I was pretty psyched about the 500-metre speedskating event last night. Like all of you, I was rooting heavily for Jeremy Wotherspoon.
My anticipation quickly turned to embarrassment when the Olympia ice-resurfacing machines couldn't cut the mustard. It was a comedy of errors. The first Olympia machine dumped snow and water about 20 metres from the inner lane's finish line Sunday and the second Olympia did the same thing yesterday during a scheduled resurfacing.
That caused a major delay while the third unit was hauled out for an emergency flood. I understand these ice-resurfacing machines were chosen because they run on electricity, but this is no time to be carbon-neutral. This is the time for a Zamboni.
Maybe, Canadian Kyle Parrott suggested, they should have gone with a Zamboni.
"Zambonis work," Parrott told The Canadian Press.
Indeed, in a late-day announcement Monday, the Vancouver organizing committee known as VANOC declared they would be doing exactly that. A Zamboni ice resurfacer from Calgary was to be on the ice by Tuesday, they said.
Zamboni to the rescue!
