On behalf of the Council of the International Orienteering Federation it is my pleasure to welcome you to these World Cup events in Japan. This is the very first time that an IOF major event is organised in this country, and I guess that most of us are for the first time in their life visiting Japan.

The IOF World Cup has left Europe before, we have seen races in Australia, New Zealand as well as in the U.S.A. and Canada. But the centre of orienteering gravitation, if I may call it this way, still is in Europe. The "I" in the IOF stands for international and international does not only mean Europe, it has to include the overseas member nations. Therefore the IOF is very pleased to see the recent engagement of the Japan Orienteering Association. Japan is right now a very active member within the IOF. A little bit more than two years ago, we have seen a demonstration event in ski-O just before the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. Now we are here at this World Cup race at the bottom of the famous Mt. Fuji. Next year in August the orienteering community is visiting Japan again that time for the World Games in Akita. 

It is the first time that orienteering is part of a multi-sports event. The event is a very important milestone in the IOF plans to bring foot orienteering into the Olympic Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee considers the World Games as test or show case of future Olympic disciplines. Therefore it is of highest importance to be seen there and to demonstrate our sport in a professional way. To do so the IOF is also changing some traditions. I emphasis the word traditions as many of the things we are currently assessing and changing are not written in our rules book, but they have grown as traditions. In Akita next year the competition terrain will be open for training before the event, start and finish will be co-located (something that we will see by the way at several World Cup races this year already). We will also trial a new format for the relay: a relay team will consist of two women and two men, that means we will see for the first time a mixed relay. I do not know many other sports that have competitions where men and women compete in the same class.

To close this review over Japan, it shall also be mentioned that the Japan Orienteering Association is competing for the WOC 2005. The planned event centre is about 250 km to the south-west from here. To summarise, the IOF is very pleased to see the strong engagement of Japan in the orienteering community. This active position of Japan is really important as this country is really the most important orienteering country in this region of the world. IOF is hoping that the enthusiasm in Japan is some kind of nucleus from where orienteering can be spread to many more countries in the far east area.

Dear friends, I would like to thank the Japan Orienteering Association, but most of all Shin Murikoshi and his organising crew for all the work they have done so far. And there is still a lot left to do. Also I would like to express a great thank you to the athletes and their coaches, because they are spending a lot of time for our sport. Without them we others would hardly be here. I hope you enjoy your time here at the bottom of Mt. Fuji, enjoy the events but also the nature, the cherry tree blossom and the Japanese culture. 

Thank you very much for your attention.