The AnswersThatWork Blog

Wednesday, 28th February 2010
 

Own the Podium — Team Canada and The best Hockey Team in town

Now, I'd first like to congratulate myself.  Self adulation is great !  ☺

Yesterday, the hundredth of a second was back in town in Vancouver 2010.  The German Women's Speed Skating team won the 6-lap team pursuit by two hundredths of a second (a shoe length) after being behind by up to a minute at one time on the Japan team.  It was unbelievable.  But that was nothing to the Women's Cross-Country Skiing 30-kilometre Classic.  After 30kms, 18.5 miles, of hills, downhills, turns, snow, slush, rain, changes of skis, cold, after 30kms, after 18.5 miles, after 1H30' of cross-country ski racing, just like Nikita and Alexander before them, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland and the all-time great Marit Björgen of Norway fought neck and neck in the last 250m of the 30kms, inch by inch, stroke by stroke, ski lunge by ski lunge, to the finish.  It was a Photo Finish.  Justyna won by a few hundredths.  After 30Kms !

Now, Team Canada.  Well, they've owned the podium all right.  There is no denying that.  After the derisory comments from the world press when Canada failed to win Gold on the first day of the Olympics, particularly in the Mens Downhill, Team Canada have come back to win the most Gold medals ever won in a Winter Olympics, and we're not finished yet !  Congratulations where they're deserved :  "Own the Podium" was a brilliantly conceived and implemented strategy — well done !

But I have bad news for Team Canada.  Last year's Ice Hockey World Champions, Russia, who beat Canada in the final, became World Champions because they were better skaters than anyone else.  I for one believe that this year's Olympic Gold medal for the Men Ice Hockey will also go to the best skaters I've seen in these Olympics, to the team of skaters who skate like artists and shoot like marksmen, Team USA.  You've read it here first !  I'll be watching, will you ?

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Wednesday, 24th February 2010
 

Changing Lanes

The marathon event of Olympic Speed Skating :  the 10,000m.  The Final.

With 6 pairs still to go Seung-Hoon Lee of Korea, not one of the favourites, takes to the ice and skates an amazing race slashing his best time by over 20 seconds to beat the Olympic record.

There was something golden about that skating run.  Although some of the world's best were still to come, there was something about Seung-Hoon Lee's skate that was truly...... Olympian !  Skate the best 10,000m of your Life, do this in the Olympic Final, and beat the Olympic record with it, this is the sort of stuff hero films are made of and there is nothing you can do about it :  it catches your breath.

Five more pairs went, including the Torino 2006 Olympic champion, DeJong, and none managed to come close to Lee.

Then came the last pair, The Master, the skating rink's record holder, the World Record Holder, the man who had already beaten Seung-Hoon Lee in the 5000m last week in this Vancouver Skating Rink.  All eyes were on him .... and the Clock !  Sven Kramer entered the fray and the whole stadium went quiet.  They knew they were about to witness one of the greatest moments in Olympic Speed Skating.

Off he went.  By the end of the first lap he was ahead, by the end of 4 laps he was obliterating Seung-Hoon Lee's performance.  After 12 laps the only talk was not whether Kramer would win, it was not whether he would break the Olympic record, it was simply :  "by how many seconds will he break the Olympic record ?".  It was spell binding stuff.  This was THE MOMENT of these Olympics .....

Sven Kramer smashed the Olympic record by over 4 seconds.

4 seconds later Sven Kramer smashed his racing glasses onto the infield.  He'd been disqualified for failing .............. to change lanes.  His coach, Gerard Kemkers, made a mistake that will haunt him for the rest of his Life — he pointed Sven Kramer into the wrong lane !  Unbelievable.  Unbelievable scenes in the stadium.  Mayhem.  No-one could believe it.  Nobody knew what was going on.  People were still applauding a Gold Medal winning run with Olympic record to boot.  Seung-Hoon Lee is the 10,000m Olympic Champion.

I had mixed emotions yesterday.  Unarguably Sven Kramer was head and shoulders above everybody, but, somehow, at the time that it happened, there was something breathtaking about Seung-Hoon Lee's run six pairs earlier, it felt like the classic Hollywood tale, and, in the most convoluted manner of all, it ended being just that !

Congratulation Seung-Hoon Lee for a truly Olympian run.

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Monday, 22nd February 2010
 

Korea's magic, Miller Time, and, yesterday, the Earth shook

It's now official :  if your specialty is speed skating and the distance is either the 500m long track or any of the short track short distances, and you are not Korean, and you are in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, aim for the Silver medal because you won't get anything else.  Guaranteed !

Korea has been nothing short of unbelievable at short distance speed skating.  All of Korea's 4 Gold Medals have come from speed skating.  They won both the men and women 500m long tracks.  However, what will forever remain imprinted in my memory are their performances in the short track.  They are unbelievable.  They are supersonically fast around those tight corners and use gravity defying angles.  The only reason, and I repeat, the only reason they have not registered One, Two, Three in those events is that they are so competitive none of them will settle for less than Gold.  Result :  for the last two thirds of each final you have this amazing sight of a trio of Koreans miles ahead of the competition giving the World a master lesson in pure speed, leaning angles Casey Stoner would be proud of, focus, and class;  then, at some point in the closing stages of the race, because they all want to win the Gold Medal (and why not!), they knock each other off the track and only one of them remains to win the race.  Make no mistake about it, if Korea decided to issue team orders to their short track skaters they would register 1, 2, and 3 in every race — they are that far ahead of the competition.  It's been a privilege watching them, it's been like watching Valentino Rossi vs Jorge Lorenzo in the Catalunya Grand Prix 2009 over and over again.  Magical !

Now, in the Torino 2006 Olympics he was favourite in many of the ski events, but famously went to party till 2:00 in the morning before the Mens Downhill, and won nothing.  Four years later, at the grand old age of 32, he now knows what he didn't know in Torino :  he wants Olympic medals, pure and simple !  Men's Downhill 8 days ago :  he clocks the fastest time and then waits a long time thinking he's won Gold only to then see Svindal and Defago go past 2 and 7 hundredths of seconds quicker, Bronze Medal.  Next stop, 3 days ago, the Super G :  same scenario, he sets the fastest time early on and then has to sit it out, again increasingly believing he's won Gold, only for Aksel Svindal to beat him into Silver.  Yesterday, on the other hand, was Miller time.  At last it was HIS TIME !  Bode Miller finally got his Olympic Gold medal after another excruciating 2-hour wait while all other competitors slalommed down the Whistler mountain.  But this time the wait was worth it — it led to Gold.  At last.  Savour it fully Bode !

The Earth shook yesterday.  The clocks stopped.  The Galaxy caught its breath.  The scoreboard stopped at 5-3.

In no other sport is there such an overwhelming dominance by two countries.  Sweden and the Czech Republic have won their fair share of World Championships and the odd Olympic title, and so have the USA, to give us all the impression that honours are being spread around, but don't get fooled, when it comes to Mens Ice Hockey, only two countries are worth talking about, the two countries where toddlers play competitive ice hockey at the age of 4, yes, Age FOUR! — they are Russia and Canada.  As Russia and formerly USSR, Russia has won marginally more than Canada :  22 World Titles and 7 Olympic titles to Canada's 18 World Titles and 7 Olympic Titles.  So when the USA come to town in Vancouver to play Canada in the 2010 Olympics, every Canadian will tell you there can only be one result :  a good old-fashioned thumping of the USA at the hands of the host nation.

The Earth shook yesterday :  the USA won 5-3 ......, with a goal tender called ...... Miller.

It's Miller time all right !

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Saturday, 20th February 2010
 

Normal Service resumes

So after the ridiculous antics of Nikita and Alexander, normal service resumed on Thursday with the home town girl, Christine Nesbitt, winning the blue ribbon event of long track speed skating, the 1,000m, by.... two hundredths of a second.  Ahhhhhhh, that's a woman after my heart !

The Women's Half-Pipe Snowboarding event was interesting — that's really a sport in its infancy :  none of the competitors can yet do somersaults or twist more than once.  It will be interesting to see how it progresses in 4 years time and whether we will have a woman equivalent of Shaun White.

Aksel Svindal, who'd got the silver medal in the Men's Downhill, powered his way to victory in the Men's Super-G, total smoothness around the gates, never losing his speed.  This man was so scared after the Downhill where he thought he'd won before Defago took it away from him, he left absolutely everything on the course this time round.  It was stunning.  I'm sure Norway will have a film one day called "The Svindal Run".  So Svindal obliterated Bode Miller this time round by 0.28 seconds, but the run for the other medals was absolutely incredible.  The next six places were all within one single tenth of a second.  Those winter Olympians are made of tough stuff.  Not only do you need nerves of steel to win by one or two hundredths of a second, or no nerves in the case of Nikita and Alexander (!),  you also need nerves of steel while waiting to see if the other skiers or skaters can beat your time.  Man !  I'll stay with blogs, Thank you very much...

So much going on and so much I can't cover, but I can't write without mentioning Simon Ammann of Switzerland, the ski jumper.  He won both the normal and the giant ski jumps, totally outjumping the hill on both occasions.  However, I for one, believe Simon Ammann should have been disqualified, someone has missed the ball here — the Olympics are purely and exclusively for Humans, no Extra-Terrestrials allowed !  Please !

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Thursday, 18th February 2010
 

America's Day, and Russia's Day

Yesterday was America's Day at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Julia Mancuso started the day by obliterating the competition.  Then Lindsey Vonn came down the mountain and obliterated Julia Mancuso.  Quite obviously, neither had read my blogs on hundredths of seconds.  Hmmmm

Then Shani Davis created history in the speed skating blue ribbon event, the 1000m.  He became the first man to retain the 1000m speed skating Olympic title.  This guy is a master of suspense.  First lap, a third of a second behind the leading time, second lap, half a second behind the leading time, 200m to go, still behind, and then he turns it on, and, Man, does he turn it on, every single time, and finishes ..... two tenth of a second ahead and Olympic Champion again.  And if you've been reading this blog you'll know that two tenths of a second is pure obliteration ! ☺

I have a soft spot for Shani Davis, because of the adversity he's had to go through, and he's a genius in his races of choice, make no mistake about that, now twice Olympic Champion, never done before, multiple world record holder, and 9 times World Champion since 2004, a record, just like Roger Federer's record of Grand Slams, that is unlikely to ever be surpassed.

But, Man Oh Man, the performance of the day has to be Shaun White in the Half-Pipe Snowboarding.  Not because he obliterated the competition, Lindsey Vonn and Shani Davis did that too, but simply because, yesterday, Shaun White went to the Moon !  While all the other snowboarders performed heroically, and sometimes with sheer magic, like the Finn Peetu Piiroinen, Shaun White watched all of that and then simply went to the Moon !  Absolute genius.  The others defy gravity, Shaun White flies ......... Ahhhhh !

Meanwhile, Russia had their day too yesterday.

What's the biggest difference between the Americans and the Russians at these Olympics ?  The Russians read my blog !!!

I know the Russians read this blog.  After yesterday's Mens Cross Country Sprint, I know they read my blog.  They wanted to prove me wrong.  They wanted to show me up.  They wanted to say "You don't know what you're talking about — 'hundredths', that's old stuff !".  So what did they do, they put on a show just for me, just for this blog.  It was R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S !  We're talking of a 1km sprint, 1000m, a little under two-thirds of a mile. For 3'36"00 these guys ski mostly on the flat, sometimes go up little hills, and down the same little hills, and then again on the flat, going flat out.  For 3'36"00 Alexander Panzhinskiy and Nikita Krjukov obliterated everyone else, and then tore into each other for the last 250m.  It was exhausting watching them trying to outdo each other to the line, and, what happened ? After 3'36"00, they could not be separated by a tenth, or a hundredth, or even a thousandth.  After 3'36"00 of exhausting racing Nikita Krjukov won by a margin so small, 2cm, it could not be measured by any current timing systems, so they were both given the same time !  After 3'36"00 !!

Nikita and Alexander, you are just ridiculous !  There was no need to take my blog so personally.  Give me a break !

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Wednesday, 17th February 2010
 

Did you see it, or Did you not ?

You didn't ?  You didn't see it !!!!!!!

Let me ease you out of your misery :  did you see that whiff of air ?

OK, explanation :  Yesterday Sang-Hwa Lee of South Korea raced Jenny Wolf of Germany in the final pairing of the 500m speed skating at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.  This was the race to decide the Gold medal.  The 500m is raced over two races because having the inside lane at the finish is a disadvantage in the sprints as you cannot carry your speed round the tight inside lane, so over the two races each skater takes it in turn to finish on the inside lane.  Whoever has the fastest combined time over the two races wins.

Jenny Wolf is the World Record Holder and World Cup Winner.  Sang-Hwa Lee was the current #1 coming into this final.  They went.  Jenny Wolf clocked the fastest ever recorded time over the first 100m.  It was unbelievable.  How she managed not to crash at the first bend still baffles me.  Around that first bend they went.  Down the back straight and Sang-Hwa Lee is still way behind.  Into the other bend, Sang-Hwa Lee is still left for dead.  The final straight :  Sang-Hwa Lee summons every ounce of effort, of power, of strength that she built over 4 years of countless hours of gym, weights, running, pumping, jumping, squatting, abdominals, dedication, sacrifices, ... and skating, to gradually pull back and reel in Jenny Wolf and finishes .... second !  Second by one hundredth of a second !

Absolutely unbelievable.  An incredible race.

She's in tears.

But these are tears of joy because in the first race she won by six hundredths of a second so she is now the 2010 Olympic Champion by five hundredths of a second over two races — over two races !

I'm still out of breath !

Meanwhile, we hear that in the Luge they are now measuring the runs to the thousandths of seconds !

Dearie me.  Let me correct what I said yesterday :  nowadays sport cannot exist without technology.  Tell me — how else can you measure a whiff of air ?  Case proven, Case closed !

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Monday, 15th February 2010
 

How quickly ?

So, how quickly can you read ?
 

Do you realise that in the time that it took you to read the above question Didier Defago, Aksel Svindal and Bode Miller have just won the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Mens Downhill ?

There was an incredible 9 hundredths of a second between the 3 medal winners this morning on the Whistler Mountain.  We take this for granted nowadays but, take a step back.  This means that if the downhill was still measured by hand stop watches, these 3 guys would have all won the Gold medal.  It means that if they'd raced side by side downhill, this would have been a blanket finish with neither you nor me able to pick out a winner.  And we're not talking about Usain Bolt in the 100m here, we're talking about 3 Gold Medals, a blanket finish between 3 men having skiied down 3.158kms, 2 miles, for nearly two whole minutes, and after 3158m of downhill ice, gates, troughs, turns, sharp turns, long speedy turns, and huge jumps, you and I still cannot separate them with the naked eye at the finish.

Man !  They had to invent...... the hundredth of a second !!

☺

Where would sport be without technology, hey ?

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Copyright © AnswersThatWork.com