HAKUBA, Japan, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Farce or interesting sporting experiment?
The question seemed relevant after Kenyan Philip Boit, a novice skiier adopted and sponsored by an international sports goods company, finished 92nd and last on Thursday in the Nagano Winter Olympic 10 km cross-country race.
Boit, 26, who has impressive running qualifications, took two minutes longer to reach the 6.5 km marker than the winning time of gold medallist Bjorn Daehlie of Norway.
Boit finished 20 minutes behind Daehlie in a performance which raised the question of whether the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was still intent on a ``no novice'' policy proposed in 1992.
Following the antics of spectacularly incompetent British ski jump clown Eddie ``The Eagle'' Edwards at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, the IOC decided then that only adequately qualified athletes would compete in the Olympics.
``We don't want any athletes coming in five laps after the rest. That is finished,'' IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said just before the 1992 Albertville Winter Games.
Boit's performance on Thursday was sometimes inspiring, sometimes embarrassing. His technique in the classic style tracks was adequate, but his herringbone style for walking the uphill sections was poor.
Boit has been training in Finland for two years as part of an experiment to see whether the legendary running abilities of Kenyans could be transferred to cross-country skiing.
Daehlie, waiting at the finishing line to receive his winner's accolade, shook Boit's hand at the end of the race.
He told reporters later he was pleased to see new nations taking part in Nordic skiing races but that organisers needed to be careful about where the qualifying bar should be placed.
``I don't really want guys to be laying there in the tracks when I'm coming through though,'' he said, adding he had been impressed to see Boit cross the finishing line.
Boit himself was unashamed, saying two years was not enough to catch up with racers who had been on skis since childhood.
Boit first saw snow two years ago when he stepped off a plane in Finland. ``Two years was too short, it's not like running, it's more complicated,'' he told reporters.
He vowed to keep working on his cross-country skiing technique -- assuming his sponsors decided that the project is still worthwhile.
``There'll
be no sleeping for me now. I need to start finishing races with people
behind me,'' he said.