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But are the records being broken on the track or in the laboratory? By skaters or by engineers?
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| Gianni Romme of The Netherlands won the 5,000, perhaps with the help of a special rubber strip on the hood of his uniform. |
Romme's time bested his own world record coming into the competition (6:30.63) by more than eight seconds. It destroyed the Olympic record of 6:34.96 set by Johann Olav-Koss in 1994.
That is a Grand Canyon-like leap, yet more credit has gone to the technology for these historic times and not to the performances by the athletes. The tradition of speed skating has been replaced by the science of it.
Speed skating has entered a new era -- the age of the clap skate, the controversial new style of skates that has been shattering world records since last season.
"I don't know where the end is," Romme said. "I couldn't have expected to skate this time."
U.S. speed skater KC Boutiette, who set a new American record but finished 14th with a time of 6:39.67, wasn't particularly impressed with the record-setting performances, saying they were artificially inflated because of the clap skates. "I don't care," Boutiette said. "It doesn't matter to me. I still say it's the skates."
But even the clap skate took a back seat to the debate over yet another technological development by the Dutch -- a $2.50 piece of silicon material simply called "the stripe," which the Dutch skaters had stuck vertically on their body suits, around their head and their lower legs, in order to reduce air friction around the body.
"We heard that the Dutch calculated that it made you go a half a second a lap faster," said United States coach Gerard Kemkers, a former Dutch Olympic medalist.
The Dutch skaters received permission from the International Skating Union to use the stripes the day before the event, said Henke Gemsar, the Netherlands coach. He said they add "a small fraction" of an advantage to his skaters. But small fractions mean new world records in this sport.
The stripe looks like something found in a factory reject piece of clothing. But it was developed as a result of testing new suits and body positions in wind tunnels at the University of Delft in the Netherlands for several years. The strips reduce the wind friction against the skater and were banned by international skiing officials for use in those competitions.
Romme dismissed any significant edge the stripe gave him in his record-setting performance. "The stripes on the suits maybe helped us a little bit, but I think it was mostly good skating and good technique," he said.
And Ritsma, the silver medalist, pointed out that other teams used versions of the stripes as well. "The Americans had them, too," he said.
But the American stripes apparently weren't nearly as good as the Dutch. "We had some lines sewn on our suits, but the Japanese say our lines are no good, and the Dutch are good because they're ziggly lines, and ours are just stitched in," Boutiette said.
The stripes are the latest development in a sport where competitors are always searching for ways to reduce times by fractions of seconds. The clap skate, another Dutch innovation, is the biggest change in in speed skating. The clap skates are hinged at the toe so the back of the boot is not connected to the blade. This allows the skate blade to stay in contact on the ice while the skater glides, resulting in a more powerful stride and a clapping sound while skating.
U.S. speed skating officials tried to get the skates banned for the Nagano games, arguing that they were a performance-enhancing device. But they failed, and now the American skaters -- including Boutiette -- use the clap skates, too.
Thom Loverro of the Washington Times is a frequent contributor to ESPN SportsZone.