Quotes of the Day

Sander Datama was sitting in the stands at Torino's Oval Lingotto, wearing an orange rabbit suit. He and five friends, all dressed in orange rabbit costumes or boiler suits, had just driven 1,300 km overnight from the Netherlands to attend the 500m men's speedskating race at the Winter Olympics on Monday. They had plenty of company. About half of the spectators in the 8,000-seat arena were wearing jackets, shirts, scarves, hats, boiler suits and even a bathrobe in the color of the House of Orange-Nassau. Whenever a Dutch speedskater coasted toward the starting line, the Dutch fans went wild. They screamed until their voices were hoarse, pounded the bleachers until they vibrated, and stopped only when the official called the skaters to the mark.

In an Olympics where many seats still go empty, the skaters definitely notice the fuss. "I was waving to all my Dutch fans, because that's all that's out there," U.S. speedskater K.C. Boutiette explained after finishing 19th in Saturday's 5,000m men's race.

Medals will be awarded in 11 speedskating events at the Winter Olympics and so far, the Dutch speedskating juggernaut has got a gold: Ireen Wüst and Renate Groenewold took gold and silver respectively in the 3,000m women's event and Sven Kramer won silver in the 5,000m men's race. "It gives you so much energy when you hear the crowd," Groenewold said after her race. "In the corner, you want to go nuts. You want to go faster and faster. It's incredible."

The Dutch didn't win any medals in the 500m men's sprint on Monday or the 500m women's race on Tuesday, but they're considered stronger contenders at longer distances of 1,500 m and 10,000 m, contests set for the second week of the Games.

Why are the Dutch so obsessed with speedskating? The Netherlands' terrain has traditionally made it a good base for the sport. It has numerous canals, much of the country is flat and about a quarter of its land is below sea level, making it prone to flooding. "We have lots of water in the Netherlands," says Ewoud van Winsen, a spokesman for Dutch TV station nos. "It's in our culture."

Speedskating is so popular in the Netherlands that nos airs live broadcasts of all 30 hours of that sport's Olympic events. "It's the main event for the Dutch athletes," says Van Winsen. "We have 30 athletes and 20 are speedskaters." He says 4 million viewers watched the men's race on Saturday and 5 million watched the women's race on Sunday. In a country of 16 million people, he says, "That's great."

Back home, the Dutch public recognizes their speedskaters almost as easily as people recognize rock stars in other countries. Wüst won her gold medal in front of Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his family, who wore orange hats and scarves as they cheered her on in the stands. Photos of Wüst, making her first Olympic appearance at Torino at 19, were splashed across the front pages of Dutch newspapers the day after her race. She and five of her female teammates already have commercial sponsorship from the Dutch company tvm. There's no comparable level of support in other countries. "When you are at the top of the Games, you win a gold medal," says U.S. speedskater Chris Witty. "You go back in your country and then a few months later, nobody remembers your name. Sometimes it's hard."

Not so in the Netherlands. At least two U.S. speedskaters, Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis, have inked deals with another Dutch sponsor, DSB. Their contracts require them to wear the bank's logo on their uniforms, an arrangement that has caused a conflict with the U.S. national federation. But the Dutch fans still love the Americans. They cheer loudly for all the skaters, regardless of nationality. "We yell just a little bit harder if they're Dutch," says Dutch office manager Marja van den Tweel.

• ANDREA GERLIN / TORINO
• Olympic speedskaters are cheered on by colorful Dutch fans at the Oval Lingotto