Winter Olympics - ‘Biggest scandal in our sport’ - Nils van der Poel says ice controversy ‘as bad as doping’

ByBen Snowball

Updated 09/02/2022 at 13:37 GMT

"This is the biggest scandal in our sport. We've had doping cases and I don't see this as less serious," complained Nils van der Poel, who suggested the Dutch team were trying to gain an unfair advantage - one he said was comparable to doping. Van der Poel next goes against the Dutch super squad in the men's 10000m on Friday. Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

Swedish champion Nils van der Poel has slammed the Dutch speed skating team for allegedly trying to manipulate the ice at Beijing 2022, calling it “the biggest scandal in our sport”.

Van der Poel, who won gold in the men’s 5000m on Monday, was unhappy to learn that Dutch sports scientist Sander van Ginkel was in Beijing looking to make the ice as hard as possible.

Van Ginkel has said in an article in Schaatsen.nl that he is in Beijing to measure the temperature of the ice and try to influence the ice manager at the venue, Canadian Mark Messer. Dutch skaters typically thrive on a hard ice, and Van Ginkel said: "I try to create as favourable conditions as possible for our skaters."

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His comments have sparked a major controversy in the world of speed skating.

“I want to say I have the biggest respect for the Dutch speed skaters and the ice makers in the oval but we have to discuss fair play in our sport and this is far from fair play, this is corruption," said Van der Poel.

“Trying to make things advantage you by using unethical methods, I can't understand why the Dutch speed skating federation can let this happen and I don't understand why they want the world to know it.

“It's embarrassing not only for the federation but also for the riders. This is the biggest scandal in our sport. We've had doping cases and I don't see this as less serious.”

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Van der Poel, whose victory interview with Eurosport was interrupted by the Swedish Prime Minister on Monday, went on to explain why it was such a big issue.

He added to Eurosport: "Different riders benefit from different types of ice. The Dutch are used to a very high quality on the ice.

"They want it to be a good ice so there are fast times so they can take more medals. So they have a guy whose job is to measure the conditions of the ice and put pressure on the ice maker in order to change the ice for the benefit of Netherlands.

"They are totally open with this in their official communication that they are doing this. In my world this isn’t the type of sport we shouldn’t be doing.

"I think there’s a very clear line that it’s is unethical to act like this and I believe we aren’t speaking about this publicly. We have to take care of the sport we want to be doing."

Van der Poel, who next competes in the 10000m on Friday, admitted his best chance to grow his medal collection was if the ice was in poor condition.

“I’m far from unbeatable, I’ve lost many times," he said.

"I think I’ll be very hard to beat on Friday. I’m in great form and have great trust in the preparations I’ve done.

"If something strange doesn’t happen I’ll perform a very good time. I don’t think it’s the conditions of the ice that’ll decide the competition, I have great trust in the organisation here, that it’ll be fair.

"However the best ice for me is when the ice is bad, I’m quite good when the ice is bad. Of course I race quicker when the ice is good but it’s more even on faster ice."

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