Dutch success on Sochi ice leaves others feeling sick

The flying Dutchmen all made it look so easy. Propelled by legs as thick as tree trunks, they turned speed skating's longest and most grueling event into a bright orange procession.

In Tuesday's 10,000m race, the three Dutch entrants finished first, second and third, with Jorrit Bergsma winning the gold medal, Sven Kramer taking the silver and Bob de Jong capturing the bronze.

Just as they have throughout the whole Sochi Winter Olympics, the Dutch skaters gave their rivals no chance at the Adler Arena they have magically transformed into their own golden pond.

Of the 27 medals that have been awarded so far in speed skating, the Netherlands has scooped up 19, but no race underpinned their total dominance more than the 10,000.

While thousands of words have already been written and spoken about the graceful way the Dutch skaters glide their way around the rink, just two are needed to sum up what most of their competitors feel after they finish the 25-lap race.

They are printed in large black letters on the outside of a handful of little red plastic buckets and the labels need no explanation: "vomit bin".

Of the 14 entrants in Tuesday's race, only one felt nauseous enough to call for the bucket, the American teenager Emery Lehmann, but the mere fact they are needed at all says everything about the lung-bursting race.

Apart from the Dutch, all the competitors looked in agony when they finished. Gasping for air and with their faces a mask of pain, they could hardly lift their heads as they slowly drifted to a halt.

When they left the rink and returned to the warm-up area their legs appeared as stiff as wooden planks because of all the lactic acid that built up, then they crumbled to the floor and remained there until they caught their breath.

Germany's Patrick Beckert was just one of the skaters in a world of pain after he finished sixth, more than half a minute behind Bergsma.

"My stomach cramped and my legs started stiffening," he said. "And my body started weakening."

Knowing their prospects of winning a medal are remote, most competitors, who race in pairs against the clock, turn their heats into their own private races.

Long before the higher-seeded Dutch skaters came out, Lehmann and Russia's Yevgeny Seryatev staged a classic battle. With the crowd roaring them on, they went stride for stride for almost the whole way before lunging across the finish line together.

After 25 agonizing laps over 10,000m, just 0.07 seconds separated them, with the Russian getting the verdict to finish ninth, one place ahead of Lehmann, who then went in search of the bin.

"I was really happy that I didn't give the finish to the American," Seryatev said.

"I saw his blade at the finish line and tried to win the 'cold war'. After that, no one can say that the 10,000m is a boring race."

The pair embraced at the finish, displaying a mutual respect and camaraderie among the competitors that does not exist in a lot of the shorter races.

And now they have a united cause amid calls for the race to be ditched from the Olympics.

In recent years, the International Olympic Committee has made a number of changes to the Winter program in an attempt to make it more appealing to younger people.

Speculation about the 10,000 has intensified after one Russian and three Norwegian entrants pulled out to focus on the team pursuit, where at least two medals will be up for grabs with the Dutch only able to win one.

"I think that is absolutely crazy. People can speculate all they want and this conversation comes up every eight years or so, but I think more than anything, we have to re-evaluate how the programs are set up at the Olympics," said American Patrick Meek, who finished 11th.

"I can understand the Norwegians pulling out of the 10k to get ready for the pursuit, but maybe we need to look at how the days are structured.

"Some of the most iconic moments in speed skating were at the 10,000m. I think even suggesting we should do away with this race is completely insane."

(China Daily 02/20/2014 page24)