Knight's tour of friendship
The Knights' Tour of Friendship was a ski jumping competition between 1965 and 1984 that took place alternately on ski jumps in the GDR, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
history
The basic idea was born in 1964 by the then selection coach of the Czechoslovakian ski jumpers Zdeněk Remsa and the Prague ski sport journalist Karel Moravec. Based on the very successful International Peace Ride of the cyclists, they suggested a jumping tour at that time, which, like the Peace Ride, should take place alternately on different ski jumps in Poland, the ČSSR and the GDR. They were also inspired by other existing ski jumping tournaments , including the very successful Four Hills Tournament in the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria. In addition, this idea had accompanying political circumstances. For the teams from the then socialist states, participation in other tours, which mainly took place in western countries, was associated with considerable financial outlay in the form of foreign currency. In addition, as a result of the Düsseldorf resolutions, the GDR ski jumpers in particular were unable to take part in all of the four hills tournament and other jumping competitions since 1962 and so they lacked important international comparative competitions. This was also the case in 1965 during the friendship's first knights' tour. Ultimately, the Eastern European ski sport associations also hoped for a further increase in the popularity of ski jumping in their countries and an increasing improvement in the performance of their jumpers. The sports magazines Przegląd Sportowy (Poland), Československy Sport (ČSSR) and the German Sportecho from the GDR as well as the respective ski sports associations of the host countries were won as patrons of the event .
Initially, the tour was not only intended for athletes from socialist countries, so jumpers from Norway and Austria also took part in the early days. After the introduction of a separate junior ranking, there were also jumpers from Switzerland later on. Due to an increasingly dense calendar, the tour always competed with established traditional tours and individual competitions as well as national championships, so that the number of participating athletes and nations fluctuated strongly. Ultimately, the tour was established around the middle / end of January each year, although the organizing associations made the date flexible. Due to bad weather, but also political events such as the imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981, the tour was canceled several times. After the introduction of the Ski Jumping World Cup in the 1979/80 season, the tour slipped in the calendar to the month of December of each ski jumping season. Ultimately, the introduction of the World Cup, like many other traditional tours, meant the descent into insignificance for the Knight's Tour of Friendship. On the one hand, the teams mostly no longer had the top athletes at the start, and on the other hand, the tour had to be canceled three times in the last five years of its existence for various reasons, mostly due to lack of snow, as the Central European mountains were by no means snow-sure in December. Since the organizing sports federations tried to be included in the World Cup calendar with other traditional ski jumping events (Cup competition of the Free Press in the GDR, Czech Marusarzówna Memorial in Poland and the Czechoslovaks with their facilities in Štrbské Pleso, Harrachov and Liberec), the Implementation of the jumping tour in favor of financially more lucrative World Cup events no longer pushed forward at full speed. The jumping competitions in December 1983 in Harrachov can probably be accepted as the last edition. Various sources also indicate a competition for 1987.
mode
In analogy to the International Peace Tour, a team evaluation was introduced from the first edition of the tour in addition to the overall individual evaluation, which, according to the official reports, should also represent the more important evaluation. A team consisted of 4 jumpers, of which the results of the three best placed jumpers were included in the evaluation after the respective jumping competition. Each tour consisted of several jumping competitions on different hills, mostly at different locations. At the end of the tour, however, there was more and more jumping on just one hill. The results of the individual jumping competitions were added up and the overall winner in the individual and team evaluation was determined. The tour organizers therefore boasted the unique selling point of the team ranking on an international tour.
From 1974 a separate individual and team evaluation for juniors (18 years and younger) was introduced, which went hand in hand with the obligation of the host countries to start at least one young team in the future. In addition, there was a change in the team ranking, according to which the best three jumpers per round and team were included in the team ranking. This enabled high-performance jumpers in particular to secure points for the team with a good second jump after a weak jump in the first round, although the athlete was not well placed in the daily individual ranking. This mode was later adopted by the FIS and is still used today in team rankings at World Championships (since 1982) or the Olympic Games (since 1988).
Overview
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literature
- Egon Theiner: Encyclopedia of Ski Jumping , Agon Verlag, 2004
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 18, 1977 p. 11
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 14, 1965 p. 10
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 16, 1974 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 29, 1965 p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 29, 1965 p. 6
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from February 1, 1965 p. 4
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 11, 1966, p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 12, 1966, p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 14, 1966 p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 21, 1967 p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 23, 1967 p. 6
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 25, 1967 p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 25, 1969 p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 27, 1969 p. 7
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 29, 1969 p. 5
- ^ New Germany of January 22, 1970 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 24, 1970 p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 26, 1970 p. 7
- ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 5, 1971 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 7, 1971, p. 8
- ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 8, 1971, p. 7
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from March 15, 1972 p. 5
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 13, 1973 p. 4
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 17, 1974 p. 7
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 19, 1974 p. 5
- ↑ a b Neues Deutschland from January 21, 1974 p. 7
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 17, 1975 p. 7
- ↑ a b Berliner Zeitung of January 20, 1975 p. 6
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 17, 1976 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 19, 1976 p. 7
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 20, 1977 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 22, 1977 p. 15
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 24, 1977 p. 8
- ↑ a b Neues Deutschland from January 23, 1978 p. 8
- ↑ a b Neues Deutschland, February 13, 1979 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland, December 8, 1979, p. 16
- ↑ New Germany of December 8, 1979, p. 16
- ↑ a b Neues Deutschland from December 15, 1980 p. 7
- ↑ Neue Zeit of November 9, 1982 p. 6
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 14, 1982 p. 6
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 19, 1983 p. 6
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 16, 1968 p. 5
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 25, 1969 p. 8