Riikka Rakic is a 1995 Graduate of Middlebury College and the FIS coordinator for this year’s Tour de Ski. Rakic answered some questions for www.fasterskier.com and www.Middleburyskiing.org .
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<p><b>You work for FIS as a communications manager. How did you come into this type of work? What was your own skiing background?</b></p>
<p>After college at Middlebury, I went on to pursue graduate studies at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Washington DC, and then worked for several years in various marketing and communication roles for an international professional services firm, based out of four different countries. I then decided to go back to school and get a second graduate degree in sports administration, this time in Lausanne, Switzerland. I think the combination of these experiences actually prepared me quite well for my current role as FIS Communications Manager where I am faced with a delicate international environment on a daily basis. I also like all types of skiing so I find it very exciting to be able to deal with all the FIS disciplines as part of this job. </p>
<p>Coming from Finland, my own skiing background is quite ‘Nordic’, i.e. I myself competed in Cross-Country. I think I raced my first race at the age of four and the sport became more and more important to me as the years went by. I attended a skiing high school at Vuokatti Sports Institute in north-eastern Finland, before attending Middlebury College.</p>
<p><b>You coordinate the new FIS Tour De Ski. Can you explain how this type of racing differs from what FIS has done in the past?</b></p>
<p>The Tour de Ski promises to be a very exciting albeit demanding race for the participating athletes. At the same time, we think it will be great for the sport of skiing in many respects: it will take place right around the Holidays when interest in winter sports is peaking and lots of people have free time. The rules are quite familiar from the big cycling races and they are simple, too; the first across the finish line will win. Moreover, we hope that the Tour de Ski will bring all the best athletes together in one race, as a sort of a counterweight to the specialization tendencies we have seen in the past years following the introduction of the new racing formats such as the sprint. </p>
<p>Logistically, the Tour is also quite a challenge. It includes eight races at five venues in three countries; that means five organizing committees, three different National Ski Associations, four or five host broadcasters and a slew of other related parties such as rights holders and marketing agencies. It is no piece of cake to coordinate! But we are hoping to also introduce some novelties such as a single accreditation for the event and a big, single prize money pot at the end! </p>
<p><b>What has the response been to the Tour De Ski?</b></p>
<p>From what I gather, very enthusiastic! At the Forum Nordicum (i.e. an annual gathering of Nordic Ski Journalists in Europe) in Antholz, Italy, last week, where several National Ski Associations provided an update to the media about the preparation of their teams for this coming season, the topic of the Tour came up often and in a very positive light. Many individual athletes have also indicated that their main season goals include the Sapporo FIS Nordic World Ski Championships AND the Tour. </p>
<p>Equally importantly, the media are getting quite excited about it, too! So, please do visit the Tour web site at <a href=http://www.tour-de-ski.com)
What challenges will world skiing face in the years to come?
I personally think that the climatic change will be the biggest challenge we will have to face in the future and it will have a great impact on the skiing world in the not-so-long term. Unfortunately I do think that my two little children will grow up with quite a different skiing experience than I did simply due to the changing snow situation. But I sincerely hope that we, together, can counter this very worrisome trend, first of all each of us on the very personal level. FIS at its level surely also has a role to play, as do the other sports organizations, such as the IOC, at their levels.
Of course there are other challenges we need to be conscious of, such as the ever increasing availability of leisure activities, both indoor and outdoor, for everyone but especially the young people, and managing the important role television plays for any sport these days.
You came to the US to ski in college. What was the largest difference you saw between your own training growing up and what you encountered here in the US?
Cross-Country Skiing is one of the most important sports people practice in Finland. It has quite a different societal standing there than in the US. In short, it is serious business quite early on. In fact, very few kids play sports other than skiing in high school, if it is not as training for skiing. After high school, that is out of question any way. I would say that the biggest difference between what I had in Finland, at least given the environment I came from and what I encountered in the US was the level of competitiveness and the level of intensity with which one approaches the sport at that age (college age) in these two places. The transition from juniors to seniors (note: there was no U-23 then) is always very hard, but it is even harder in the Nordic countries than in the US where the college system provides quite a different context.
To see the rest of this interview, visit www.middleburyskiing.org .
Andrew Gardner is Head Coach of the Middlebury Nordic Ski Team.
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