NAGANO 1998/SPEED SKATING	FEBRUARY 23, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 7
	Technique Vs Technology Controversial strips of padding are the latest in ice wizardry--aren't they? By BARRY HILLENBRAND /NAGANO n the very first day of the speed-skating competition, Rintje Ritsma, the famed Dutch skater who has drawers full of gold medals, bent down and tenderly rubbed his hands across the ice as he glided through his warm-ups at Nagano's M-Wave skating rink. It was as if he were transferring some karma from the ice to his body. By the time Ritsma was ready for his heat in the 5,000 m, Bart Veldkamp, a Dutchman who skates under a Belgian flag of convenience, was in first place after shaving 2 sec. off the world record. Ritsma flew around the oval and beat Veldkamp's time by seven-hundredths of a second. The new world record survived less than half an hour. In the final heat, Gianni Romme, yet another flying Dutchman, flashed across the finish line, cutting 6 full seconds off Ritsma's record. The karma in the ice seemed right. But the Dutch acknowledged that more than the fast ice of the M-Wave accounted for the blistering pace. Embedded in their orange-blue-and-white racing skins were small bits of foam padding, called strips, that coach Henk Gemser said improved a skater's aerodynamic profile. To determine the optimum placement of the strips, which were sewn into the hood and thigh panels of the skaters' uniform, Dutch skaters had been put in wind tunnels. Gemser had no qualms about using the new technology. "We do everything we can to help our athletes," he said. "Anybody can do it." Not everyone had. The Norwegians and the Japanese immediately lodged futile complaints with the International Skating Union, the sport's governing body, which had approved use of the strips only a few days before the start of the Games. Once again skating was engulfed in a lively controversy about technology. Were skaters going faster because their equipment was vastly improved--or because athletes were stronger and working harder than ever? The first round of the debate began in 1996, when Dutch women skaters began using the now ubiquitous clap skate, an ingenious innovation that hinges the blade of the skate at the toe and leaves it loose at the heel. This allowed the skater to get more power by keeping the skate on the ice longer. Now the question is whether all skaters will begin sewing strips into their racing skins. The jury is still out. Members of the U.S. skating team arrived in Nagano with two sets of skins--the usual design and a hurriedly put-together number with stitched-in strips reaching from mid-calf to mid-thigh. The American women, who finished impressively in the 3,000 m, skated in their old uniforms, while K.C. Boutiette, who placed fifth in the men's 1,500 m, sandwiched in among four top-notch Dutch skaters, wore the new model. "We took a risk using it without knowing whether it worked or not," says Gerard Kemkers, the U.S. long-distance coach. His team had neither the time nor the money to study the strips before the Olympics. But the Germans, who have run the numbers and played with wind tunnels, are not impressed with the new wrinkle. They claim that the Dutch sprang the strips surprise at Nagano to intimidate the opposition with news of a secret weapon. They were not to be rushed into foam-filled uniforms. Tall, powerful Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, who has dominated women's speed skating in the 1990s, dismissed talk of the importance of technological advances. She is convinced that her victory in the 3,000 m and her other record-breaking performances at Nagano were the product of personal motivation, hard training and the rush that athletes get from competing in the Olympics. Japanese gold-medal winner Hiroyasu Shimizu approaches new technology with caution. He reluctantly adopted the clap skate less than a year ago, and notes that his world record for the 500 m was set with nonclapping skates and has survived the flash performances of Nagano, including his own. Says he: "You can't be good if all you have is some technology and no technique." If enough skaters begin winning with the strips, they will become the norm. But, says Dianne Holum, who won the 1972 Olympic gold medal in the 1,500 m and whose daughter Kirsten Holum placed sixth in the 3,000 m this year, "you have to put a body in the suit. I don't go anywhere without it." And the winning body usually belongs to the athlete who prepares the best--and perhaps steals a bit of karma from the ice.
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