Friday, November 26, 2004
On to the next holiday
Stockholm, Swedem—At these Winter Games, there are no strenuous slaloms or figure-eights. But if you can’t shimmy up a chimney or wrap a Christmas gift, forget about competing. The annual Santa Winter Olympics kick off this month with about 50 Santas from across Europe testing their holiday mettle in Sweden’s cold, northern reaches.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - At these Winter Games, there are no strenuous slaloms or figure-eights. But if you can’t shimmy up a chimney or wrap a Christmas gift, forget about competing.
The annual Santa Winter Olympics kick off this month with about 50 Santas from across Europe testing their holiday mettle in Sweden’s cold, northern reaches.
“This is a very serious business,” said Sivert Svensson, an organizer. “To wrap a Christmas gift quickly and nicely in a proper way is no easy task.”
In addition to the nimble fingers required of the gift-wrapping competition, the Games test strength and endurance in disciplines like kick-sledge riding and reindeer driving.
There are gold, silver and bronze medals - in the form of miniature peaked shoes - for the three lucky Santas deemed the best of the bunch.
But in a nod to the holiday spirit, losers will be awarded consolation medals.
Santas are traveling from as far as Britain, Russia and Spain to take part in the Nov. 19-21 contest in the city of Gaellivare, 745 miles north of the capital, Stockholm, and about 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
The contest is organized by the local folklore society in cooperation with a hotel.
Last year’s winner came from the Aland Islands, an autonomous province of Finland situated in the Baltic Sea halfway between Sweden and Finland.
There are many rules for qualifying - including having a big Santa heart.
“For a start, you must believe in Santa and be good, kind and happy. You have to behave in front of the children and also have been recommended by another Santa Claus,” Svensson said, adding that each new Santa applicant must go through a yearlong trial period.
