Kuwait City (pps) The dream of the International Luge Federation (FIL) to have a fourth discipline included in the program of Olympic Winter Games has not come true. The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected the FIL’s application to stage a Team Competition for the first time at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. All other applications submitted by other winter sports federations for the inclusion of team competitions in the Olympic program were also rejected.

„I am certainly disappointed”, explained FIL President Josef Fendt in a first reaction. „However, I was rather pessimistic when I heard that as many as four team competitions were examined, some of which had never been tested in real competitions. Our team competition, in contrast, has been a constant part of World and European Championships since 1988. One could say that we are a victim of the great number of team competitions striving for the Olympics”, said Fendt.

The FIL now pins its hopes on the newly-created relay competition, which will have to stand its first practical test at the Viessmann World Cup in Königssee on January 6/7, 2007. This is a genuine team competition, which is not a simple adding of individual run times“, said Fendt. First tests of the relay competitions were successful and the luge world is now eagerly awaiting its baptism of fire in a real competition.