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Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating


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3 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

This Dutch born girl is quietly hoping for medals on the short track in addition to the ones that hopefully come our way on the long track.

"Hopefully"?  You always so dominate long-track that the Dutch national anthem is practically the soundtrack for that event!  ;-)

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14 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

"Hopefully"?  You always so dominate long-track that the Dutch national anthem is practically the soundtrack for that event!  ;-)

I don't want to be over confident. I remember when we weren't as dominant as we have been the last few Winter Olympics. Albertville(four medals total, one gold), Lillehammer(four medals total, no gold), such a great generation of speed skaters that couldn't do it(win) at the Olympics.

 

Last winter games were ridiculous, I believe the Dutch skaters won more medals than our summer teams ever have at one Olympics with the exception of the Sydney games. That's unlikely to happen again, though I would not be opposed to it ;)

Edited by galaxygirl76
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4 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

I don't want to be over confident. I remember when we weren't as dominant as we have been the last few Winter Olympics. Albertville(four medals total, one gold), Lillehammer(four medals total, no gold), such a great generation of speed skaters that couldn't do it(win) at the Olympics.

Weren't those the Johann Olav Koss days?  He was pretty unbeatable (and an all around awesome person as well.)

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4 minutes ago, MyAimIsTrue said:

Weren't those the Johann Olav Koss days?  He was pretty unbeatable (and an all around awesome person as well.)

He only won one gold in Albertville, but yeah in Lillehammer he was magnificent. None of the great Dutch tournament skaters of that era won an Olympic gold medal, especially for Ritsma that must have been painful since that is the only thing he never got.

 

Sarajevo was a disaster and Calgary belonged to queen Yvonne, who beat the heavily favored East German skaters, but the men didn't win any gold medals. It wasn't until Nagano that things started to look up again.

 

disclaimer: I love speed skating lol

Edited by galaxygirl76
messed up the edit and quoted myself instead
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3 hours ago, kittykat said:

Koss dominated Lillehammer for sure.  The US had a pretty good run as well from Nagano to Torino.  I do love watching the Dutch though they have been the main Force to beat since Vancouver.

Which is hardly surprising, since the Dutch love for het schaatsen, as they call it, starts practically as soon as they can walk.  In fact, in the olden days, it wasn't at all uncommon to see parents pushing special baby strollers on the ice that were equipped with runners instead of wheels!

Edited by legaleagle53
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I recently saw an interview with Steven Bradbury, the Aussie skater who won gold after everyone else fell, and he had a hard time coming to grips with winning the gold because he knew he wasn't the best skater in that race.

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Every tennis fan: "Well, Roger only won because some one else beat Rafa in the first round" or "Novak only won because Andy withdrew with an injury."

You can only beat the ones who show up, uninjured, at the end of the tournament/race.   Staying upright in the midst of a tumbling pack is one of the first skills a short track skater needs to learn.

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10 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

My love for watching short track speed skating began when the Australian skater won gold by the simple fact of being slower than everyone else who got in a massive pile up at the finish line. A true Olympic moment!

Yeah, I'll never forget the "WTF just happened?" look on his face that he saw that he'd suddenly won when he'd been dead last.

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17 hours ago, Quof said:

You can only beat the ones who show up, uninjured, at the end of the tournament/race.   Staying upright in the midst of a tumbling pack is one of the first skills a short track skater needs to learn.

I agree but I still thought Bradbury's remarks about his feelings at the time were surprising, and rather humble.  It kind of made me like him even more.

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On 29/01/2018 at 12:42 PM, Good Queen Jane said:

My love for watching short track speed skating began when the Australian skater won gold by the simple fact of being slower than everyone else who got in a massive pile up at the finish line. A true Olympic moment!

If there was ever a "He just pulled a Homer Simpson" in Olympic events, it's this one.  And while I get he may have problems dealing the fact that he won because the people in front took each other out...that's short track.  He stayed up, they didn't.  And it's a legal win.  

 

Hoping for Canada to start building on their wins from Vancouver and Sochi, but South Korea is going to go allll out on short track.  I think anything less than a gold in all events on home ice is going to be a major disappointment. 

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One, two, and three for the Dutch on the 3k for women! With the one least expected to win getting the gold. Silver for Knegt at almost the same time at short track, which he was happy with and I hope that bodes well for the shorter distances because he said he came for gold.

Edited by galaxygirl76
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15 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Well Korea struck gold in the 1500m Men's short track but Hamelin losing ground and then being assessed a penalty was a major downer. 

 

which was chinz. Korea impacted Hamelin. but ah well

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Sven Kramer became the first man to win the 5k three times in a row, the most decorated speed skater in history, and the most successful Dutch Olympian ever (winter or summer).

 

Petersen's bronze medal was the first time a Norwegian medaled in this even since Johann Olav Koss and Kjeld Storelid won gold and silver in Lillehammer. 

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Sven Kramer is a beast!  He didn't even looked winded.  No, Norwegian science guys, the fastest color in speed skating is orange.

And I love that the king was there and just looked like somebody's dad sitting in the stands.  The Dutch royal family are such regular kind of people, for royalty.

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Ireen Wüst won gold today at the 1500m today, she has won gold in every olympics since 2006.

I was probably even happier for Marrit Leenstra who won the bronze because she's one of those athletes that are almost always fourth. On the other side of things, the third Dutch girl missed the bronze by one hundredth of a second.

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On 2/6/2018 at 5:51 AM, mtlchick said:

If there was ever a "He just pulled a Homer Simpson" in Olympic events, it's this one.  And while I get he may have problems dealing the fact that he won because the people in front took each other out...that's short track.  He stayed up, they didn't.  And it's a legal win.  

 

Hoping for Canada to start building on their wins from Vancouver and Sochi, but South Korea is going to go allll out on short track.  I think anything less than a gold in all events on home ice is going to be a major disappointment. 

That's short track, indeed.

In fact, I remember Apolo Ohno saying that very thing. He was the glittering American star for a sport that very few Americans had ever heard of before that year so, of course, after the pileup commentators were practically falling over themselves to get him to spill his feelings about what they clearly saw was an absolute travesty. Ohno had a great attitude about it. "That's short track."  I mean, it wasn't just that the Aussie got the gold because he was far enough behind to not get caught in the wrechage but the scramble from the rest to get that blade in front was hilarious. Didn't Ohno get silver? Possibly bronze. Pretty sure he got a medal.

But that so many in the studio were just 'what the hell did we just see?! what is this sport?' It was amazing. I didn't know jack about short track before all that but I was hooked with that race. 'Oh... Oooooh... this is an unpredictable anything goes type of racing. I'm into it!'

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2 minutes ago, Dandesun said:

That's short track, indeed.

In fact, I remember Apolo Ohno saying that very thing. He was the glittering American star for a sport that very few Americans had ever heard of before that year so, of course, after the pileup commentators were practically falling over themselves to get him to spill his feelings about what they clearly saw was an absolute travesty. Ohno had a great attitude about it. "That's short track."  I mean, it wasn't just that the Aussie got the gold because he was far enough behind to not get caught in the wrechage but the scramble from the rest to get that blade in front was hilarious. Didn't Ohno get silver? Possibly bronze. Pretty sure he got a medal.

He got silver, if I remember correctly.

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2 hours ago, Dandesun said:

Didn't Ohno get silver? Possibly bronze. Pretty sure he got a medal.

He got silver, Marc Gagnon of Canada (who I was rooting for) got bronze.  I was on and off about Ohno then (though I think the media did him no favours) but his simple yet candid "that's short track" won me over.  No apologies because there was none to make. 

2 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

but the scramble from the rest to get that blade in front was hilarious.

Honestly, I think that ranks in my top 10 sports moments of all time.  

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5 hours ago, Dandesun said:

That's short track, indeed.

In fact, I remember Apolo Ohno saying that very thing. He was the glittering American star for a sport that very few Americans had ever heard of before that year so, of course, after the pileup commentators were practically falling over themselves to get him to spill his feelings about what they clearly saw was an absolute travesty. Ohno had a great attitude about it. "That's short track."  I mean, it wasn't just that the Aussie got the gold because he was far enough behind to not get caught in the wrechage but the scramble from the rest to get that blade in front was hilarious. Didn't Ohno get silver? Possibly bronze. Pretty sure he got a medal.

I had never seen short track before those games, but that race made me love it instantly. Bradbury was so self-effacing and likeable, and Apolo totally won me over with his attitude about the outcome of the race. It's such a crazy, unpredictable sport and so much fun to watch.

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Kim Boutin went from tears of frustration and sadness to tears of joy and happiness when the Korean got (rightfully) punted for interfering with Fontana at the end of the 500m short track event.  

 

I hate and love these moments in this sport. 

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That disqualification moved Dutch skater Yara van Kerkhof up to silver. She was already happy with unexpected bronze so she's even happier now. First Dutch female to medal in short track.

 

That Katie Couric thing is making me shrug. I don't see the big deal tbh 

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1 hour ago, kili said:

Boutin has had to make her social media accounts private after receiving thousands of angry messages, including some of which were threatening.

That's sad to hear.  The gold medal South Korean favourite Choi was DQ'd for impeding.  But Choi fans are mad because they said Boutin pushed Choi and didn't get DQ'd.  It's up to the judges right?  If the judges didn't call it, oh well.  That's short track.

I feel bad for both Choi and Boutin.  Choi actually apologised to the people of South Korea for letting them down.  So sad that she felt like she had to apologise for failing.  That's not right.  

And I really hope that Boutin doesn't let these ridiculous death threats affect her in her next races.  These fans need to get a grip.

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17 hours ago, blackwing said:

 But Choi fans are mad because they said Boutin pushed Choi and didn't get DQ'd.  It's up to the judges right?  If the judges didn't call it, oh well.  That's short track.

Apparently more Koreans take issue with the judges.  And there is one event they're going to go over everything, it's this one.  But I believe there is a certain amount of time someone that was DQs can contest the result and I guess Choi decided not to make that call.  But it's pretty scary stuff for Boutin.  I hope her other events go off without problems. 

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5 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

What on Earth happened to US skating?

Maybe they need to start speed skating to work like the Dutch do.

Seriously, though, last time they blamed it on new suits and lack of altitude training.  I think it's tied to the training, although maybe the talent pool is weaker right now as well.  Perhaps training with the Dutch would help?  Although that's what Heather Bergsma does, and it didn't help her.

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6 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Another day, another gold for the Netherlands. Two medals for Japan is great too! Ter Mors also competes in short track and it would be really cool if she could medal in that as well.

 

What on Earth happened to US skating?

Yes I know!  I'm enjoying the Dutch domination but I can't help but wonder what happened to the Salt Lake/Torino quality of the US team?  To have no medals by this point is very strange.

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So after all the Shani Davis complaining about losing a coin flip for the right to carry a flag, he goes out and absolutely bombs?  I guess Shani Davis no longer is a thing in speed skating?  What a disappointment.  I'd agree with the comment above about the US skating team.  

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