Last night at the Winter Olympics, Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer listened to his coach in the 10,000-meter race and changed lanes. Kramer is the world champion. He holds the record for the distance. He knows the event, but he listened to his coach.
His coach was wrong. The lane change was illegal, and Kramer lost the gold medal in the event to a disqualification that left him angry and in tears, flinging his glasses into the infield and demanding of his coach, Gerard Kemkers, “What did you do?!”
All involved have some pretty major speed skating DNA. Kramer’s father was a two-time Olympic speed skater and Kemkers won the bronze in the 5,000-meters in Calgary in 1988. He was understandably devasted, saying, “My world collapsed. This is a disaster. This is the worst moment in my career.” When the cameras panned to him last night, the man looked absolutely destroyed by his mistake.
Perhaps part of Kramer’s anger and frustration stemmed from an event four years ago when he fell during the team pursuit semifinals in Turin in 2006, leaving his team to claim only third place in the event.
The whole business is an interesting study in laying blame. There is no doubt, watching the video of the event, that Kramer blames Kemkers. In fact, he said so, “Usually, I don’t want to blame anyone else, I take responsibility as the skater on the ice. But this time I can’t do anything else.”
There is also the argument, however, that Kramer is far from inexperienced in the sport and should have known what he was doing. Speaking to this point he said, “I should have gone with my own thoughts, but I was brought into doubt.”
And therein lies the real culprit in any failed decision, doubt. In a split second, doubt outweighed experience and instinct and BOTH men made a bad decision — Kemker to call for a lane change and Kramer to do it. Sadly enough, however, I don’t see any evidence of forgiveness, on Kramer’s part for Kemker or on Kemker’s part for himself.
No doubt this intense emotionalism is due to the level and importance of the venue. But in the midst of all this talk about the “spirit” of the Olympics, what I would really have liked to see was Kramer shaking Kemker’s hand and saying, “What did WE do.”