Steira forced to stop.

They seem to have taken it down, assuming it was up. A search for
articles about Steira starts with Holmenkollen.

Gene

"Terje Henriksen" wrote:

Gene Goldenfeld wrote:
=20

"Terje Henriksen" wrote:

In the newspaper today: The norwegian womens new trainer forced
Steira to reduce the speed in order to help Bj=F8rgen win the world
cup. In my opinion, it would have been better if she had continued
on full speed, giving herself a chance to win and a possibility
that Scott would hit the wall.

I didn't think that trainers could order the skiers not to win;
that is bad sportsmanship and unjust. Do not listen to the
trainers in such cases, and chose another trainer.
=20
What newspaper?
=20
Finnmarken, local area newspaper form the area where Steira has grown
up. Maybe you can find it on the internet.
=20
--=20
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes=20
=20
=20

I don't understand the strategy at all. For Scott to have won the WC she
would have had to win the race and Bjorgen would have had to finish worse
than 8th.

If Steira had won, she would have taken 20 points away from Scott meaning
all Bjorgen had to do was finish in the top 20 skiers to retain the WC. The
only other way Steira could have had any effect on the final results would
have been to finish behind Bjorgen, but she did not do that.

This is the points schedule:

4.1.1 Women and men for individual distances:

1st place = 100 points 16th place = 15 points

2nd place = 80 points 17th place = 14 points

3rd place = 60 points 18th place = 13 points

4th place = 50 points 19th place = 12 points

5th place = 45 points 20th place = 11 points

6th place = 40 points 21st place = 10 points

7th place = 36 points 22nd place = 9 points

8th place = 32 points 23rd place = 8 points

9th place = 29 points 24th place = 7 points

10th place = 26 points 25th place = 6 points

11th place = 24 points 26th place = 5 points

12th place = 22 points 27th place = 4 points

13th place = 20 points 28th place = 3 points

14th place = 18 points 29th place = 2 points

15th place = 16 points 30th place = 1 point

Scott finished 20 points behind Bjorgen with Scott's win and Bjorgen's 4th
place finish.

Scott Elliot



"Terje Henriksen" wrote in message
...
In the newspaper today: The norwegian womens new trainer forced Steira to
reduce the speed in order to help Bjørgen win the world cup. In my
opinion, it would have been better if she had continued on full speed,
giving herself a chance to win and a possibility that Scott would hit the
wall.

I didn't think that trainers could order the skiers not to win; that is
bad sportsmanship and unjust. Do not listen to the trainers in such cases,
and chose another trainer.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

I don't want to be feisty, but it is not unheard of - I've head of it.

You might want to read this: fasterskier.com/training449.html

"ellis" skrev i melding
...


Well, that makes sense from Norwegian team's point of view. If the coach
had told Steira outright during a leg of the race, Don't win the race,
that
is outrageous, but it doesn't sound like that is the case. Steira came in
just 1.80sec behind Scott, so it does look like Steira gave it her best at
the finish line.

When Steira was told to slow down, it was the same as to tell her not to
win, because she would be second in every finish against Scott.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

"Terje Mathisen" skrev i melding
...


Bjørgen was 4th, I think she must have been outside the top 10 to drop the
title.

About 7, I think.

On NRK the coach said that they had discussed tactics before the race,
making sureBjørgen retained the cup which she had lead the entire season
was priority 1.

Steira was welcome to try to win, but not to do all the work for Scott,
trying to pull ahead.

It's more logical to think that she was helping Bjørgen by trying to win so
that Scott got second place instead of first. Bjørgen was without a chance
to win anyway. I believe the trainers have som logical malfunctions.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

"Gene Goldenfeld" skrev i melding
et...
Two places down, 9.3 seconds on the finish list would have changed the
final results (-20 points).

And in that case the trainers were to be blamed, not letting Steira do her
best to win.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

"Scott Elliot" skrev i melding
news:JJLTf.5011$nQ6.3761@clgrps13...
I don't understand the strategy at all. For Scott to have won the WC she
would have had to win the race and Bjorgen would have had to finish worse
than 8th.

If Steira had won, she would have taken 20 points away from Scott meaning
all Bjorgen had to do was finish in the top 20 skiers to retain the WC.
The only other way Steira could have had any effect on the final results
would have been to finish behind Bjorgen, but she did not do that.

That's correct; strange trainers. Maybe they use the logic of psychologists?

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

"Terje Henriksen" schreef in bericht
...

That's correct; strange trainers. Maybe they use the logic of
psychologists?


Imagine the trainers had not only gotten it wrong, but the final standings
would actually have helped Scott in the overall win. Wouldn't they have
looked bad then? Calling back Steira at the wrong moment, where she not only
could have won for herself, but also help Bjorgen win the big one...
Trainers got lucky. The winner's trainer is always right.

Scott wrote:

"I don't understand the strategy at all. For Scott to have
won the WC she would have had to win the race
and Bjorgen would have had to finish worse than 8th.
If Steira had won, she would have taken 20 points away
from Scott meaning all Bjorgen had to do was finish
in the top 20 skiers to retain the WC. The
only other way Steira could have had any effect
on the final results would have been to finish behind Bjorgen,
but she did not do that. "

I didn't see any of the race, but noticed that Becky had a very
small gap after the classic half. Was Steira actually told
to stay back and not even draft? I was assuming that the
strategy was just to 'suck wheel', so to speak, and refuse to
lead, which would either slow things down for Bjorgen and
others to catch up, or else hopefully allow Steira to save
energy and win the sprint. Either way it seems to make sense,
but not if Steira was too far back for the whole second leg to
get any draft advantage.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that sort of team tactic,
and certainly was hoping to see Becky win and Bjorgen back
in 8th or lower. I think she was after the classic leg, but fought
back and got that 4th place, so good for her. She almost made
my "Scott 1st, Bjorgen 3rd prediction" come out right!

Best, Peter