Quote:
Originally Posted by cadence90
Wherever it is, the NED Olympic Champions Long Track Speed Skating Hall Of Fame must be one hell of a place. It is incredible how they develop so many medalists, generation after generation. And almost all of them seem to compete with a real joy. It is wonderful.
Besides their obvious dominance in the historical medal count, this statistic is also impressive:
In the history of Olympic Long Track Speed Skating, there have been 11 podium sweeps as of today. Of those 11, 6 are NED.
And: "The Netherlands' positions at the 2014 Winter Olympics women's 1500 meters is the first, and only, time in Olympic speed skating history that athletes from one country have taken positions 1, 2, 3 and 4".
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I agree, that is amazing. Some sports are just so absolutely popular in certain countries that such an outcome happens (see Germany - luge).
But the Netherlands successes in sports are admirable on many levels, just think of football (soccer for you), a sport that is not as exclusive to NL as speed skating. The nation, which has as many inhabitants as Osaka has (17Mio), participated in 3 world cup finals and won one EC, in addition to many victories at club level.
Speaking of speed skating, today
Claudia Pechstein (D) participated and came in on 8th overall. Pechstein has won 5 gold medals in her career, the first in Lillehammer 1994. She will be 46 years old next week.