Terje Mathisen wrote:
ellis wrote:
I finally saw the race on tape, twice. You are assuming that had
Steira not slowed down right after the ski exchange, she could have
dropped Scott. I don't think so. Scott and Steira were both neck
and neck, both looking strong, and sharing the breakaway move. It
was a better tactical move to ski second behind Scott. They
exchanged lead several times. There was never a moment when I
thought Steira could have pulled away from Scott enough to matter
had the coach not interfered. Scott looked very strong and
determined to win, and would have chased Steira down. We'll never
know. I do agree with you that a coach playing chess games with his
athletes is wrong, treating them like means to an end; I just didn't
see that in this race, is all. Maybe Steira's hometown newspaper
was looking for a bit of scapegoat.

That's the crux of the matter, Terje H (and Finnmarken newspaper) must
have (quite naturally) watched the race with somewhat tinted glasses.
:-)

Not at all; even the TV commentators heard that Steira at the end of the
race were told to go for a victory.


--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes