- Joined
- Jan 11, 2008
Speed Skating
- Thread starter GS Forum Staff
- Start date
Maame Biney - 17 years old
Talk about a Cinderella story that you are gonna love! If she metals, I would be not be surprised if she carries the flag in the closing ceremony.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/17-Year-Old-Va-Skater--465973133.html
And her story is not complete unless you mention her super super supportive father.
Talk about a Cinderella story that you are gonna love! If she metals, I would be not be surprised if she carries the flag in the closing ceremony.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/17-Year-Old-Va-Skater--465973133.html
And her story is not complete unless you mention her super super supportive father.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2012
The sign that Maame Biney's father made to cheer her on was absolutely unforgettable :yay::
(Maame skates for Team USA, if anyone who has not clicked on concorde's link is wondering.
The article is a good read. I don't know whether the sign also is in the video, which would not load for me.)
ETA (on Feb 12):
Belatedly adding that this thread is the wrong one for discussion of Maame :luv17:, whose sport is short track speed skating.
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2011
She's the Jason Brown of Speedskating. Love her.
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2014
As indicated by my profile title, I'm a casual 4-year fan of speed skating only watching it during every Olympics. 
Between figure skating events, I usually watched the sport or alpine skiing. However I tended to get very nervous for upcoming fs events, or to gush over past thrilling or disappointing fs events, so I really didn't closely pay attention to speed skating or skaters. I don't even remember Olympic medalists' name except the Dutch Sven Kramer at Sochi. However, I got impressed by how good Dutch skaters in a strong orange uniform were.
Are Dutch skaters still in a good shape?
Between figure skating events, I usually watched the sport or alpine skiing. However I tended to get very nervous for upcoming fs events, or to gush over past thrilling or disappointing fs events, so I really didn't closely pay attention to speed skating or skaters. I don't even remember Olympic medalists' name except the Dutch Sven Kramer at Sochi. However, I got impressed by how good Dutch skaters in a strong orange uniform were.
Are Dutch skaters still in a good shape?
IIRC four years ago was mental, there were multiple events with all Dutch podiums. We still have a strong team, but the sport has also gained better skaters from other countries, so the general expectation is a bunch fewer medals than last time.
Mind, with certain Russian skaters not being allowed to participate, medal count may be higher than previously expected...
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
Hey Winnie. We got a silver from a Dutchman who came here. Do you want one of our figure skaters in exchange? Seems fair to me.
Hehehehe, our flower guy!
I'll take Scott, thank you very much! :luv17:
edit: on second thought, I wouldn't ask for much. Can I have Kevin Reynolds? You wouldn't miss him, he's not competing at the Olys anyway.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2017
I feel the need to "Go, Mia!" for today's action. NW Florida is not exactly a speed skating hotbed, but she's made the jump from inline rather successfully.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/bike-and-back-oval-mia-manganello-makes-olympic-team
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/bike-and-back-oval-mia-manganello-makes-olympic-team
(and Ireen Wust's tenth Olympic medal)- Joined
- Jan 23, 2017
I'm not familiar with this discipline.
Why they are so many competitions?
(Ladies 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and ladies mass start, ladies team pursuit)
The "skating style" is the same if you are doing 1000m or 1500m etc.
Any plan to reduce the huge amount of medals in this sport?
No different than running when the 100 meters is a different skill set than a marathon. And they're adding disciplines there- mass start and I think team pursuit are both new this time.
Unlike the Summer Olympics, the Winter Games haven't hit an athlete numbers cap yet, so federations are pretty free to add any event they can make a good case for. And the federations do.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
I'm not familiar with this discipline.
Why they are so many competitions?
(Ladies 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and ladies mass start, ladies team pursuit)
The "skating style" is the same if you are doing 1000m or 1500m etc.
Any plan to reduce the huge amount of medals in this sport?
It's like swimming. Different people excel at different types of races: sprints, middle distance, etc.
Winnie.. I wouldn't take Kevin..he's retiring this year I believe. Maybe one of our younger ones so you at least get a skater at the Olympics in 2022.
This, and same with swimming, I guess. Freestyle alone has, what, five distances (not counting the longer one in open water)? Pretty sure you need to be able to use your energy levels very differently in a 50 meter race than a 1500 meter race. So you have specialists, those who are good at the short distances, and those who are good at the long distances.(and those who are good at all-round, but that's not an Olympic discipline).
I think the new disciplines were added to attract more audience or something. Can't blame them, at least it's more exciting than the standard disciplines. :thumbsup:
edt: lol, just watched the BBC's coverage of the 1500 meter. The lady presenting this program just tried to explain to the viewers how exciting this sports it, the weirdness of it all inside the stadium. She seemed to genuinely love it, I wasn't expecting that at all.
Oh, but he could just reuse an old program (Chrono Trigger or Zelda or Tank, he had such awesome programs) and become the next Dutch national champion. He could do it while retired, just step on the ice a couple of days a year just for nationals.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
Okay then. We will make Kevin an honourary Dutchman in return for Jan-Ted.
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