated features and provides a lot of information related to the Olympic Games.

Olympic Express will be published twice a week. From May until August 8, it will provide features on the 35 different sports that are currently part of the Olympic program. It will also feature reports on individual stars, teams and technical details about specific sports. During the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, Olympic Express will become an e-daily, bringing news of all the competition events as well as stories the world’s greatest summer athletes.

Click here to review the first issue of Olympic Express.

Telemark Committee in Oberhofen
Contributed by James Stein

On May 8th-9th 2008, the FIS Telemark Committee held its spring meeting at the FIS Headquarters in Oberhofen (SUI). Chairman Anthony Favre and Vice-Chairman Trond Gunleiksrud together with Treasurer Hans Peter Birchler, Secretary James Stein, Mads Christensen, Christian Leicht, and FIS Assistant Geertje Richter were in attendance.

The group spent two days reviewing and establishing safety, competition and sponsorship guidelines as well as finalizing the 2009 World Cup and 2009 Telemark World Ski Championships details. The FIS Telemark World Cup is coming off of a highly successful seven nation, 16-event season and is very excited for an even more successful 2009 schedule.

Rjukan (NOR) has applied to organize the FIS Telemark World Ski Championships 2011. The Telemark Committee decided to request the FIS Council to appoint Rjukan as host of the 2011 championships. Rjukan has organized first class Telemark World Cup races during five seasons and has had TV coverage for their event on the main national network during three years.

The FIS Telemark Committee is also planning to test a new event for the 2009 Finals in Bjorli (NOR). After the last official competition, a Telemark Classic, the athletes will be invited to a typical Norwegian mountain Telemark race. This means that the athletes have to walk for 3 hours up to start, well away from lifts and groomed slopes.