Nordic Worlds Conclude in Oslo

(ATR) A crowd in excess of 100,000 was on hand to cheer Norwegian superstar Petter Northug on to victory in the 50k cross country race that closed the 2011 FIS Nordic World Championships in Oslo.

Northug’s gold was his third of the 12-day event.

The big race was held at Oslo’s historic Holmenkollen venue. In addition, 300,000 spectators are estimated to have followed the competitions outside of the stadium, along the outer cross-country trails while some 35,000 campers stayed overnight in the woods surrounding Holmenkollen.

Northug’s victory gave the host nation eight gold medals, one more than Austria, which dominated the jumping and Nordic combined events. Norway earned 20 total medals, while Austria was second with ten and Sweden third with five.

The 25-year-old Northug was the most dominant male competitor at the championships, also anchoring Norway’s gold medal 4x10km relay team and winning the pursuit event. He also earned two silver medals.

Fellow Norwegian Marit Bjoergen won four gold medals in the ladies program, also successfully anchoring the team relay.

World Championship Spectators and Finances

Oslo 2011 Chief Financial Officer Stein Opsal tells Around the Rings thatthe event earned a total of 34 million Swiss francs. The revenue streams include 15.5 million from ticket sales, 12.5 million as compensation from the International Ski Federation encompassing marketing and sponsor revenue, and 6 million from other sources including commissions, merchandising, concessions and operational income.

"It’s amazing that we had 1.2-million people attend in either the arena or medals plaza," said Opsal in an interview with ATR on Monday.

"There’s quite a history in Norway (with Nordic Skiing) with the world championships last here in 1997 in Trondheim and the Olympics in Lillehammer in ’94," he said. "Our goal was to match something like that and even though it was a really high goal, we feel we made it. All the news and press in Norway was overwhelming. They were very satisfied."

It was estimated that a total of 270,000 tickets were sold during the 11 competition days at Holmenkollen, along with approximately 50,000 spectators for the opening ceremony and a total of 650,000 fans at the evening ceremonies in the center of Oslo.

Organizers did face a few challenges during the event. A thick fog hung over the Holmenkollen venue severely hampering visibility throughout the first week of competition.

"We felt sorry for the people who invested time and money to watch the competitions because the fog was so bad," said Opsal. "But the TV pictures weren’t that bad becauseof the cameras and great technology these days. The spectators were fantastic though and stayed in good spirits."

On the first Saturday of the event, organizers also dealt with transportation problems as trams from the city to the venue became very overcrowded.

"It was some chaos and some people didn’t reach the event," explained Opsal. "Not too many, but maybe two-or-three-thousand. We didn’t estimate the number of people that were going into the forest to watch the event. There were maybe 40,000 in the arena, but 50,000 on the outside."

Event organizers immediately met with tram company management to remedy the difficulties.

"The next day the problem was solved," said Opsal. "Everything went fine the rest of the championships."

Overall, the FIS deemed the championships to be a great success.

"Oslo 2011 will surely be remembered as spectacular championships," said FIS President Gian Franco Kasper, on Sunday.

"Only in Norway, the birth land of Nordic Skiing, could we expect such masses of spectators making their way to the venue, day in and day out, regardless of the weather," said Kasper.

Written by Brian Pinelli.