It’s a twelve-hour bus journey from Inzell back home to Utrecht. The men’s 5000 meter speedskating race was on, and there wasn’t a way we could watch it on the road.
And so, a gaggle of about thirty Dutch students and one lone American (me) ducked into a gas station in the middle of nowhere to see the race on TV. Other Dutch travelers on the road had the same idea and would sit with us.
No other nation is as fanatic as the Dutch when it comes to watching people with the most muscular thighs race around an ice track at 50+ kilometers per hour. The Dutch take pride in being good at this sport.
People cheered every time Sven Kramer, world champion and the Dutch favorite to win, popped up on the screen.
Sven Kramer was racing against Jonathan Kuck from the United States, much younger and looking more nervous than Kramer when the camera focused on his face at the starting line.
“So, who are you cheering for?” the Dutch would ask me. They’d raise their eyebrows and look back at me periodically with huge grins. An elderly couple sitting in the back gasped when Jonathan Kuck lost his balance mid-way through the race.
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Seung Hoon Lee from South Korea gets ready to start. According to Wikipedia, Lee said that he switched from the short track to the long track to show the world that Asian people can be just as speedy as their European competitors at longer distances.
“Hey look Chan, it’s your brother from another mother.”
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I’ve watched speedskating on my own in the past, but it’s much more exciting watching the sport with the Dutch. Their enthusiasm for the sport is contagious. The Dutch are usually calm, cool, and collected when behaving in public — but not when speedskating is on.
Plus you get a better appreciation for the sport when you do it yourself.
The Dutch team swept the podium that day, winning gold, silver, and bronze in the same race. Everybody went back home in good spirits.
