Orienteering : a journey from the deep forest to the Finns' living rooms, an overview of the orienteering as a sport from 2000 to 2015 in Finland

Abstract

Orienteering is a sport which has its roots in the early 20th century. Academic research of the development of orienteering has mostly concentrated on the decades of the 20th century. Recently there has not been conducted a thorough research of the evolvement of the Finnish orienteering, even though the both orienteering and the Finnish sport and physical culture, have faced new challenges and changes in the form of technological developments and transformation of the society.

The purpose of this research was to determine and describe the possible changes in the Finnish orienteering during 2000-2015. Furthermore, the factors behind these possible changes were illustrated. The data was collected by interviewing participants with deep and significant insights in orienteering. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were recorded and transcribed for the analysis. The data was analyzed manually by using the content analysis, first coding and then by categorizing the coded data under larger themes from which the interviews were interpreted and conclusions were drawn.

The interviews illustrate that the postmodern orienteering in Finland has had positive changes from the perspective of orienteering’s growth and vitality. Especially, the interest towards orienteering in general has increased together with the improved visibility of orienteering. The improved media coverage has been one of the factors behind the increased interest. The increased media coverage has been reached through systematic strategic work, including the amendments made to the sport and by technological developments both in orienteering and in the Finnish society. The increased interest and media coverage has resulted to the fragmentation of the elite, competitive and fitness orienteering, the formation of sport and media-triangle of the Finnish orienteering and to the growing number of fitness orienteers. The 15 studied years appeared to be favorable for the Finnish orienteering, but the next upheaval, the division of the World Championships, is just around the corner. It remains to be seen how the Finnish orienteering will develop from here on.