That’s 3-time season champion in Sprint World Cup.

Is it or was it legal to lower a hemoglobin or hematocrit that was too high by drawing a unit of blood? Seems it should be, maybe as long as the authorities were notified and the unit was drawn and donated at a blood banking center, so there was no possibility of having it reinfused to the donor.

Personally, I think the altitude tents should be banned, although their benefits seem to be rather doubtful.

[…] as amputation/limb loss, blindness/visual impairment, spinal cord injury/wheelch […]

I’ve read these articles on both FS and USSA and find them to be very similar in substance, informative, and I am unaware of the underlying conspiracies purported to exist. You want harsh criticism or the coldest of snubs, that’s what the mainstream media is for. Even after Lindsey Vonn’s 15 minutes are up, all the media really wants are stories about her personal life and the more controversial the better. Nordic skiing? All the press wants are numbers of Olympic gold medals to glorify U.S. nationalism. They will never understand how, to some of us, this sport of Nordic skiing transcends all of that. So maybe being part of a subculture is not all that bad.

One difference I noticed between the FS and USSA websites is that on USSA below every article there is a link to contribute money, while at the bottom of FS articles there is place for these comments. Maybe FS should charge $1 per word of comment. Of course from me being a lowly yooper and all there isn’t going to be any money, but I will donate all of my empty beer cans worth 10 cents each. The only catch is that you have to come to the U.P. and brave snowy weather to get them. If you stay and ski, I will even give you some full ones.

Ken Wikgren (nada credentials, just a ski enthusiast)

… if you don’t like how the system is run, fix it, don’t whine here.

BTW, skiing even in a poor snow year still beats any other sport!

I have been using FS comments to vent frustrations about being a US Nordic Combined athlete who was never able to commit myself enough to meet the goals that I had laid out for myself. Deep down I know, as I’m sure you all do, that trying to be a top-tier athlete in the nordic sports is challenging. There are very real issues with governance, funding, sponsorship, culture, and logistics that pose a handicap American athletes. The efforts of the USST should be open to healthy debate. Yet when I reflect upon my commenting history I realize that my tone has not always been focused on finding solutions.

Having some of my most recent comments hidden from public view has made me realize that while we all cherish free speech there is a difference between having a forum for discussion versus attempting to squash meaningful debate. It dawned on me that ignorance of USST’s stated goals (some of which are open to debate), historical precedents within the American nordic community (not all of which should continue), and the efforts of more mature members of the community (many of whom have been witness to previous success/challenge cycles), does not assist me in my analysis of current events. Upon reflection if I had wanted to engage in meritless debate I could have done that on my own athlete website. I think I chose to do it here because of the anonymity (as I understand that my personal sponsors and supporting organizations would probably not have wanted to be associated with my posts) of what I have posted, and because of the number of people who read FS… as opposed to my personal blog which gets almost no traffic as I haven’t posted to it in over a year.

So… I would like to suggest an upgrade to the comment section. While there are many examples of very positive discussion surrounding articles the faceless posting system can encourage poor behaviour. Could a real-name system be adopted? I’ve seen systems that require a Facebook sign-in. This is not a perfect solution (I would hate for someone to be excluded from adding constructive thoughts to discussion because they had no Facebook account) but to ensure that FS remains a viable and growing platform which encourages community engagement we can’t continue down the path that I, and a few others, have happily carved. Free speech can only be free when we are willing to accept responsibility for sharing our ideas.

Cheers,
TheRealChuckRunkle

“If we try to shun or hide ideas, they tend to pop up on the edges somewhere in garishly loud form, where we end up having to talk about them anyway, the key word being talk. These ideas don’t have to be right, they can even be very wrong, but their existence is supposed to be healthy.

This is a core principle of who we are and not a difficult one, which makes all this frantic running sideways away from a few offensive cartoons that much more ridiculous. People seem more worried about being mistaken for holding disreputable ideas than they are proud to be correctly identified as citizens of a free-speech society. Are we really all so insecure?”

I submit — the cross country ski world really is that insecure.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/they-are-not-exactly-charlie-20150115#ixzz3PTMCTd8S
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

I have been using FS comments to vent frustrations about being a US Nordic athlete who was never able to commit myself enough to meet the goals that I had laid out for myself. Deep down I know, as I’m sure you all do, that trying to be a top-tier athlete in the nordic sports is challenging. There are very real issues with governance, funding, sponsorship, culture, and logistics that pose a handicap American athletes. The efforts of the USST should be open to healthy debate. Yet when I reflect upon my commenting history I realize that my tone has not always been focused on contributing positively to finding solutions.

Having some of my most recent comments hidden from public view has made me realize that while we all cherish free speech there is a difference between having a forum for discussion versus attempting to squash meaningful debate. It has been dawned on me that ignorance of USST’s stated goals (some of which are open to debate), historical precedents within the American nordic community (not all of which should continue to be followed), and the efforts of more mature members of the community (many of whom have seen , does not assist me in my analysis of current events.

Nordic Dave- Mad props. You da man. You are doing a great job. I hope Rosie is getting some financial support for this trip and is getting better wax than Fastwax Salmon.

One thing that has become increasingly apparent is that the nordic community is disgustingly tight circled. Do I really not deserve to be in the sport or own a pair of nordic skis Mr. Kelley? That kind of attitude is exactly what our sport needs.

This is why the dialogue in skiing sucks. The USST and Grover want to keep their training one huge secret and they don’t want to say what they did different, or mention how many travel days Kikkan has had bouncing around between Alaska, the main States, and Europe.

I wish Nordic Dave good luck, because USST XC is not far behind NC in getting the ax unless they get some medals. Just wait.

Runkle is ankling!

I don’t know who many of the commenters are posted here, don’t really care, sometimes they can be clever, other times not.
I want thank John Caldwell for getting me riled up on FS 8 years ago which created the mother of all commenting responses in the world U.S. Cross Country skiing. Today John is my friend and I have gotten to know his family as well. I also get to talk Marty often and find his insight timeless.

My point is IF we are ever going to have the sustained success we crave on the world stage, it will take generations helping generations get to the next level. THAT is the difference between the U.S. and the best nations that produce great skiers generation after generation. Although money, great coaching, exercise science, etc.. all play a role , providing help where it be best used with the know how to get it done is the key here. As a once problem admirer to taking action, I can share with you it’s a very bumpy road to smooth out. Personally I still see some major obstacles ahead to achieve a goal of supierior results but i can also say improvements have been made. Having put in a lot of time and effort and not seeing a podium at the Olympics and other major events is extremily frustrating and I hope we continue to find better solutions.

One thing we all have in common is we love this sport. Let’s provide the best ideas and help we can whether it is at a local level or at an international level.

Dave Knoop a.k.a. nordic_dave

Jabot your “institutional memory” is damaged. marty hall and mike gallagher both ran programs with tremendous success including the men winning a world cup relay.

as for runkle, he’s an idiot. but i applaud the right of idiots to speak their mind. even if they didn’t go to dartmouth and they don’t know jimmy the greek.