荷蘭躍升至索契冬奧會獎牌榜榜首

In Sochi, the Dutch Are Dominating the Overall Olympic Medal Count

荷蘭躍升至索契冬奧會獎牌榜榜首

Everyone sick of watching the Dutch win speedskating medals, please raise your hand.

Hmm. Seems like everyone who isn't wearing orange underwear has a hand in the air.

Ah, Sochi, land of February sun, snow as wet and heavy as a soaking wash cloth, and the Netherlands winning the overall medal race!

This is absurd. The Netherlands has about 15 million people. They are competitive in a single Winter Olympic sport. Sunday brought more domination, as the Dutch swept the podium in speedskating's women's 1,500 meters. The Netherlands had 17 medals at day's end on Sunday, one more than the U.S. and Russia; 16 of those 17 have come in long-track speedskating. (The other? Short-track speedskating.)

Don't worry--the Netherlands won't win the medal race. But the Dutch sure are making the usual Winter Games powerhouses green with envy with seven days to go.

Give them credit: The Dutch have chosen one of the few sports that a country of the Netherlands' size could dominate, since only about five nations are even competitive in speedskating. The U.S.--which was very competitive in speedskating until this year, when it became obsessed with its wardrobe--only has a couple thousand competitive skaters of any age.

If the Winter Games are about being opportunistic, then the Dutch deserve the gold medal for opportunism. The Netherlands should enjoy this moment of Olympic supremacy, even if it doesn't last another 24 hours.

What has allowed the Dutch to reign supreme, at least temporarily, has been a full-on cratering by Norway (14 medals). For a second consecutive day, the Norwegians finished out of the medals in a cross-country relay.

At least when the U.S. finishes out of the medals in a track relay at the Summer Games, someone drops a baton. There is no baton in cross-county skiing, and no such misfortune. Norway has just been awful this weekend at the Nordic center. Norwegian Martin Sundby, who seemed to win just about every race he entered before the Olympics, has a single bronze here.

This is cause for a national crisis in Norway, where a very expensive ski-wax program is catching heat. After all, there can't be any human reason why Norway doesn't win every biathlon and cross country medal, can there?

'I feel sorry for them,' said Kjetil Jansrud, Norway's newest Alpine hero, of his Nordic sports countrymen.

Jansrud was the lone bright star for Norway on Sunday, skiing a magical run in super-G to win the gold medal. The U.S. took silver and bronze, which vaulted the team into its second-place overall tie with Russia.

Russia is doing what the home team is supposed to do. Look for the U.S. and Russia to end up in a dogfight for the overall medal title--presuming their top athletes can begin doing like the Dutch and win when they are supposed to win.

That is a big 'if.' If there is one thing that these Olympic Games have lacked, it has been a plethora of great performances by big names. Russia's Evgeni Plushenko pulled out of figure skating. Norway's Emil Svendsen can't win a biathlon race. Skier Ted Ligety of the U.S. has botched two events in which he is the reigning world champ. All could use some Dutch lessons.

看荷蘭隊在索契冬奧會速滑項目上奪獎牌已經(jīng)看到厭煩的人請舉手!

嗯，沒穿桔黃色內(nèi)衣的人好像都舉手了。

啊，索契，2月里艷陽高照，潮濕厚重的雪地彷佛浸泡待洗的衣物，荷蘭躍至冬奧會獎牌榜第一。

這太不合理了。荷蘭只是一個有著大約1,500萬人口的小國，而他們在冬奧會上的優(yōu)勢項目也只有一個。周日荷蘭隊的優(yōu)勢得到進一步鞏固，包攬了女子1,500米速滑比賽的金銀銅牌。當天比賽結(jié)束時，荷蘭隊的獎牌總數(shù)達到了17塊，比美國和俄羅斯各多一塊;其中有16塊來自長道速滑項目。剩下的一塊呢?來自短道速滑項目。

不要擔心，冬奧會賽程還有七天，荷蘭人不會一直占據(jù)獎牌榜首位，但他們的表現(xiàn)確實已經(jīng)讓那些傳統(tǒng)強隊嫉妒不已。

荷蘭隊之所以能夠異軍突起，要歸功于他們選擇了為數(shù)不多的一個像荷蘭這樣大的國家能夠占據(jù)主導優(yōu)勢的體育項目，索契冬奧會上參加速滑比賽的國家只有大約五個。在今年之前(今年美國隊把精力放在了衣櫥上)，美國隊在該項目上曾經(jīng)很有實力，但今年在各個年齡有實力的滑冰運動員都只有兩千名左右。

如果冬奧會拿獎牌是靠運氣，那么荷蘭隊一定是“運氣榜”的頭名。荷蘭人應(yīng)當享受在獎牌榜上占得鰲頭的時刻，哪怕這一刻可能在下一個24個小時就被終結(jié)。

荷蘭代表隊能夠(至少目前)在獎牌榜上大放光彩，還要“歸功于”挪威代表隊(目前獲得14枚獎牌)的不佳表現(xiàn)。挪威運動員已經(jīng)連續(xù)第二個比賽日在一項越野滑雪賽中無獎而歸。

如果說美國運動員在夏季奧運會接力賽上失利是因為有人掉落了接力棒，那么對于沒有接力棒的越野滑雪賽事來說，挪威代表隊在周日比賽上的失利純粹是表現(xiàn)不佳所致了。挪威運動員松德比(Martin Sundby)在本屆冬奧會前幾乎橫掃了所參加賽事的全部桂冠，然而此次他只贏得了一枚銅牌。

比賽成績欠佳導致挪威國內(nèi)一片慌亂。畢竟找不出什么人為原因可以解釋挪威為何沒能包攬冬季兩項和越野滑雪的全部獎牌。

挪威新晉跳臺滑雪選手賈斯魯?shù)?Kjetil Jansrud)談到祖國的運動員時說，我為他們感到遺憾。

賈斯魯?shù)率窃谥苋召愂轮形ㄒ徽频呐餐x手，他在超級大回轉(zhuǎn)比賽中贏得金牌。兩位美國選手分獲該項賽事的銀、銅牌，這使美國和俄羅斯并列獎牌總榜第二名。

俄羅斯運動員發(fā)揮了東道主應(yīng)有的水平。美俄兩國代表隊或?qū)楠勁瓶偘裰徽归_激烈角逐。當然前提是兩支隊伍的頂尖運動員能有荷蘭選手那樣的優(yōu)異表現(xiàn)，并在應(yīng)該奪牌的項目中奪牌。

但這只不過是一個大前提。如果說本屆冬奧會有一個缺憾，那就是頂尖選手沒能大面積取得好成績。俄羅斯花樣滑冰選手普魯申科(Evgeni Plushenko)退賽。挪威冬季兩項運動員斯文森(Emil Svendsen)未能摘金。美國滑雪世界冠軍利蓋蒂(Ted Ligety)在兩項賽事中失利。而所有這些都可以借鑒荷蘭人的經(jīng)驗。