Yeah, tons of cross country has put them on top for now.

Well I'll admit that some of it involves speed-skating, yes.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/olympics/sochi-2014/netherlands/

Ah! It was Norway where the cross-country/biathlon/alpine skiing put them on top. My bad. Yeah, impressive speed skating there. I guess with Apolo Ohno not competing, you guys actually had a chance. :-)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/its-hard-to-beat-sven-kramer-and-the-dutch-speedskating-team-so-why-not-join-them/2014/02/08/7c31e4bc-90fe-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html

^This is also fun

For such a low country, that is pretty impressive... (doesn't help much when germany invades, but you know 'swings and roundabouts')

Ohno was never a competitor, since he was a shorttracker and not a speedskater. ;)

As usual, Ireland is stuck between Iran and Israel - keeping the world that little bit more peaceful :p

I think there should be bonus points for those island nations who don't really have much in the way of snow or mountains to practice on, yet get on with it without making a huge song and dance about it like a certain Caribbean nation I could mention.

But the Jamaicans have so much fun. They are the warm nations equivalent of the Netherlands.

Did they really have fun? They froze their bollocks off and did really shite in their event. Methinks the Disney department for rewriting history exceled themselves with that story.

I meant in general. They are a laid back and fun loving people.

Perhaps if they were a tad less laid back they would have done a bit more to tackle their obscene murder rate and shockingly poor treatment of LGBTs.

I said the people were laid back, not perfect.

I never suggested you thought they were perfect. What I am suggesting is when you measure them with the most rude yardstick of "Would you rather be a Yank or one of them?" and they are found wanting, it's hard to justify talking up the place.

Okay, that's all really interesting.

Let's go back to the topic at hand: how fantastic and important we Dutch people are.

The Dutch are great. I love Copenhagen and Tintin and Stella Artois :D

:D

Canada took the lead in the ranking again..

(One of many, many countries to separate from London to become so much more prosperous and happy than its former owner's citizens ;-) )

:D

Go Canada Go! Everyone here is glued to their TV's and computers :D

by the end of it Canada, Germany, USA and Russia will have the top 4 spots in the medal table. Preferably in the listed order.

"Would you rather be a Yank or one of them?" and they are found wanting, it's hard to justify talking up the place."

I have yet to hear of a country outside of the British Isles that you didn't find wanting, Octavious.

"One of many, many countries to separate from London to become so much more prosperous and happy than its former owner's citizens"

Except the Québécois :)

@ Putin

Then you've not been paying attention. I'm not calling Jamaica a hell hole, by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, I'd quite like to visit the place one day. I'm just drawing attention to the somewhat contradictory reputation the country has for being a laid back, intolerant, fun loving and highly violent society.

As far as America goes, it is on the list of decent countries I could imagine myself living in. It just isn't very high on that list. Definitely top 20 though.

Dutch don't have anything on Canada.

http://imgur.com/ZBqzKvD?tags

^

As shitty as Molson Canadian tastes, they make up for it by great promotion. That image is amazing.

"Then you've not been paying attention."

Because you're so cheery when it comes to your impressions of foreign lands?

Next Wednesday, 5000 m women, redhouse. Be there or be pussy.

(I just hope I won't lose another beer like on 3000 m)

well redhouse, your dutch are currently in second place, ahead of Canada, Russia, America and Norway.

YES

Netherlands: heated national debate about how their dominance might ultimately spell doom for the entire sport.

South Korea: there's always short track.

Norway: perhaps we shouldn't be sore losers

Rest of the world: what's speedskating and why does it have 12 disciplines? Wait, there's 8 more??!

All ice-skating and no play makes ulytau a dull boy.

Is speedskating like swimming, they just hand 500 more medals than any other sport so whatever country is good in it will be high on the medal chart?

That's right.
And I would like to make a case for including the Olympic equivalent of the Eleven Cities Tour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht): 200 km in a freezing cold stadium.

1/5th of all winter medals are in speedskating if we combine it with short track. Pretty much twice as much as the next in line, cross country skiing. Sven Kramer is really like a winter Phelps (though cooler).

They should make two hockey tournaments. NHL and European-sized rinks. And I say power to speed skating, let's events with mass starts. Maybe the action and crashes would attract other fans of droning on circuits, like NASCAR or track cycling. And also make clockwise races for those preffer right turns.

They could also make reverse skeleton and call it luge. Well...

How many cross country skiing events are there??

Too many, but here's the trip of trips for Ice-skating at this moment: the 10 km race. Favorite candidate: Sven Kramer, current world record holder at 12.41,69 minutes: in other words, an average of 47 km/h or 30 miles ph. He'll be the last one to ride. For ice skaters, this is the most prestigious tour.

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/speed-skating-men-s-10000-m

I'd watch tomorrow.

I vaguely recall William of Orange was a keen ice skater, but where I recall that from I have no idea.

Still, no event can be as ridiculous as the two man luge.

"They should make two hockey tournaments. NHL and European-sized rinks."
I would strongly support that, the North American and International hockey rules are also slightly different; icing rules, size of rink, size of goalies pads as some of the top of my head examples.

"Still, no event can be as ridiculous as the two man luge. "

That was pretty damned stupid.

"How many cross country skiing events are there??"

Sprint (freestyle this time), Team Sprint (classical this time), Classical, Skiathlon, Freestyle, Relay (both) × 2 (distances vary among sexes)

The skiathlon could be trimmed down since it's basically freestyle in disguise but changing the skis is a nice touch for spectators.

Speedskating is 500, 1000, 1500, 5000 (3000), 10000 (5000) metres + Team pursuit & Short track 500, 1000, 1500 metres + relay

Woohoo!

Results for the 10 km:

1. The Netherlands (Bergsma, Olympic Record 12.44,45)
2. The Netherlands (Kramer)
3. The Netherlands (De Jong)

Also, I believe we should invent an Olympic sport that would get this guy a gold medal:

http://www.nrc.nl/olympischespelen/files/2014/02/schaatsfans2-1024x741.jpg

He could be a clown at an ice rodeo. Have crazy Russians riding polar bears with that dude distracting the bear after the Russian finishes his 8 seconds or gets thrown off.

http://nos.nl/os2014/video/609109-koningspaar-beleeft-500-meter.html

Alright, everyone take a guess at who the cheering couple is :-)