What are you talking about?

bt

No need to flame you. Didn't Kris Freeman have a fourth a few
years ago?

Gene

" wrote:

You guy's, flame me all you want, but KR had the best American
individual result since Kochie. What? It doesn't count because she's
from Alaska...or is it that sprint races aren't a 'true' event? or
maybe you guys are sexist?

Oh, I forgot Nancy Fiddler, who I believe had a fourth or fifth before
she retired. And she hadn't reached her prime. It's very American to
have a short memory and brag about coming in last place, in this case
10th.

Gene

" wrote:

You guy's, flame me all you want, but KR had the best American
individual result since Kochie. What? It doesn't count because she's
from Alaska...or is it that sprint races aren't a 'true' event? or
maybe you guys are sexist?

Gene, et al.

Norway is far more disappointed, as a nation and a ski community. The
U.S. and the U.S. ski community is content with mediocre.

I have been traveling out of the country for 6 months, and made the
mistake of reading this site upon my return. Have to clarify some
history for you.

Fiddler had a 4th or 5th - in a relay leg - she never finished better
than 14th in the Olympics. She had several top 20's in WC races, and
is truly one of the tops for US historically, with at least 14 national
champs, very close to Nina Kemppel's record of nat'l champs. We could
use a few of their caliber right now.

Prior to Randall's ninth in the 2006 Oly sprint, the best female US
finish in an Oly race was Kemppel, 14th in the 30k in 2002. Team mates
at APUNSC (aka Gold 2002) by the way until Nina retired.

I am really puzzled by your statement: ". It's very American to
have a short memory and brag about coming in last place, in this case
10th." What in the world are you talking about?

By the way, Why did Team Today pull their comments feature?

Gene Goldenfeld wrote:
Oh, I forgot Nancy Fiddler, who I believe had a fourth or fifth before
she retired. And she hadn't reached her prime. It's very American to
have a short memory and brag about coming in last place, in this case
10th.

Gene

" wrote:

You guy's, flame me all you want, but KR had the best American
individual result since Kochie. What? It doesn't count because she's
from Alaska...or is it that sprint races aren't a 'true' event? or
maybe you guys are sexist?

"desi" wrote:

Gene, et al.

Norway is far more disappointed, as a nation and a ski community. The
U.S. and the U.S. ski community is content with mediocre.

I have been traveling out of the country for 6 months, and made the
mistake of reading this site upon my return. Have to clarify some
history for you.

Prior to Randall's ninth in the 2006 Oly sprint, the best female US
finish in an Oly race was Kemppel, 14th in the 30k in 2002. Team
mates at APUNSC (aka Gold 2002) by the way until Nina retired.

I am really puzzled by your statement: ". It's very American to
have a short memory and brag about coming in last place, in this
case 10th." What in the world are you talking about?


Welcome back, Desi. Check the front page of any newspaper for a
perspective on American memory (of course, memory is related to age,
ethnic/national background and study of history). In cross-country
skiing, Americans typically build up performance reports by focusing on
how many seconds the athlete was from such and such position. But even
thirty seconds can seem like next to nothing until one counts the
number of others who also finished within that time frame. You're
correct, Randall came in 9th place, last in her semi-final heat but
with a faster time than Anna Dahlberg. Comparing that to, say, Nancy
Fiddler's several top twenty WC finishes in longer races strikes me as
comparing apples and oranges, at best. I wonder how many have even
heard of Nancy Fiddler. Or of Allison Kiesel, who back in the 1970s
(until 1981) had some top 10 WCs, finished second in the Holmenkollen
10k in 1980, won the inaugural women's official WC event in 1979 at
Telemark, WI, and was 7th in the overall WC rankings that year. So why
limit ourselves to the Olympics? For example, compare Koch's and
Kiesel's performances in the Olys vs WC (Dick Taylor has an interesting
discussion of why the difference: misguided U.S. technique
innovations).

Gene

Team Today's comments section became completely uncivilized and counter
productive