TALES OF THE NBC COVERAGE OF 2006 TURIN OLYMPICS (WINTER):
First the fact that Shani Davis is the first black man to win an individual Winter Olympic gold medal ever. Then how there is racial tension that is focused on to create a media storyline of the supposed rivalry between him (black) and the other man Chad Hedrick (white) also known as Just Chad, so the NBC media team had to ‘balance’ the racial storyline and so turned its attention to the hug between Shani & Wennemars, who champions Shani who is actually championing tonight on Earth, out there on the next continent in some hotel room, championing. I back up my ‘media analysis’ with the following evidence from NBC Winter Olympic Bureau desk:
“Davis showed no immediate emotion after the last two skaters failed to beat his time. He was cooling down in the warmup lane, skating slowly with his arms behind his back.
Finally, he smiled and waved to the crowd, picking up a stuffed bear that a fan tossed on the ice. As he came to the other end of the rink, Davis found Wennemars waiting. The friendly rivals gave each other a big hug in front of the orange-clad, predominantly Dutch crowd, prompting the biggest cheer of the night.
“I like him as a person, I like him as a speedskater,” Wennemars said. “What the United States thinks about him doesn’t matter because Shani is the Olympic champion, so he is right.”
http://www.nu.nl/turijn.jsp for the real deal, and a video that i can’t see
but let’s just reflect on the dutch victory: skating is in the dutch blood. and that is how they that have been skating on the canals for centuries and centuries integrate outsiders: as soon as the canals freeze they herd us into a square, and strap skates on our feet. it really doesn’t matter if you’re recently from morocco or somewhere else warm and this sort of thing gets in the way of your personal fitness goals or even your headscarf, you have to do it. once prepared you have to skate all the way around the randstad (circle of important dutch cities).