Today at the Fair Day, some guy excitedly told us: “Did you hear that Australia just won its first ever gold medal? He was a speed skater. He won because he was last and all the other guys fell down.” We all laughed. It was the classic joke. Except later I found out, it really happened! The guys on the Ice Dream are having a field day with this.
Max
February 18, 2002 — 4:13 pm
I’ve been watching clips of this all day–the dude just sort of casually slid across the finish line! You can’t help feeling good for the Australian guy, as he’s got a pretty decent little Olympic history footnote now AND–if he treats the whole thing with a good dose of humor–a pretty good shot at some post-Olympic fame.
Glad you’re feeling better, Kris!
Kristen
February 19, 2002 — 2:05 am
I almost split my sides laughing at the Ice Dream transcript. I’m just praying that someone in Mark’s household remembered to hit record on the VCR so I can see the episode for myself.
Kris
February 19, 2002 — 10:52 am
He seems to have a good attitude about it so far. In all the press conferences, he was like, “Yeah, I wasn’t necessarily the fastest, but there’s no way I’d give it back.” He sorta takes it as reward for a decade of slogging it out unrecognized in the sport. And as he told Roy and HG, “If the other Australians have as much luck as I did, we’re gonna get about 20 more of these!” 🙂