February 14, 2010 | number 4 The Dutch newspaper in Olympic Vancouver

Kramer steamin’ hot

With the pressure rising to boiling point, Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer delivered Olympics on the very first day, it looks like Kramer’s quest as a golddigger isn’t over
in spectacular fashion. With a new Olympic record of 6:14.60 the Dutch favorite yet. “All the breaks are off,” Kramer said to an euphoric orange crowd in the Holland
showed that he is able to keep his composure. Winning his first gold medal at the Heineken House. Photo: Sander Stoepker

No medal race
for short track
The Dutch short track team has not been
able to make it into the medal races. At
the men’s 1500 meter race Sjinkie Knegt
and Niels Kerstholt both made it throu-
gh the first round, but finished fifth and
seventh in their semis. The ladies 3000
meter relay team finished third in their
semi-final. Van Doorn also participated
in the 500 meter individual, but didn’t
make it to the semi final. Photo: ANP
 2 The Daily Dutch International
First for Vancouver,
third for Ammann
Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann was the first
who had a reason to celebrate.Yesterday he
won the first gold medal of the 21th Olympics
at the normal hill event in Whistler Olympic
Park. For Ammann, it’s his third gold medal,
after winning two during the ’02 games in Salt
Lake City. Adam Malysz also won his third
medal at the Olympic games. After bronze and
silver in 2002, he added a second silver medal
to his credit. The Austrian Gregor Schlieren-
zauer took the bronze.
Hannah Kearney
ruins Canadian party
For a little while, it looked like Jennifer Heil
was going to win the first gold medal for Ca-
nada on home soil during the moguls final. The
American Hannah Kearney left the more then
12.000 Canadian fans on Cypress Mountain in
tears when she just beat the top favorite for
the gold. Heil, who won the gold medal at the
2006 Olympics, had to settle for silver.
Canada all the way
With a record setting score of 18-0 the wo-
men from Team Canada left Slovakia no chance.
Jayna Hefford and Meghan Agosta scored three
goals each. The Slovakians, who only have 263
registered players, where outshot 67 to 9.
Programme
Today
9.00 am - Holland Heineken House opening
8.30 pm - The Coronas
9.45 pm - DJ
10.30 pm - Performance by Jan Smit
11.30 pm - DJ until closing time
Tomorrow
8.30 pm - The Coronas
9.45 pm - DJ
10.30 pm - Performance by Nick & Simon
11.30 om - DJ until closing time
Colophon The Daily Dutch
Tobias Bos, Pim Brassien, Twan Clarijs, Richard
Geeve, Marlot Hak, Paul de Lange (coordinator),
Rens Lieman, Gert-Jan Peddemors (coordinator),
Marjolein Reezigt (lay-out), Ingrid van Rooijen,
Femke van der Veen, Mathijs Vuister (editor).
The international edition of The Daily Dutch is made by
students from the School of Journalism in Utrecht,
The Netherlands
A sit-in for Kramer’s
first quest for gold
It looked like hundreds of Dutch fans organized
a non-violent protest. Actually, they came toge-
ther to watch the first speed skating event. The
Dutch stayed calm, until Sven Kramer arrived.
Door Mathijs Vuister
Nobody knew who started it. Just before the start of
the 5.000 meter race, all of a sudden visitors from
the Holland Heineken House sat down. Totally
calm they looked at the first six races and talked
about one thing only: would Sven Kramer be able
to handle the pressure on his shoulders of a whole
nation expecting the gold medal?
“It’s not the first time people sit on the floor,” Tho-
mas Scheepens says. The man from The Hague was
also present at the Turin games in 2006. “The best
thing about this place is the space you have here. The
size of the Medal Ceremony Hall can’t be compared
with the one in Italy. Because of the size, people are
able to find a spot to watch the event easily.”
And so they do. The Dutch, all of them covered in
orange sweaters, hats or shirts, find their own spot
in the room. With a croquette sandwich in one
hand and a beer in the other they’re ready for Kra-
mer to take on Shani Davis.
When the first Dutch competitor Jan Blokhuijsen
Visitor of the day
‘My sign has been everywhere’
Speed skating only for the northern part
of the Netherlands? “No way,” says Leonie
Stans from Geleen, a city in the southern
province Limburg. She walks around like a
superstar with the name of her hometown
on a wooden sign. “Everywhere I go Geleen
goes with me.”
By Mathijs Vuister
Are you a proud resident of Geleen?
Cretainly. I made this sign for the Dutch Carnaval’
in 2008. Since then, Geleen is present on every
big event where I go. My sign and me were there
during the last European soccer championship and
at several music festivals. And from today, Geleen is
also present in the Holland Heineken House.
You’re sad missing out on Carnaval this year
Missing out on Carnaval is not that terrible when
you can be at the Olympic games. I started prepa-
ring for this trip over a year ago, when we needed
to arrange the tickets. And now that I am finally in
Richmond, I’m really going to enjoy it. So I won’t
cry one tear for missing Carnaval this year.
gets ready, the crowd wakes up. The first cheers are
definitely audible and when the Dutchman finishes
with the best time, smiles appear on several faces.
Menno and Martijn van der Voort from Lelystad
are one of the very few Dutch visitors who are not
wearing any orange. “We stay with friends in Sur-
rey, so it took us over an hour to get here. Because
of the hurry, we forgot to put on our costumes.
Don’t worry, next time we will dress ourselves ac-
cording to Dutch standard.”
The two brothers come in particular for the Speed
Skating events. “We follow all the speed skating
tournaments on television. It’s our dad to blame.
He taught us two things: soccer and speed skating.”
When Kramer arrives, the sit-in ends immediately.
With every lap, the crowd gets more restless, chee-
ring him on. But the Dutch fans get a little anxious
when they see the time. It isn’t his best ever on the
Richmond Olympic Oval, and three pairs were still
to follow.
But as soon as the Norwegian Harvard Bøkko
crosses the finish line, everybody is standing. The
Dutch go wild and even lots of Canadians are cele-
brating with them.
On the first day of competition, the Netherlands
have their first gold medal. Perhaps more sit-ins will
help the cause.
Photo:Tobias Bos
Are you only here for the speed skating
events?
I do have tickets for two speed skating events, but
that’s not the most important. I’m a real hockey
fan, and will go to several hockey games. Thank
goodness that I was able to get some tickets
before I left. My friends and I got tickets for the
bronze medal match. I hope to see Canada play.
On the other hand, I hope Canada goes all the way.
That’s something I’m really looking forward to.