The electric Zambonis — part of Canada's attempt at a green Vancouver Olympics — failed multiple times this evening, causing a massive delay in in the middle of the Men's 500-meter speedskating event. Hmm, wethinks it needs more internal combustion!
The Canadian-built electric ice resurfacers (note: Zamboni is a brand of ice resurfacers, these are built by Olympia) used at the Richmond Olympic Oval are supposed to help the environment but it cost the second half of the 500M speedskating pairs after one ice-resurfacing machine couldn't properly clean the ice. Then a second machine failed. Then they brought in a third and it, too, screwed up the course.
With speeds of up to 40 MPH reached on the ice, the rutted and uneven surface was considered too dangerous to skate on. It was eventually fixed but American Shani Davis, prepping himself for a gold medal run in the 1,000-meter, decided to withdraw.
Maybe electric Zambonis are the future but loud, exhaust-spewing Zambonis are sexy, awesome and they work right now. How many more American skaters are we going to lose to the electric ice resurfacing machine scourge?
Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images