Sports Chairperson Profile:
Rita van Driel, Nordic Skiing
Rita van Driel is IPC Chairperson of the Nordic Sports Assembly Executive Committee. A former member of the Dutch National Team and coach for both able-bodied and athletes with a disability, van Driel has been a member of the Nordic Skiing Sports Committee since 1998. She first served as secretary and took over the chair in March 2001 when Thomas Mohr resigned from his post due to personal reasons.
In this interview she summarizes the recent developments in the sport and expresses her hopes and goals for the future.
The Paralympian: Cross-country skiing and biathlon are two very prominent winter sports disciplines and have been part of the Paralympic canon since 1988. What do you regard to be the most significant developments in both disciplines?
Rita van Driel: There are two things I would like to single out as the most noteworthy improvement within Nordic Skiing.
Firstly, the cross-country relay was a bit of a problem event in the past. The committee has now changed the disability combination criteria and expanded the combination variations. In recent years, less and less teams entered in the relay event because they had not been able to put together a team according to the set combination criteria. The combinations have been opened up and the number of athletes on the team reduced from four to three. Nations are allowed to enter a maximum of two teams. Now more teams are entering the event than ever before. For the Salt Lake Paralympic Games, 16 teams have registered for the men’s relay.
Secondly, a new sound system has been introduced in biathlon for visually impaired athletes. In the past we have had major difficulties with the system, which had been extremely sensitive to wind, sunlight and snow. As a consequence it was notoriously unreliable. Medals were not necessarily won on merit alone but also with luck.
Three years ago we asked the Finish company EKO-systems to design a new sound system and the product was introduced and tested last winter. We are very satisfied with it. Reliability is no longer an issue. Previously, companies asked to assist with these systems had shown little enthusiasm and dedication. The products had been that poor in quality that only few of the nations practicing Nordic Skiing had actually bothered to purchase them. This has changed, too. As a result, the visually impaired biathletes now not only have a greater incentive to train for the Paralympics in Salt Lake, they can also enjoy the luxury of greatly improved preparation equipment. They are highly motivated and we are looking forward to the Winter Games to witness how this impulse translates into medals and hopefully record numbers of participants.
TP: Will the new sound system for visually impaired athletes result in any changes to the canon of events in biathlon?
Rita van Driel: Yes, certainly. The Nordic Skiing Committee is working on new competitions that could be added to the list of event opportunities in the period after the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The main incentive here is to create exciting races and competitions for both athletes and spectators.
TP: In which areas is further development needed?
Rita van Driel: Our major project for after the Winter Games is the combining of classes for all Nordic Skiing event opportunities. Up until and at the Paralympics in Salt Lake City we have four individuals’ events (biathlon 7.5km, cross-country short - , middle - , and long distances), two of which are conducted in combined classes and two of which are class specific. In the future, we want to integrate all events.
From the organizational perspective this is desirable because it brings down the amount of races and increases the number of competitors per race. It also makes for tougher and more interesting competitions. Skiers face a pack of thirty competitors instead of less than ten as used to be the case in the past.
TP: Does the combining of classes not discriminate against athletes with severer disabilities?
Rita van Driel: Those events that are already integrated show that no disability group can be singled out as the winner or loser of this system. We keep a close watch on the developments in this field and thus far our studies prove that winners come from different classes at different races. Should a situation arrive where it is apparent that one group of athletes gains an advantage over their competitors, the classification combination will of course be changed.
By the way, the athletes welcome the integration of classes, too, because it makes the competitions more challenging and even more interesting. Competition is a lot tougher, if you have to beat thirty competitors instead of only three or four.
TP: What would you consider the main achievements of the Nordic Skiing Committee since you took over as chairperson?
Rita van Driel: While I have been on the committee we have reviewed the rules for all events in Nordic Skiing, which I regard as a major accomplishment. In the future, we will thus be able to focus on the introduction of new events. We have a lot of ideas for improvements and innovations.
My main goal is to improve the communication between the committee members and nations. In the past this has always been a very painstaking task, but since the use of e-mail, interaction has become a lot easier. Nations like Belarus, Russia or
the Baltic states had been very difficult to get a hold of via telephone. Now all of them have e-mail and the exchange of views, news and information in general has increased considerably.
Another important objective of mine is to facilitate the cooperation of the IPC Nordic Skiing Committee and the International Federations of our sports, FIS (skiing) and IBU (biathlon). I am curious to find out what the surplus value will be of a collaboration between these International Federations and the IPC Nordic Sports Assembly Executive Committee.
TP: How did you get involved in Nordic Skiing for athletes with a disability?
Rita van Driel: I used to be a cross-country skier with the Dutch national team from 1987 up until 1990. After my retirement as an athlete I became a coach and was one day approached and asked to train two blind athletes, Jan Visser and Tineke Hekman. In the past, I had had no exposure to sports for people with a disability at all, but I soon found the movement to be extremely motivating and inspiring. It is very close and caring.
I was elected member of IPC Nordic Skiing Committee at the Nagano Paralympic Games in 1998. My National Paralympic Committee, NEBAS, had put me forward as a candidate. First I served as secretary and when the chairman Thomas Mohr resigned this spring my colleagues on the committee and the IPC chose me as his successor.
The chair is elected for a period of four years, from one Winter Paralympics to the next. My term thus ends next year at the Salt Lake City Winter Games. I am hoping, however, that I will be reelected and allowed to go on for another four years. I enjoy the fact that I can put my experience as an athlete, a coach, a professional sports manager to a good use.
One of the duties of the IPC Nordic Skiing Committee is to provide and act as Technical Delegates at official IPC sanctioned events. I first served in this function in 1999 when I attended the World Cups in Sweden and Norway. Since then I have officiated at the World Championships in Switzerland and the European Championships in Sweden, which were both held in 2000.
As Technical Delegate, one is responsible for the smooth running of the event and the adherence to the rules as laid down by the IPC. It is largely an organizational and supervisory assignment, which is something I have a great deal of experience in. As an athlete, a guide to a visually impaired cross-country skier and a coach, I have also come across the entire array of emotions that go along with such an event. That makes it easier to anticipate difficulties and swiftly react to them.
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