Olympic Gold Seekers Hindered by Green Foolery

By Marc Sheppard

You may have heard that the men’s 500-meter speedskating event was delayed for over an hour at Monday night’s Olympics. What you probably didn’t hear was exactly why irate skaters, coaches and fans were forced to sit around waiting for the ice to be prepared. It seems that in their zeal to be “environmentally friendly,” the Vancouver Olympic Committee decided to replace the familiar and decades-proven propane-fueled ice-resurfacers, known to ice-sport fans worldwide as Zambonis, with a prototype electric model.

And, as with most business decisions clouded by liberal pressure to “go green,” this turned out to be a bad one.

On Sunday, the women’s 3,000-meter was delayed when one if the green machines dumped water and snow 20-meters from the inside lane’s finishing line. But that was a minor inconvenience compared to Monday, when complaints that the eco-friendly machines had left a huge puddle and visible grooves in the ice brought the proceedings to a crashing halt.

Dutch national team coach Wopke de Vegt was among those complaining even prior to these mishaps that the electric resurfacers were simply unable to keep the ice consistent from one day to the next. Who can blame him? How can champions be crowned or records be booked when the playing field is anything short of even?

Explained chief ice-maker Mark Messer in a Canadian Press interview:

''It's a prototype machine. You're always going to get a few bumps and bruises. It's just unfortunate that it happened this time.''

Unfortunate? Surely other words come to mind when the decision is made to depend upon untested technology for the sole purpose of bolstering the silly green agenda. Particularly for such a momentous event attended by over 80 countries and viewed by tens of millions worldwide daily.

Fortunately, following the 500-meter debacle, the inanity finally sunk in and priorities were quickly realigned. Yesterday, Venue Operations Manager Magnus Enfeldt made the decision to “take the necessary steps” to save the remaining skating events by rushing one of those “environmentally unfriendly” yet ever-faithful gas-powered Zambonis in from Calgary post-haste.

Of course, there’s a lesson to be learned here about replacing time-proven demand-meeting energy technologies with those fueled exclusively by quixotic fantasy.

Unfortunately, such edification will no doubt be lost on those most desperately in need of it.