Last week, the International Olympic Committee announced it had received a request from track and field's world governing body (IAAF) to add cross-country running to the Olympic docket.

The Winter Olympic docket, starting in 2018.

According to an Associated Press story on the cross-country bid, the Olympic Charter states that "only those sports which are practiced on snow and ice are considered as winter sports." But the IOC also strives for universality among its sport offerings, and with only 82 of 200 Olympic nations having participated in this year's Vancouver Games, the addition of cross-country running could vastly increase that number, especially among African countries.

As expected, the running community is celebrating the news. Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medalist and an eight-time U.S. cross-country champion, lives and trains in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., along with many of America's top runners. "I think it's fantastic," she said in a phone interview. "Running is a year-round sport. In the winter months it's a pretty extreme sport, but running in general is the most participated sport in the world."