Medal Events Men Women Individual Individua l Mixed relay Athletes 80 Teams or Countries JPN, CZE, DEN, EST, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, LTU, NOR, SUI, SWE, AUS Outline of this Sport Orienteering is a sport where competitors navigate their way between control points marked on an accurate, detailed map and use this and a compass to find points in the landscape. It can be enjoyed as a walk in the woods or as a competitive sport. A standard orienteering course consists of a start, a series of control sites that are marked by circles, connected by lines and numbered in the order they are to be visited, and a finish. On the ground, a control flag marks the location that the orienteer must visit. To verify a visit, the orienteer uses a punch hanging next to the flag to mark his or her control card.
Different punches make different patterns of holes in the paper.
There are various orienteering disciplines, of which Foot-O is the most common. For these events, courses vary in length from about 2 km for beginners and children to over 12 km for experienced adult orienteers.