Winter Sports - Cross Country Skiing History
History - World Cup Winners
Cross-country skiing , it is also known as XC skiing, is a winter sport very popular in most countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe and Canada and has been lately growing in the United States.
Cross-country skiing has always been part of the Olympic program. The number of events has steadily grown over the years, being 12 in 2006: sprint, team sprint, pursuit (30km for men, 15km for women), 10km (women), 15km (men), 30km (women), 50km (men), relay (4 x 10km (men), 4 x 5km (women)).
Important Facts
- Cross-country skiing is part of the Nordic skiing sport family, which includes ski jumping, and a combination sport of cross-country skiing and ski jumping called Nordic combined.
- Since 1924 cross-country skiing has been contested at the Winter Olympic
- There are numerous competitive events in Cross-country Skiing but the general Disciplines include: Mass Start, Interval Start, Relay, Sprint Event and Sprint Event for Teams, and Pursuit Event.
Cross Country Medal Record Table at the Winter Olympics
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway | 30 | 34 | 23 | 87 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 25 | 22 | 21 | 68 |
| 3 | Sweden | 24 | 15 | 17 | 56 |
| 4 | Finland | 19 | 22 | 30 | 71 |
| 5 | Russia | 12 | 6 | 6 | 24 |
| 6 | Italy | 9 | 11 | 13 | 33 |
| 7 | Estonia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Unified Team | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| 9 | East Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Canada | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | Germany | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 12 | Czech Republic | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 13 | Austria | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 14 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 15 | Czechoslovakia | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 16 | France | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| United States | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 19 | Bulgaria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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