But, as has been pointed out, there is a danger of reading too much into this and the rest of the 20+20 recommendations, and it is not, as some have claimed, a revolution sweeping the Games. For all the success of recent editions in London, Sochi and elsewhere, the Olympic Movement is facing a raft of problems relating to sustainability in our austere times.

A more flexible programme taking advantage of local passions and facilities will help, but it will not make the problems disappear. And the recommendations seem to skirt around what is perhaps the key issue, that it is the Winter rather than the Summer Olympics which are facing the biggest shortfall in interest, particularly where hosting future editions is concerned.

After four of the six contenders withdrew from the 2022 Olympic race this year it is the Winter version of the Games which is most under threat ©Getty Images



When observing this in an insidethegames article several weeks ago, my colleague David Owen proposed switching several indoor sports such as volleyball, judo and badminton from the Summer to the Winter stage, an idea, that others, including International Cycling Union President Brian Cookson, have also voiced in recent months.

Now, I have huge respect for David. He is one of my biggest inspirations as a journalist and I certainly don't want to irk him too much (especially as we are spending next week in Monte Carlo together.) But on this occasion I think we will have to agree to disagree.

While I will not dismiss the idea as abruptly as International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer did when his cycling counterpart dared to suggest it, I think it is a step too far. For the aforementioned sports are not played on snow and ice, there is no desire either from them, winter sports or the general public for them to be switched and, I feel, it would sacrifice and dilute the whole point of the Winter Olympics to far too great a degree.

However, after attending the Asian Beach Games in Phuket last month, where beach cross country was a new inclusion on the continental programme, I feel cross country running would be an excellent addition to the Winter Games. No, it wouldn't solve any profound problems, but it would boost interest and take the winter sport to parts of the world they have barely been before.

Cross country running has featured in three summer Olympics, in 1912, 1920 and 1924. In those latter two Games in Antwerp and Paris, "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi took team and individual titles. But, with 23 of the 38 starters in Paris failing to finish due to the extreme heat and poisonous fumes from a nearby energy plant, the event was subsequently dropped from the Games and has never returned.

Finland's Paavo Nurmi is the most successful Olympic cross country runner of all time ©AFP/Getty Images



Some have called for it to be back on the Summer stage. But with a multitude of distance events on the track and road, as well as the fact cross country does not take place in the summer months, this is unrealistic and unlikely to ever happen.

But in the winter none of these problems exist. On the sand of Phuket, the eight kilometre course was brutal and tough on the feet, but that is what the sport is all about, and this would be exactly the same on the snow. Although cross country is more associated with mud and grass than snow and sand, many events have taken place on snow before, with the 2012 European Championships in a freezing Budapest one that springs to mind.

With cross country occurring in the winter months anyway and only having a World Championships on a biennial basis, there would be little calendar pressure and, in a logistical and financial sense, it would require hardly any effort to incorporate running events. They could run on the cross country ski course if required, or a host city could organise a course through the town centre so as to best showcase it to the world.

That is, for me, the true appeal of adding cross country. It would showcase the Winter Olympics to new audiences, including those that have never bothered about snow and ice sport, and would thus boost the appeal for potential host nations. Most of all, it would allow athletes from Africa - including the cross country running hubs of Kenya and Ethiopia - the chance to win a Winter Olympics medal, something that will certainly never otherwise happen on even a semi-regular basis.

Indeed, so dominant is Africa in cross country, that athletes originally from the continent won the majority of the medals on the sand at the Asian Beach Games,

Kenya and Ethiopia have shared the last 33 men's team titles at the World Cross Country Championships, with Japhet Kipyegon Korir the reigning individual champion ©Getty Images





The idea has also been supported by many high profile athletes as well as the International Association of Athletics Federations, with three legends of the discipline - Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, and Kenenisa Bekele and Kenya's Paul Tergat - petitioning former International Olympic Committee President Jacque Rogge in 2009 about its inclusion.