Traditionally a winter sport, the scheduling of cross country within a summer event caused organisational issues.

Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele and Paul Tergat, all highly successful African long-distance runners, jointly issued an open letter in 2008 to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, urging him to consider the re-instatement of cross country as an Olympic sport.

The IOC defines winter sports as those requiring snow or ice, presenting a possible block on its inclusion.

Although the sport does not require such conditions, major cross country events have been held on snow on numerous occasions.

In 2020, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe pushed to bring the sport to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but the IOC rejected this proposal.