Dutchies Do The Winter Olympics

Prior to Christmas, Chris very lovingly and unselfishly encouraged me to use some of our air miles and fly back to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. I spent four glorious weeks in February taking in the Olympic atmosphere, enjoying the beautiful Vancouver weather, and visiting with my family and close friends. We had obtained a number of tickets to various Olympic events in a draw that had taken place for Canadian residents a year prior to the Games, so it was nice to have the opportunity to use some of them!

Being born and raised in Canada, my loyalties will always remain with my native country when it comes to cheering for athletes at mass sporting events; however, this blog is about our adventures in the Netherlands so I thought I would take a different angle and share my observations of the Dutch athletes and fans at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far...

I couldn't help but notice that even at the Winter Olympics, thousands of kilometers away from Holland, the Dutchies couldn't live without their bicycles. NS, the national railway, had shipped hundreds of bikes to Canada and set up booths (see photo above) where Dutch athletes and coaches could pick one up and ride it to and from the Richmond Olympic Oval (speed skating venue) to the Athletes Village to the Holland Heineken House, etc. I wonder how the Dutchies did riding on all those Vancouver hills? Probably pretty good...they are world class athletes after all!

The Dutch Y Speed Skating


This is probably not a shock, but Dutchies LOVE their speed skating. I would say long track speed skating is practically their national sport next to cycling, field hockey and darts! The first event I was able to see at the Olympics was the Women's 1000m Speed Skating Final. Although Canadians still dominated the crowds, there was a very large contingent of Dutch fans all dressed in orange - a few of whom were seated next to me and had flown all the way to Vancouver from the Netherlands to watch as many speed skating events as possible (when they were not partying at the Holland Heineken House of course!).

Canada's Christine Nesbitt won gold at this event by a mere two hundredths of a second, followed by Dutch skaters winning silver and bronze. The Dutch are so fanatical about their speed skating, there were even news reports in Holland that Nesbitt's win was practically a Dutch win since she's currently dating Dutch speed skater, Simon Kuipers. That's a bit of a stretch in my opinion, but if that's what's needed to be said in order to console themselves for not winning gold, I understand.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

For the Netherlands, the Winter Olympics were filled with some shocking wins and some ugly losses. Dutch snowboarder, Nicolien Sauerbreij, surprised even her own country by winning the Women's Parallel Giant Slalom Snowboard Final at the Olympics. This was a shock since the Netherlands is not known for strong snowboarders. Perhaps the fact that the country is as flat as a pancake has something to do with that. Nevertheless, Nicolien won gold and made Dutchies proud all over the world.


Along with some unexpected wins, the Netherlands also faced some major disappointments this Winter Olympics. The first one came when Annette Garritsen uncharacteristically fell during her 500m speed skating race. Annette was one of Holland's gold medal hopefuls in women's speed skating and Dutchies were shocked and horrified when her fall on the last turn of the race eliminated her from a medal in that particular distance.


However, the far bigger disappointment came with the disqualification of Dutch speed skating idol, Sven Kramer. Prior to the Olympics, Sven was the "it" guy on the Dutch speed skating team and was expected to win gold in every race he skated in. His boyish good looks also made him the poster boy for every consumer product known to man, meaning his face was plastered on every tram and bus stop across Holland leading up to the Games. Shock and horror resulted across Holland when, in his 10,000m race, Sven made a drastic error by listening to his coach and switching lanes on the wrong lap. This mistake was enough to disqualify him from the race and eliminate his winning time and Olympic record. It was a national heartbreak and one that was analyzed and scrutinized endlessly by Dutch media and fans around the world. The skating boy wonder had not delivered but at least Dutch bread and deodorant sales were their highest ever!

Crazy National Pride

Some of you may already know this, but Dutchies get a little crazy when it comes to supporting their country. In terms of dressing up in orange, there is really no costume that's too absurd. In fact, the weirder the better! The Olympics were no different as we witnessed Dutch national pride at its best. Hilarious costumes and Kleintje Pils (a Dutch brass band entertaining the speed skating crowd) ensured Dutch pride was very much alive and well at the Games.

The Holland Heineken House, claimed to be the best party at the Olympics, also drew in huge crowds each day with entrance lines up to five hours long. Apparently, Dutch national pride was infectious and everyone wanted to get in on the action.


If the costumes and parties I witnessed in Vancouver are anything close to what we will be experiencing this upcoming Friday at our first Queen's Day celebration in Amsterdam, then it's going to be insane! We can't wait!