Imagine if there hadn’t been a men’s 100-meter butterfly race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Or a 200m individual medley.

If the men’s Olympic swimming program were limited to five individual races — say, a 50m freestyle race, 100m backstroke, 200m breaststroke, 400m butterfly, and 800 IM (not that there is such a race) — and a couple of relays, Michael Phelps wouldn’t have had the opportunity to win eight gold medals in one Olympics.

But this is a problem faced by the world’s best cross-country skiers. At every Winter Olympiad since 1984, the cross-country ski races have changed in distance and discipline.

For example, at the Sarajevo 1984 Olympic Winter Games, the men competed in a 30-kilometer freestyle, or skating, race. At the 1988 Games, the 30km race was in the classic discipline (where skiers stride in tracks and keep their skis parallel). The 50km event was the only individual freestyle competition at the 1988 Olympics.

This change back and forth in cross-country ski technique is due in part to the development of the freestyle technique in the early 1980s — usually credited to Olympic silver medalist Bill Koch.

“He can take the skis out of their single-plane motion in the tracks and push with the edges and tips on the snow exactly as if he had on eight-foot speed skates,” wrote Kenny Moore in an article about Koch in Sports Illustrated (Feb. 6, 1984).

"I first saw it in a race in Sweden in 1980, a world-record attempt at 30 kilometers on a frozen river," Koch told Moore. "Some guy went by me like I was lashed to an oak tree. I jumped in behind him and copied him. That started it."

Prior to the development of skate skiing, cross-country skiers raced varying distances — from 5km for the women to 50km for the men — all in the classic technique. It was the only technique that existed.

At the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the cross-country ski program includes a 15km freestyle, 50km classic, and a classic sprint for the men. The women will race a 10km freestyle, 30km classic, and classic sprint. Both men and women will also compete in respective pursuits (where skiers race half the distance using classic and the other half freestyle), team sprints, and relays.

Which means that Andrus Veepalu, the Estonian who has won the 15km classic race at the past two Winter Olympics, as well as at the 2009 World Championships, won’t be able to defend his Olympic title.

American Kris Freeman, who finished fourth in the 15km classic race at 2003 and 2009 Worlds, won’t be able to race his strongest event either.

Likewise, American sprinters Andy Newell and Kikkan Randall will compete in the classic sprint in Vancouver. Newell’s two World Cup podiums — one in 2006, the other in 2008 — have come in the freestyle sprint. Same with Randall, who took the silver at 2009 Worlds in the freestyle sprint. Her two World Cup podiums in 2007 were in freestyle as well.

“If you’re a 100-meter freestyle swimmer, every Olympics you’ve got a 100-meter freestyle,” said John Farra, U.S. Ski Team Nordic director. “In cross-country, you have a 15K champion, but it switches disciplines. So you’ve got to wait eight years for your next chance to show your 15K classic prowess.”

But why should Kris Freeman have to wait another four years to compete in his best event?

When new swimming strokes were developed and sanctioned for competition — such as the butterfly — they were included as Olympic events, with 100m and 200m events now contested. (Though sadly, the underwater and obstacle swims were dropped from the Olympic program after a one-time debut at the 1900 Games.)

We don’t expect Phelps to swim the breaststroke. Why should a skier who excels in one discipline at a certain distance have to compete in anything but his or her best event?

I understand the need to keep the number of participants capped at each Olympiad. But the Winter Olympics are so much smaller than the Summer Games. Why not include both 15km freestyle and 15km classic races, a freestyle sprint and a classic sprint, and on up through the distances?

Instead of 12 medal events, why not hold 22 cross-country events in Vancouver — 11 for men, 11 for women?

Then the debate about who’s the greatest Olympian might get interesting.