Facts: Björn Ferry
Age: 44 years.
Lives: Storuman.
Career: Cross-country skier until 2001. Then became a biathlete. Has an Olympic gold from Vancouver 2010 and a WC gold from Antholz 2007. Has also won a WC silver and a WC bronze. In the World Cup, he has seven partial victories.
Other: Married to Heidi Andersson, champion in arm wrestling and expert commentator on SVT.
The Swedish premiere in biathlon in Idre has just ended. Olympic gold medalist Björn Ferry, who is now an expert commentator on SVT, looks out over the track area where elite skiers in cross-country skiing and biathlon have trained together in recent weeks.
But Ferry, who was a top-level skier until 2001 before switching to biathlon, says the sports now live in completely different worlds.
Correct construction
He celebrates the familial feeling of biathlon.
— In biathlon, this comes all the way from the top. It’s not just here (in Idre). It is IBU (International Biathlon Union) as construction. If you want to do biathlon, everyone is in that family. The small nations have support. Everyone is in. The prize money is evenly distributed between the sexes. It always has been. It is profitable to be an organizer. Everyone wants to be a part of this thing.
He continues:
— While Fis (International Skiing and Snowboarding Federation) is a bit more like Fifa (International Football Federation). There is another suspicion. Should one break away? Imagine if some big stars want to run some long races and skip the World Cup. How will they counter it? You can’t do that.
TT: Are you worried about cross-country skiing?
– Yes. It’s like the whole sport is about to implode. Now the long-distance cup might as well take over. They can also have sprint competitions, uphill races and the like, says Björn Ferry.
He refers to the fact that the Ski Classics long-distance cup has arranged sprint-like stages with courses that go up a mountain and pure team tempos, similar to cycling.
TT: Compare cross-country skiing’s problems with biathlon?
— Biathlon has no problems except for the war and Russia, which is not allowed to participate. But not as an organization. That there are 20 relay teams in each relay. In length, there are seven teams and three from Norway. There is conscious politics behind this. It doesn’t happen like this.
Pamp rule
TT: What is the problem in length, do you think?
— It’s a pamperage and that there are so many people who are going to do a lot without having anything for it. The riders are not happy. The organizers are not happy. Who are the ones who are satisfied? Competition disciplines are changed criss-cross, here and there. There is no audience at the competitions.
Björn Ferry does not understand why Fis has sold the television rights to a commercial television company.
— They (Fis) choose to go for the money instead of ensuring what is best for the sport. It must be useless to go to any channel where only a third of the viewers remain. How can it be good for cross-country skiing? That is a big mistake.
Underrated
Björn Ferry points out that one way for cross-country skiing to reverse the trend is an increase in the World Cup’s status:
— You have to ensure that the biggest stars are included (in the World Cup). Does the World Cup have any status? After all, most people only go to a handful of competitions. They don’t bet on the World Cup, says Björn Ferry and admits that he mourns the development in cross-country skiing:
— Yes, because I grew up skiing.