8/14/2019 The Daily Dutch International #17 from Vancouver | 02/27/10

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February 27, 2010 | number 17 The Dutch newspaper in Olympic Vancouver

It took us 46 years, but nally the Dutch dont have to call the Netherlands a ska-

ting nation anymore. Nicolien Sauerbreij took the honours, as she won the Dutch

fourth gold medal in the snowboard parallel giant slalom. Her win was celebrated

twice: once in BC Place where she received her medal and, of course, in the Hol-

land Heineken House. This medal was a landmark, being the Dutch hundredth gol

medal in the history of the summer and winter Olympic games. Photo: ANP

e men of Team Canada dont have towait four years for a rematch against TeamUSA. Tomorrow, the neighbours collideagain in the gold medal match of the hoc-key tournament. In the seminal, Canadamade it a close call against Slovakia. Aftera 3-0 lead, Slovakia got two goals back,but couldnt tie the game. In the other se-minal, USA beat Finland 6-1, USA sco-ring all their six goals in the rst period.

Photo: ANP

Canada and USready to rumble

More than just skating

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With the women o Canada winning silver, andthe men being in the curling fnal as well, onequestion arises: why isnt there a Dutch curlingteam present? Te Daily Dutchwent to the Hol-land Heineken House or some valuable inor-mation.

By Mathijs Vuister

During the last European championship for B-countries, the Netherlands ended up in rst (men)and second (women). So during the next EC, bothteams will curl their stones against Norway, Great-Britain and Switzerland. But until now, no Dutchcurling team has made it to the Olympic games.I really dont understand why, Evert from the Ne-therlands says. He and his girlfriend Jeanine thinkcurling could be very interesting for their country.Its all the fault of speed skating, soccer and natio-nal television. Even when Nicolien Sauerbreij wonthe gold, we still had to watch the team speed ska-ting team pursuit, instead of Sauerbreij celebrating.

2 The Daily Dutch International

Curling is just a social gameats really strange.But how can we get more kids into curling? Acording to Evert, it all starts at school. When thgo to elementary school, the kids already makdecision about what kind of sport they want to pCurling is hardly ever mentioned, because socctennis and hockey are the most common sports

the Dutch Curling Federation puts some eortit, curling could become a much bigger sport in Netherlands.Canadian friends Matt, Luke and Steve give Dutch some more tips. You could compare cling to what is bowling for your country: a socgame. Not only is it played on a professional levfamilies and friends play it as well. But, most of time, beer is involved.e three do have one good advice. Make sure yhave enough places to play it. Here in Richmothere are several places where you can do some cling. Just nd some spots in the Netherlands whyou can do it, and within no time youll be at tOlympics. We can guarantee you that.

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).

Colophon The Daily Dutch

The international edition of The Daily Dutch is made by

students from the School of Journalism in Utrecht,

The Netherlands

ProgrammeToday

8.30 pm - De Coronas

10.30 pm - Ben Liebrand

11.30 pm - DJ until closing time (2.00 am)

Tomorrow9.00 am - Holland Heineken House opens

8.00 pm - Holland Heineken House closes

Within a time of 45 minutes, Canadianshort tracker Charles Hamelin gave hiscountry two occasions to cheer. First, the ol-dest member of the Hamelin brothers won

the 500 meter event in a race that was lledwith a big crash. Half an hour later, Hamelindid it again. Together with his brother Fran-cois, Oliver Jean and Francois-Louis Trem-blay he won the 5000 meter relay. Canadabeat former Olympic champion South Ko-rea and the United States.

Crashes or relay,Hamelin doesnt care

Germany has taken a huge part of the alpineskiing medals. Maria Riesch added gold to

her record. After winning the super-com-bined title, Riesch also took the gold in theslalom event, ahead of Marlies Schild of Au-stria and Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Re-public. Together with Viktoria Rebensburgsvictory in the giant slalom, the total standson three gold.

Riesch new queen ofalpine skiing

After winning one in Nagano in 98, four inSalt Lake City in 02, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen

won another gold medal. In the 4 x 7.5 ki-lometer team pursuit, he led the Norwegianteam to their fth medal in biathlon eventsat the Olympic winter games in Vancouver.ree of those medals were made out of solidgold.

Bjoerndalen getsgold number six

A ull stadium awaits her arrival. Still, NicolienSauerbreij has to wait a little while beore she canenter the stage. When the celebrations at Whis-tler Mountain are over, she can fnally pick upher gold medal.

By Mathijs Vuister

ere she goes, anked by an Austrian and a Rus-sian. An orange hat partly covers her blond hair,in a Dutch tracksuit, and a smile from ear to ear.

When she enters, the Canadians dont bother tostand up. Nevertheless, orange tufts rise up. For

just a moment, this isnt Canada, but a little pieceof Holland.

ere she stands, behind the highest spot of thepodium. Takes a while, an Olympic medal celebra-tion. She has to wait forever, because bronze andsilver will be awarded rst. She applauds nicely forher opponents. But she cant wait, she wants to beon her spot as well.ere she jumps, full of joy. Finally, she receivesthe thing she has worked for all those years. Toge-ther with her father Maarten and her support teamshe traveled all around the world. If she could ndsome snow, she would practice her turns. Every sin-gle day, but hardly ever in Holland. And right now,IOC member Maria Casada stands in front of her,

with the perfect reward.ere she sighs, heavily. e rst few bars of thenational anthem must do something to her. Willshe think about her rst two Olympics? About that

waxer from Austria, about the big lead she hadagainst Amelie Kober in 2006? Or is it the victory

that gives her a special feeling? She heard the athem many times, but never in an arena this bigere she poses, for everybody. With her oppnents, biting the medal, with one nger in the aToday, nothing matters. A volunteer from BC plurges her to leave the stage, but she doesnt wantgo. Its my moment, let me be, she thinks. Tday, nobody takes this away from me.ere she shines. She poses one nal to the crowand then she leaves. Up to the Holland HeinekHouse for another celebration. Today, she doescare. She has her medal, and thats a reason to shi

BC Place belongs toNicolien Sauerbreij

Photo: A