The Unbelievable Stupidity of America’s Olympic Speed Skating Authorities — the Suit that Apparently Slows Our Athletes Down at the 2014 Sochi Olympics Was Never Tested in Competition — even after the Dutch Abandoned a Similar Design — and Guess Who Bears the Lifelong, Painful Burden of these Nitwits’ Brainlessness

14 February 2014

This is the kind of stoneheadedness that should get one taken out to the back forty (acres), metaphorically shot — and figuratively buried in an unmarked grave

From Gary D’Amato at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

With six of 12 races in the books, the long-track team has produced zero medals and, shockingly, not a single top-six finish. Some of the best skaters in the world haven't even been a factor in races they have dominated.

The high-tech Mach 39 Speedskating Suit, developed by defense contractor Lockheed Martin for Under Armour, was supposed to give the Americans an advantage at the Sochi Games.

Engineers did extensive testing on the Mach 39 in a wind tunnel in Baltimore, but the skaters did not wear it in any competitions prior to the Sochi Games. That's right. The U.S. team is wearing a suit that never passed muster in races before it was unveiled for the biggest competition in the sport.

Could the Mach 39 actually be slowing down the skaters, instead of speeding them up?

If the team performed well in competitions leading up to the Games, benefited from pre-Olympics training in Italy and showed up in Sochi strong and fit, what other variables could there be?

It's also informative that the Dutch, who have been fixtures on the podium here, tried a similar suit a few years ago and discarded it because it didn't work.

A slightly broader inference

Do you sometimes wonder where libertarians get the fuel for their insane opposition to governance and group effort? It’s from jaw-dropping organizational stupidity like this.

We are taught in school that we have to test ideas and products in the arenas they are intended to perform. So, why violate that simple experience-based directive, when literally everything is on the line?

The moral? — Athletes are at the mercy of the powerful (too often) airheads who run Olympic sports at all levels

This hierarchical aspect is not so fun for people who have spent most of their youths training for a few moments of possible recognition at the Games. Our athletes deserved better than this apparently botched (but well-intended) experimental rollout, even if the Under Armour suit was not at fault.

I am betting that Lockheed Martin, Under Armour and American speed skating authorities will bury this failure by indirectly blaming our athletes. After all, there are big money corporate reputations at stake. And who really cares about the immensely hardworking athletes’ legitimate hopes? There will be a new crop of youthful fodder for the next go-round.

Ted Morris, the executive director of USA Speedskating, said, "The evidence does not suggest that the suits have contributed to the disappointing results so far…We're working with our athletes, coaches, trainers and Under Armour to figure out what we can do to produce better results for Team USA."

What evidence? Wind tunnel data versus on-ice competition times from some of the world’s best skaters and the Dutch experience with similar suits?

Gee, I wonder where the preponderance of evidentiary and probabilistic weight is.

Mr. Morris’ reasoning ability seems to parallel that which brought the suits to Sochi without them having been used in actual performances. We’ll give him the gold for smarmy Corporate Speak.

Apparently, I am not alone in this estimation:

By Thursday evening in Sochi, officials with the U.S. national governing body were working to get approval to race in skin suits worn during World Cup competition. Six events remain on Sochi’s speedskating calendar.

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