Everyone sick of watching the Dutch win speedskating medals, please raise your hand.
Hmm. Seems like everyone who isn't wearing orange underwear has a hand in the air.
Ah, Sochi, land of February sun, snow as wet and heavy as a soaking wash cloth, and the Netherlands winning the overall medal race!
Don't worry--the Netherlands won't win the medal race. But the Dutch sure are making the usual Winter Games powerhouses green with envy with seven days to go.
Give them credit: The Dutch have chosen one of the few sports that a country of the Netherlands' size could dominate, since only about five nations are even competitive in speedskating. The U.S.--which was very competitive in speedskating until this year, when it became obsessed with its wardrobe--only has a couple thousand competitive skaters of any age.
If the Winter Games are about being opportunistic, then the Dutch deserve the gold medal for opportunism. The Netherlands should enjoy this moment of Olympic supremacy, even if it doesn't last another 24 hours.
What has allowed the Dutch to reign supreme, at least temporarily, has been a full-on cratering by Norway (14 medals). For a second consecutive day, the Norwegians finished out of the medals in a cross-country relay.
At least when the U.S. finishes out of the medals in a track relay at the Summer Games, someone drops a baton. There is no baton in cross-county skiing, and no such misfortune. Norway has just been awful this weekend at the Nordic center. Norwegian Martin Sundby, who seemed to win just about every race he entered before the Olympics, has a single bronze here.
This is cause for a national crisis in Norway, where a very expensive ski-wax program is catching heat. After all, there can't be any human reason why Norway doesn't win every biathlon and cross country medal, can there?
'I feel sorry for them,' said Kjetil Jansrud, Norway's newest Alpine hero, of his Nordic sports countrymen.
Jansrud was the lone bright star for Norway on Sunday, skiing a magical run in super-G to win the gold medal. The U.S. took silver and bronze, which vaulted the team into its second-place overall tie with Russia.
Russia is doing what the home team is supposed to do. Look for the U.S. and Russia to end up in a dogfight for the overall medal title--presuming their top athletes can begin doing like the Dutch and win when they are supposed to win.
That is a big 'if.' If there is one thing that these Olympic Games have lacked, it has been a plethora of great performances by big names. Russia's Evgeni Plushenko pulled out of figure skating. Norway's Emil Svendsen can't win a biathlon race. Skier Ted Ligety of the U.S. has botched two events in which he is the reigning world champ. All could use some Dutch lessons.