Karmic Retribution

Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer losing gold in the most heart-breaking fashion possible. Kramer is the best long-distance speed skater in the world. He already won the 5,000 and thought he had won the 10,000 after cruising to the finish line 4 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

But when he finished he found out he was disqualified. With 8 laps to go Kramer started to switch to the outside lane as he was supposed to. His coach gesticulated wildly and told him to get to the inside lane. Oops. He skated the remainder of the race in wrong laned, got DQed, blamed the entire thing on his coach (rightfully so) and even shoved the guy as he tried to console him.



I happened to catch this because I was DVRing the coverage and the announcers had no idea what happened at first. How did they not see Kramer almost stop and briefly argue with his coach about the proper lane to be in. And how did they not know he had skated two consecutive laps on the inner?

Anyway, the coach Gerard Kemkers must feel like the biggest piece of shit alive right now, but it could be all Kramers fault.

Check out what happened after Kramer won the 5,000 nearly a week before.



He called the poor lady from NBC stupid because she wanted him to state his name, country and sport. Tape identification, pretty standard, but he took it has a huge insult since he'd just won the gold medal and everything. The lady should have just said "I'm here with Sven Kramer of the Netherlands who just won gold in the 5,000 meters speedskating" and she might have saved everyone, a lot of embarrassment.

But maybe next time Kramer will handle it a little better and avoid the karmic bitchslap which cost him gold.