Ik hou het erop dat het artikel nou niet echt handig was en het beter verwoord zou kunnen zijn, maar dat de reactie van Van der Poel totaal overdreven was. Om nou te zeggen dat wat advies over een goede ijsvloer nog erger is dan het systematisch doping toedienen door bijvoorbeeld Rusland (in Sochi) slaat echt nergens op. Ik was fan van Nils maar nu hoop ik dat iemand anders de 10 wint.
Exaggerated? At this point I don't think he's exaggerated at all. Nils said that the tampering with ice conditions is outrageous but nowhere did he mention that it was more serious than systematic doping. In fact, he mentioned both as great problems for skating, but since the context of the discussion was directed towards the matter of ice conditions, it may seem like he emphasised one problem over the other. Which is a wrong assumption, knowing Nils that had spoken about doping after his own accusations after his WR more than once.
He did choose loud words but at this point someone had to say it. Here on this forum there was a lot of discussion over making the conditions more favourable to everyone by bringing them closer to those of Thialf. But the issue is... What
are the
actual Thialf conditions? Its not some universal standard that is maintained at all times.
I spoke to Mart Markus, Alex Luik and Saskia Alusalu in the meantime. You may know the latter very well. The former is our national coach and Alex was in the team for a number of years. They have been to Thialf many times at camps and competitions alike. According to all three of them, they all witnessed how the ice conditions were tailored to the taste of Sven Kramer. Whether it was too soft or too hard was decided on the basis of his own opinion.
Prejudice and bullshit, one may say. Pure hearsay. Yet Saskia knew addressing this would result in nothing. According to Mart, they tried but all allegations were dismissed the same way KNSB dismissed Nils today. And I believe them. I really do.
Speed skating is very complex. Dismissing one very serious issue as 'less important' or less impactful will do
no good to the sport in the long run.