You would say that when the Olympic qualifying tournament (OKT) for the Dutch skaters has ended, there will be clarity. About which skaters are qualified, at what distances they can compete, who will be able to try to win Olympic gold on behalf of the Netherlands at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in February.
Not so in the Netherlands, skating country. A selection procedure was set up there, resulting in loser Kjeld Nuis swearing at the assembled press on Monday and stomping past in anger on Tuesday, winner Joep Wennemars angry about Nuis’ behavior in recent days, and Tim Prins, the number three, not knowing whether to cheer or cry. “I’m just going through the tension of the past few days,” he said sarcastically.
What was going on? The men’s 1,500 meters was the final part of an OKT that was already ruled by emotions and in advance there seemed to be little going on. The selection order that the skating association had drawn up based on a calculation model and recent performances included eight male skaters at that time – and nine will soon be allowed to go to the Games.
But after Nuis, who was the first of the favorites, had pushed his skates over the line, his teammate Jenning de Boo, present as a spectator, scratched the back of his head with concern. Nuis’ time of 1.45.18 was not great – at the National Championships two months ago he was almost two seconds faster.
Prins immediately went under in the next stage (1.44.58), and in the last stage Joep Wennemars (1.43.43) and Tijmen Snel (1.44.33) were in turn faster than Prins. This meant that Nuis dropped to fourth place, and therefore fell out of the selection order for the 1,500 meters.
Three pointers
Due to the performance of Prins and Snel, there are now ten different skaters in the competition – Wennemars had already qualified for the 500 and 1,000 meters. One of those ten will soon not be allowed to participate – a committee of the skating association must now consider this. The KNSB has three designation places available to send skaters to the Games – although this will be at the expense of others.
“My first reaction after my race was to thank the public for their support today. But I was not immediately happy, and I still am not, because I am on the seesaw,” Prins said afterwards. That’s right: together with Marcel Bosker (who finished third in the 5,000 meters) and Jorrit Bergsma (second in the 10,000 meters), he forms the trio at the bottom of the selection order.
However, Bergsma, who is at the bottom, seems to be selected for the mass start and Bosker, second to last in the selection order, is an important part of the team pursuit. Prins is next on the list and would then be the child of the bill, but he did not simply accept that. “That is a team where you are not even sure whether they will compete for medals,” said Prins combatively. “I have also shown internationally that I can participate, so I don’t know whether they will just throw me out.”
To moan
Next to him, Joep Wennemars, one of the winners of this OKT with three tickets, on the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters, was excited about Nuis. “Kjeld has been complaining a lot about all kinds of things. He has never made an effort to change the rules, and when it is in his own interest, he starts talking.”
Wennemars talked about Nuis’s insults after his girlfriend, Joy Beune, missed out on an Olympic ticket on Monday for her favorite distance: the 1,500 meters at which she has been undefeated internationally for two years. Nuis then called the KNSB selection procedure “ridiculous shitty rules” and “big nonsense”. On Tuesday evening he walked straight out of the stadium after his failed 1,500 meters.
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“I also find it ridiculous that some skaters still have to prove themselves,” Wennemars agreed after the 1,500 meters Nuis. “But this is not the time to whine about it.” Wennemars was extremely annoyed by it and it gave him great satisfaction that he managed to beat his complaining competitor. “I was at the appointment today and now it has been decided.”
Wennemars called the current selection system “very good” for selecting the best skaters. But at the same time, he said, “it is inhuman under the pressure we have to perform. If I had been two-tenths of a second slower in the 1,000 meters yesterday, I would have been the loser.”
Not a nice memory
A little later, Tijmen Snel, who won an Olympic starting ticket as number two in the 1,500 meters, recalled how he also entered the selection order four years ago only to be kicked out by the KNSB in favor of another skater. This had to complement the team for the team pursuit.
“That sucked. Someone was then appointed for an element in which they did not even win a medal,” said Snel. At the time, he was told by a call from the KNSB that he was being pushed aside. “You dream of the Olympic Games, I put in a good performance at the OKT, and that is not rewarded. That was just not fun.”
Reigning Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis did not get further than fourth place in the 1,500 meters.
Photo Robin van Lonkhuijsen/ANP
It is now up to the KNSB selection committee, which will have to make a decision shortly. Next Monday, when the team presentation of the Dutch Olympic team is scheduled, the selection of long track skaters should be clear.
It may be the last time that the OKT ends this way. Because despite the mutual frustrations, it seemed in the tunnel under the ice of Thialf that most skaters are done with the current selection procedure. Prins said: “We have just had a tournament and based on that we have drawn up a selection order, which is there for a reason. If there are no people who have not qualified due to a calamity, then you should not start appointing skaters. Because then you might as well just randomly appoint skaters.”
“The fact that all old achievements offer no guarantees is actually too crazy for words,” said Wennemars, full of adrenaline. “But if we want to change it, and other people want that too, then we have to all talk about it after the Games.”
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