>I just got back from attending my second, and last, Olympic event. Thursday it was the K120 ski jump portion of the Nordic Combined Sprint. Today it was the Ladies 5000 meter speed skating. The fans at both events were terrific and cheered on competitors of all countries. The speed skating was incredible with Gretha Smit of the Netherlands starting things off with a world record. That stood until almost the end when Claudia Pechstein of Germany broke that record with one of her own. It was exciting being there to see it happen!

Gretha was the one I talked about, normally she skates distances of 24 Km or more. We have a famous skate race through 11 cities calles the "11 Cities run" which has a distance of 200 Km, involving 16000 skaters. When there is no ice in the Netherlands an alternative race is in Finland or Austria over the same distance. She refused to go there because the Ladies were not allowed to go the full distance. She went to the Olympic trials to see if she could be valid of the Olympics. In that race she raced a National Record.
You were there to see part 2.
After she got the silver Medal at the plaza, she went to the Holland House to celibrate. When she was jumping up and down she injured her knee, ending her season so she can't compete in the World Championships.

>The Utah Olympic Oval has been touted as the fastest ice on earth. Looks like that turned out to be true. Of the ten events there, eight set world's records. Only the 500 meter events didn't end in WR time. There were many country and olympic records set, as well as almost 200 personal best times.

The reason is simple, it is the highest Indoor skating track in the world. The reduced air pressure gives less resistance. It would even be better if it would be storming outside. I think that the Ice was too fast for the 500 meter.
And the fact that the climate inside the oval was good. Normally, having such a crowd in there increases the temperatue, reducing the speed.
Because of the high speeds produced in the sprint it is very difficult to hold the corners, so most skaters must reduce their speed.
Too bad that at the next Olympics the speed skating is near sea level so there the amount of records broken will be smaller.