Schaatsbond, stop WK-plan in de ijskast

in: NRC Handelsblad 23.06.2015

Information

The Netherlands will host the World Allround Speed Skating Championships again in 2018. The Dutch ice-skating federation currently thinks about organising this in the open Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam in the open air, and in March. Pauw argues that climate change is the biggest threat to the ancient ice-skating tradition in the Netherlands. For example, the average temperature in March in the 21st century has increased to 6.3°C, up 1.3°C compared to 100 years ago. On March 17 this year, even 17.8°C were measured. We would like to see the tournament in the Netherlands, but the Dutch ice-skating federation would be megalomaniac when organising a tournament outside and in March, in particular because there are so many heavily subsidized ice-skating rinks in the country already.