Written by Naomi
Dutch speed skating fan
After a week of well-deserved rest and recovery time much needed after the World Cup Final in Heerenveen, it was time for the last competition of the season. And what a competition it was. Four days of speed skating!
The WSDC took place in Nagano, Japan, making it a bit more difficult for me to fly over there and attend it myself. After all, there is more in life than speed skating. But since these were the last races of the season, I didn’t want to miss anything. And luckily I didn’t have to. Thanks to the great people of the NOS (Dutch television), I was able to see everything, from start to finish and beyond. And… live!
It did mean I had to get up in the middle of the night to watch the skating, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. It’s rather special to go to bed early; setting the alarm clock, knowing you will get up the other day at an insane hour and not even mind. And that’s exactly what happened. Those four days my alarm went of at 5.45 am or even 3.15 am. All those times I didn’t have any trouble getting out of bed, and just when I switched my television on, the tune of Studio Sport woke me up.
I installed myself with a cup of tea on the couch, curled up in a blanket and had my laptop within reach. Because it’s not only watching the skating, but also during the cleaning of the ice, talking about it on a skating forum. And when you think I am the only one in Holland who does this, you are more than wrong. Actually, it was quite busy on the internet and it’s nice to know you are not alone.
Day 1 and 2 were interesting, but missed that little extra for me. My favourites would only race in the weekend. But nevertheless I watched it all. And then at 9 or 6 o’clock, when the skating was over, I returned to normal everyday life.
On Saturday the 1000m for men was on the program and I had been looking forward to this the entire week. This was it. The Dutch guys didn’t really make a good impression and I was quite disappointed that the ice wasn’t as good as we all had hoped for. The old track records were not smashed like expected, but just improved with a small difference. I watched the last pair of the 1000m biting my fingernails. Unfortunately, my personal favourite, Denny Morrison, didn’t do as well as I had hoped for, and he finished third. I was happy that he made the podium, but he had been either second or first the entire season, so being third was a bit of a disappointment.
I didn’t have much time to sob over it, because I had to go to my new home to do some work there and my helpers were waiting for me. The entire Saturday I didn’t think about speed skating. The only thing on my mind was painting, putting up wallpaper and more stuff like that. Luckily everything went so smooth and quickly, we were finished by the end of the day. I returned home, more than exhausted.
I went to bed that night, contemplating to miss out on the first distance the next day and just sleep a little bit longer. But sometime during the night I decided to wake up early and just watch it all. It was the last day of competition of the season; I would be able to recover from it for the next six months. So, at 5.45 am on a nice Sunday morning I tuned in.
First the 1000m ladies, which was won by top favourite Anni Friesinger. I think this wasn’t a surprise for no-one and I more or less expected Shani Davis to do the same in the 1500m. He had been the best in many 1500m’s this season and he always seemed to be able to win, whomever he had to beat. In the ninth pair my favourite had to skate against Dutchman Sven Kramer. He is absolutely the undisputed champion in the longer distances, and he can also skate a very good 1500m. But I just don’t want him to win the 1500m. If he would do so, he would get even more media attention and in my opinion get even more arrogant. So, him being paired with Denny Morrison made me wish even harder for Morrison to at least beat Sven Kramer.
During the race, I was at the edge of my couch, biting in my sweater to prevent myself from screaming and waking up the rest of the house. I saw Morrison get in the slipstream of Kramer twice at the cross-over. It just looked really well and I couldn’t believe they skated such a good time. But my main focus was on the fact that whatever would happen, Sven wouldn’t be the champion. I was so relieved!! And of course very happy with the time set by Morrison.
But after their pair, Shani Davis had to race. The opener was more or less the same as Morrison’s, but Davis’ first lap was 2 tenth of a second faster. I shook my head and knew Davis would beat Morrison…. Again! But something strange happened and for some weird reason, when Davis crossed the finish line, his time was slower than the 1.45.22 skated by Denny Morrison.
By this time, my heart was racing. All possible traces of fatigue were vanished. I was wide awake and adrenaline was pumping through my body. All kinds of thoughts were tumbling through my mind. But before I had a chance to gather them, the last pair was racing. Halfway through the race, I already saw it wasn’t going to be enough to beat the 1.45.22 and that’s when the rest of the house woke up from me screaming of joy and cheering for what was going on in Japan.
I sat in front of my television and watched how Denny Morrison became World Champion in the 1500m. It took me three seconds and then it hit me: I had to get to work. In December I started the website www.denny-morrison.com and of course I had to update it as soon as possible. This took me almost the entire day, because videos and pictures were pouring in. With one eye on the television and the other one on my computer, the rest of the competition passed by.
The men’s Team Pursuit was quite interesting to watch and after a lot of interviews and skating discussion, the sports program was finished and I switched off my television. The screen went black and my room turned silent. I took a look around, and saw all the signs I made over the last season. I saw a framed picture of one of the skaters and memories of the past season flashed through my mind. I have made so many great friends this season who also love speed skating. My whole life has emerged to a higher level and I must say, this has been one of the best winters ever. Usually, I just hope for winter to pass by as quickly as possible, so summer can arrive. But this winter, I have actually enjoyed winter itself.
But now it is over. The speed skating season 2007-2008 is finished. No more skating until October. I swallowed and felt empty.
Of course, I have plenty of other things to do and summer is also more than nice, but the first couple of weeks, when summer is not there yet, there is an empty void left. In winter, my days are filled with skating and planning skating trips or recovering and reliving competitions. And I think it just has to sink in that it is over.
But, of course, I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t already thinking about next season and the plans we have for another fascinating winter. But for now, this is it. I hope you all enjoyed my little writing. I did. Have a nice summer and perhaps see you again next season.
Three days of speed skating have passed by in the blink of an eye. Actually, the whole season has passed by incredibly fast. I left for Heerenveen feeling a little melancholic, knowing it would be the last live event I was going to see and I knew that after it, it would be over. I will now have to do without the clapping of the klapschaats, the chirping of brakes on ice for such a long time. The scent in the air when you enter the Thialf and the excitement of a nice pair, duking it out in the last meters of my favourite distance.
But I also was excited to go, because this time things would be a bit different. We had good company. Kirsti, a new Norwegian friend who loves speed skating just as much as we do, would also come to Heerenveen. I had helped her to find a place to sleep and gave her a ride to Heerenveen and before we knew it, we stood outside the Thialf, in the pouring rain, chatting like we had known each other for years. I guess the love for speed skating bonds more than anything! It also was very helpful for our Norwegian lessons and we had the best of fun trying to pronounce some phrases in Norwegian. Of course, you had to be there to appreciate it, so I will not bore you with any of our hilarious phrases and hours and hours of laughter after it.
Once we were inside and secured our spot, the real job started. Normally we are trying to behave as normal as possible and don’t shout hysterically to the skaters on the ice, but since this was the last time we were there, we unanimously decided to do things differently this time. So whenever a skater passed, we shouted his name in a weird voice and that was rewarded with some pretty nice responses: 9 out of 10 skaters actually waved back at us! And it almost was as if they had a little competition of their own amongst each other to wave as originally as possible. Standing on one leg, pointing a finger at us or making fists of pure joy. It all was hilarious!
I actually think the best moment of the weekend was when Enrico Fabris managed to skate to a bronze medal in the 1500m and thereby proved to be back in shape. We were surprised and happy and so was Fabris himself. Of course Caat brought her huge ‘Forza Enrico’ banner with her, and Mr. Fabris seemed to appreciate that a lot and celebrated his third place with us. Thanks to the enormous banner!!
This time we had booked a hotel near the Thialf and this saved us a 1.5 hour trip back home and gave us the opportunity to kick back and relax in our fancy hotel rather than driving back through the most boring part of Holland. On Saturday we could even sleep in a little bit and enjoy our luxurious breakfast with the best view ever! But of course we couldn’t enjoy the view for too long, because we had to arrive at the stadium in time again. On Saturday I had a little bit of an off-day, for various reasons, but fortunately the wave during the 5k for men kept me awake! It was a really nice view to see 11,000 people perform a wave at the exact same moment the skaters passed by and this lap after lap after lap! Even the VIP people participated a little bit.
Saturday passed into Sunday and before we knew it, we were being kicked out of the stadium because the security people wanted us to leave. We had just witnessed an amazing victory ceremony with all the World Cup winners passing by on motorcycles and in cabriolets. It was really nice to hear all the noise and see the huge smiles of all the winners when passing us by. And then it was over. Outside it was dark, silent and cold. I was tired and happy to go to the hotel, but also sad to leave the stadium. On the way to the hotel, we all were silent and a little depressed, exhausted and each lost in our own thoughts. We had a nice dinner with a lot of drinks to commemorate the end of the our season.
In the morning the hotel was almost empty and while packing my bag and gathering my stuff, I felt happy I was going home. The season has been so intense and has taken up so much of my time, I was almost relieved it was over and I was looking forward to the summer. Of course, once I got home and watched all my photos and uploaded all my videos, the feeling of relief passed instantly and I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming WSDC in Nagano. It will be four days of watching speed skating on TV. That will be nice for a change! One more competition to go. It’s the icing on the cake. One more weekend… looking forward to it, of course ;-).
Photo credits:
Photo 1: Kristi Biseth
Photo 2: Linda v/d Salm
Well dear readers, it’s a good thing I don’t work for radio or television and can manage with the written word, because I have lost my voice. And my mother always used to say “If you lost something, try to remember where you put it”, but in this case I know exactly where I left it. In Berlin, Germany, at the ice rink. I have been cheering so loudly I completely lost my voice.
But it was worth it. Although it was insane for me to hop to Berlin and back, I am very happy that I did it. On Monday I got back from Baselga and on Friday I took the night bus to Berlin. At the very last minute I found an advertisement for one single ticket for the World All-rounds. And because I enjoyed it so much last year and because this season I’m completely hooked on speed skating, I just had to go. And so I did.
And again, it was so different. I had to sit down during the event! Amazing! We, me and 63 other people, left the hotel just one hour before the competition started and we just walked through the gate, sat down and the races began. It felt so weird. I was all nervous because I thought we wouldn’t make it on time, but of course we did, but unfortunately we missed out on the warm-up. But hey, can’t have it all.
And this time, we were also practically with our noses on the ice. With a bench, where the skaters prepare for their race, right in front of us. So we could see and hear almost everything again. And what new things about life on the ice have I discovered?
And last week I talked about the stuff some coaches utter on the ice while coaching their skaters. A funny thing happened, which I guess everybody missed back home. Canadian Steven Elm was racing and his coach Marcel Lacroix was shouting, while he entered the corner: “Hips, Hips, Hips!” I can’t remember which distance it was, but this happened a few laps in a row, when all of a sudden the people on the stands started to repeat it. Yelling with 100 people: “Hips, Hips, Hips!” Lacroix seemed to appreciate it, because he fired up the crowd a bit and the next lap he just didn’t have to do anything, because we all coached Steven Elm through his corner.
And although it was an exhausting weekend, it was also very much worth being there. My favourite speed skater, Denny Morrison, didn’t compete in Baselga, but was there in Berlin and actually did very well. He finished first in the 500m, which was new for me because this was the first time I was present when he won. But I also had some nerve wrecking moments, when he skated the 5k and the 10k. Which on one hand is nice, because then you can enjoy the skating a little bit longer than in the 500m, but on the other hand it’s also killing for your voice, because it means you have to shout for 25 laps in a row. And that’s how I lost my voice.
It was no surprise Sven Kramer won the All-round title, so he was the man of the weekend. A new friend at the ice rink wanted to see if we could spot him at the back, so I agreed to go with her. I knew it would be a mission impossible, but I went with her anyways, because I always have the problem of not being able to leave after the competition is over. I lingered around, just not wanting to face the fact it really was over.
But in this case, it was worth it. Not that we could take a picture of Sven Kramer, but we saw a whole bunch of other skaters. Actually, while waiting for Håvard Bøkko to come outside, I saw a Canadian guy getting in a van. I wasn’t sure, but I decided to take a better look, just to be sure. And much to my own surprise it was Denny Morrison, packing his stuff, ready to go. Earlier that day, he finished second in the 1500m and he still had the flowers from that ceremony, which he gave to me. We took a nice picture and after that we even caught Shani Davis outside, who was more than willing to get in the picture with us. Unfortunately, we didn’t see Sven Kramer, but after all this, I was ready to leave and go home.
And there I was, in the bus, holding a bouquet of flowers. I must say, after a bus journey of more than 13 hours, even the flowers looked better than me and I was so relieved to be back home again. That is to say… my body is back home, because I left my voice in Berlin. And it seems I left my thoughts on the ice too, because since I’ve been back, I haven’t really done much else than thinking about this weekend, the previous weekends and the upcoming weekends. Maybe it’s a good thing the speed skating season is almost over, because then I can focus on my other hobbies again!
