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Post by jhar26 on Feb 26, 2010 17:55:09 GMT -5
I don't think Kramer feels that way. Gold on the 5k, ok, but he will mostly feel like losing 2 or 3 other medals, gold or other. At least on the short term. Maybe in time he'll think back and appreciate the gold medal. However, he's still young and if all goes well he'll be there again in 2014 and 2018. Especially that 10k will hurt because, well, that was just giving away the gold for no reason.
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 26, 2010 17:57:25 GMT -5
So, mixed emotions today. Skating was bad, snowboarding was great. Yeah, but all things considered still a great day for Holland to win a gold in an event other than speedskating.
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Post by arjan on Feb 26, 2010 18:12:56 GMT -5
True Nicolien is great. This is her 3rd olympics, twice it was a huge disappointment but now everything in the past is forgotten and she'll always be a Gold medal winner.
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Post by erik on Feb 26, 2010 18:40:53 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. America's Gold medal in Nordic Combined:
We've just not been known for it. It's not like we don't have cross-country facilities for it, but we're not flush with such areas; most of them are out West in the Sierras and the Rockies. Norway is the true powerhouse of any Cross Country event, though this year Sweden has proven to be up to the task as well. Our two men, Spillane and Demong, have trained side-by-side for the cross-country ski portion of the Nordic Combined for at least a decade, but this was the time that it all came together.
Truly, I'm finding the cross-country events much more exciting to watch, and it's a bit of a shame that they can't show even the shorter-timed races on TV uninterrupted, even when there are Americans involved.
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 26, 2010 20:05:03 GMT -5
I will definitely follow speedskating and alpine skiing more closely than I did before, because I really enjoyed watching those two sports the most at these olympics.
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Post by arjan on Feb 27, 2010 5:15:50 GMT -5
Let's continue what I've started (by the way, tonight no 'live' comments from me as I'll be watching at a friend's house)Speed skating pursuit. Men semi finals: Canada - Norway Netherlands - USAtoday the big final: Canada - USA for gold/silver the small final Norway - Netherlands for bronze Women today the semi finals: Japan - Poland Germany - USA followed by the finals, if I would have to bet I'ld go for Japan - USA in the big final. I think it's obvious the USA took this discipline very serious and it pays off. Canada does too but somehow the ladies managed to loose. Netherlands always finds it difficult to interest people for it during world cups, gambled for an optimal team but some of those teammembers didn't make the Olympics as individual skaters and therefor are not allowed on the pursuit. And this also pays off, in a negative way.
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Post by egoodstein on Feb 27, 2010 10:21:51 GMT -5
I've def. learned from you much more about speedskating. I enjoy the sport-- pleasantly surprised by how well the USA is doing at it though perhaps Games in Vancouver help. We had a few very good individuals before like Heiden and Bonnie Blair, but seems a deeper team. I think in general it's good the sport seems more international-- same if lesser degree with Nordic skiing, where even Americans had good-- and surprising (to me anyway)-- results.
Ed
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Post by arjan on Feb 27, 2010 10:35:42 GMT -5
Heiden and Blair indeed, but let's also not forget Dan Jansen, Eric Flaim (world champion allround in what was it, 1988?), Derek Parra (gold on 1500m in 2002) and the years between 2004 and 2008 have been quite a fight between the dutch men and Hedrick and Davis. Hedrick could have made more from his carreer but he screwed up a few times (like forgetting to change lanes) due to lack of concentration or even motivation. Davis is also very important for being the first afro-american speed skater, you can understand it was quite a buzz when he first appeared, visions of previous exotic skaters from Spain or (sorry Gaston) Belgium in mind, but when he was world champion allround 2 years later no one would laugh anymore, and later he also became world champion sprint. Not many skaters have reached that 'double'.
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Post by arjan on Feb 27, 2010 11:01:32 GMT -5
A fine story about Hedrick 4 years ago. He won gold on the 5000m, but after that it seemed like he lost his good shape. However, the Dutch tv commentators noticed something strange in his skating style. Hedrick heard about this, went to the studio of the Dutch tv and asked if he could see the footage of his failed races. He could, and studied closley and then noticed there was a malfunction on one of his skates! He was able to fix that and the next distances he skated a lot better, however his favourite distances had already been skated by then. He came to Turino to win 5 gold, but partly due to this malfunction he had to settle for 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.
That's always better than Kramer of course who came to Vancouver (Svencouver) to win at least 3 and maybe 4 gold, He has to settle for 1 gold and maybe 1 bronze.
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 27, 2010 12:14:27 GMT -5
....visions of previous exotic skaters from Spain or (sorry Gaston) Belgium in mind... There were no exotic skaters from Belgium to be seen this time though.
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Post by arjan on Feb 27, 2010 12:26:55 GMT -5
No Somewhere in the early 80s I think? there was a Belgian skater called Geert de Boer. He turned to long track from short track but not a big success. On the European Championship he was 5 seconds slower then everyone else... at the 500m! Don't know if he finished his 5k race yet For Spain there was someone called Gomez. He too skated the European Championships at some point, but was almost lapped at the 500m
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 27, 2010 12:58:50 GMT -5
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 27, 2010 16:56:53 GMT -5
Congrats for yet another medal!
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Post by arjan on Feb 27, 2010 22:54:38 GMT -5
Another bronze, still feels like a loss Specially sice they skated a new olymicv record in the b-final. Gaster than the a-final
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 28, 2010 7:15:42 GMT -5
Another bronze, still feels like a loss Specially sice they skated a new olymicv record in the b-final. Gaster than the a-final Maybe they were a bit too cocky going into the semis. They made several mistakes in that race also during changeovers. That's terrible when you consider that these races are often won or lost by fractions of a second.
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Post by arjan on Feb 28, 2010 7:28:36 GMT -5
They made a lot of mistakes indeed. Same goes for the Canadian women who somehow decided not to want to know how much they were ahead. They then mistook the shocked ooh's and aah's from the audience for shouts of admiration and finished being convinced they'd easily beaten the USA...
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 28, 2010 10:52:41 GMT -5
They made a lot of mistakes indeed. Same goes for the Canadian women who somehow decided not to want to know how much they were ahead. They then mistook the shocked ooh's and aah's from the audience for shouts of admiration and finished being convinced they'd easily beaten the USA... Yes, that's even worse in my opinion.
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 28, 2010 17:32:30 GMT -5
That Ice Hockey final is a real thriller. Fitting climax to these Olympics.
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Post by jhar26 on Feb 28, 2010 18:39:26 GMT -5
Canada 3-2. I'm glad that they won. Nothing against the US, but Canada wanted this one so badly that the nation would have been in mourning had they lost.
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Post by erik on Feb 28, 2010 19:49:35 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Canada's win in Ice Hockey:
If any nation deserved this, it is the nation that invented the sport, and that's Canada. But it was a hard fought game, going into overtime; and even though they couldn't repeat what their predecessors had done at Lake Placid thirty years ago, Team USA has nothing to hang their heads over.
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Post by arjan on Mar 1, 2010 4:10:39 GMT -5
So, that was it. Netherlands finished 10th in the medal ranking, with 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.
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Post by jhar26 on Mar 1, 2010 5:09:37 GMT -5
So, that was it. Netherlands finished 10th in the medal ranking, with 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze. Belgium 0 gold, 0 silver and 0 bronze - but at least nobody ended up with any broken legs!
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Post by jhar26 on Mar 2, 2010 14:39:55 GMT -5
What now? Over much too soon, those Olympics.
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Post by arjan on Mar 2, 2010 16:35:40 GMT -5
Absolutely. Have to wait 4 years. Too long. Today all Dutch athletes returned to Holland, the medal winners will meet the Queen tomorrow or thursday. The gold medalists get a special treatment then, that's a tradition. Not sure what goes on behind those closed doors
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Post by brendywendy on Mar 2, 2010 18:59:20 GMT -5
I LIKED THE ICE SKATERS, BUT I MISSED THE SOLO LADIES..HAVE TO SEE IF I CAN FIND ON YOUTUBE... Absolutely. Have to wait 4 years. Too long. Today all Dutch athletes returned to Holland, they will meet the Queen tomorrow or thursday. The gold medalists get a special treatment then, that's a tradition. Not sure what goes on behind those closed doors
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