Hall of Fail: Sven Kramer’s Speed Skating 10,000 Meter Blunder Costs Him a Gold Medal

Posted by By Sports Session at 24 February, at 10 : 06 AM Print

Sven Kramer, the speed skating skating sensation from the Netherlands who earlier had won the 5,000 meters at the Richmond Oval, did the unthinkable: skate the last eight laps of the 10,000 meters in the same lane as Russia’s: Ivan Skobrev.

Sven, how could you? How could you have thrown away the gold medal by failing to change lanes and skate on the inside when you were supposed to be on the outside? It’s one of the biggest mistakes ever in sports.

In his defense he had help not the only one that ruined it for himself, he had assistance from his coach Gerard Kemkers. Kemkers gave Kramer the wrong information about which lane he needed to be in en route to his Pyrrhic victory.  Disastrous coaching. Disastrous skating. It all adds up to…a disqualification. If this doesn’t make you the laughingstock of Dutch speed skating, Sven Kramer, I don’t know what will.

The worst part about all of this is that the Olympics only come around once every four years, so Kramer will have four years to think about this and stew over it.  In the Netherlands where speed skating is as popular as football is in this country, I would avoid going out in public too much if I were Kemkers.  But telling an athlete the wrong lane to be in is just inexcusable, so as a result I am inducting Sven Kramer and Gerard Kemkers into the Sports Session Hall of Fail.  Welcome to the hall fellas!!!

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