Hilde Gerg of Germany promises athlete petition to move Olympic super GHilde Gerg of Germany is one of the leaders of a new campaign to have the 2006 Olympic super G moved from San Sicario to Sestriere, 11 miles up the road and part of the same Vialattea chairlift system. After last weekend’s World Cup races, which were the official test event for the Olypics, Gerg and her fellow veterans (including Michaela Dorfmeister and Renate Goetschl of Austria) were vocal in their complaints, prompting TOROC and FIS officials to issue a joint statement defending the super G. Ski Racing interviewed Gerg in the finish area at San Sicario.

SKI RACING: So you’re writing a letter asking that the course be moved.
HILDE GERG: I think we will write this letter, and give it to the right stations. We have to talk which stations these are. And then we will see how it will work for the next two months. Maybe we should give it to someone who is not active, who is not skiing. So maybe there is one athlete who had finished, maybe can mentor for us.

SR: When will you get this process going?
GERG: We will do it at Finals, writing the letter and then decide what to do.

SR: People have said that you are leading this effort for the athletes.
GERG: No, it was not just me. We were talking together. It was the other girls of the top 10 of the super G. But we will ask all of the top 15, and then at the world championship…There is one active girl who is presenting. I don’t know who it will be.

SR: And everyone seems to like the downhill.
GERG: It is just the super G which is looking a little bit boring on the TV, and I think for the alpine women’s sport it would be better if we have a spectacular one. And it’s much better in Sestriere. If we just move over there, just for the super G, would be very easy, we are thinking. But we don’t know how it is. They made a really nice downhill track here, and it’s working in a perfect way. And we will see if somebody has an ear for us.

SR: In general, do you think that mild courses are an explanation why interest in women’s racing isn’t higher?
GERG: I think maybe Cortina is a very nice downhill course, and if you’re watching on TV it’s boring, and I don’t know why. On the TV cameras, where they are located, I think it’s maybe for the men’s they make it more interesting. I don’t know.

SR: There was a push from the athletes in 1993 to have the 1994 Olympic women’s racing moved from Hafjell to Kvitfjell.
GERG: But there also the FIS directors were not happy with the course in Hafjell, and they had in Hafjell the slalom and GS. They just moved downhill and super G away. Here you have super G and downhill. They created a separate course, and they organized very well. Everything is done, we can start now with the Olympics. So maybe it’s not so easy that someone has an ear for us to make it a little bit spectacular, the women’s speed discipline. The super G.

SR: Both the Torino Organizing Committee and the International Ski Federation told us they might try to make the finish jump bigger for the Olympics.
GERG: It’s good if they’re thinking about something! So we will see. It’s just the first time we are here. Maybe they can change a little bit, or maybe they say ‘okay, we can go to Sestriere.’ It was just our meaning that this super G like a few days ago was too boring for the Olympics.