NBC trolled for claiming skating is an 'important mode of transportation' in the Netherlands
NBC's Katie Couric made bizarre claim that Dutch people skate to work, much to the bemusement of residents.
The Netherlands has enjoyed remarkable success at winter sports in recent years, despite its relatively small population.
Dutch athletes have already won two gold medals at this year's Winter Olympic Games being held in Pyeongchang and can expect to significantly add to that haul as the tournament progresses. In Sochi 2014, the nation won an incredible 24 medals – just behind traditional powerhouses like Norway, Canada and the United States.
Much of their success can be attributed to dominance at speed skating events, as American commentators helpfully pointed out during the Games opening ceremony held on Thursday (February 8).
Confused Dutch viewers watched as veteran NBC anchor Katie Couric claimed that skating is not just national pastime in the country, but also an "important mode of transport".
She said: "Why are they so good you may be asking yourselves? Because skating is an important mode of transportation in a city like Amsterdam, which sits at sea level and have lots of canals that can freeze in the winter," she said.
"For as long as those canals have existed the Dutch have skated on them from place to place, to race each other, and also to have fun."
Dutch Twitter users have mocked Couric's wildly inaccurate comments, queuing up to refute her with their own humorous replies.
"And this folks is why Americans are less bright about the rest of the world as they spread fake news," one wrote.
You just can't make this up.
— Jos Duijvestein 🇳🇱 (@JosDuijvestein) February 10, 2018
NBC opening ceremony coverage. Katie Couric talks about why The Netherlands is so good at speed skating as The Netherlands enters the stadium.
And this folks is why Americans are less bright about the rest of the world as they spread fake news! pic.twitter.com/7YC5deTl2w
This is true, this is me skating to work at the cheese factory last friday pic.twitter.com/otHRmDSeys
— Thomas Hogeling (@ThomasHogeling) February 11, 2018
About time government does something about these terrible skating traffic jams each morning...
— Christoph Schmidt (@trouwschmidt) February 11, 2018
Traffic information.
— OndeRob (@OndeRobb) February 11, 2018
Be careful, it’s slippery out there! pic.twitter.com/soQAAiCECz
And all those other Dutch stereotypes? Well, they're entirely true.
Oh yeah, we do this all the time! First we skate, and then change into our clogs before we start the working day at the local windmill. Didn't you know?
— Martijn van der Meulen (@yesdogman) February 11, 2018
We use tiny windmills to dry our hair. For extra volume we use tulip dust.
— An (@Annemannie) February 11, 2018
Other countries pointed out they have their own nation-specific mode of transport.
Exactly! This is also why the British team does so well at cycling in the Olympics; it's a little known fact that we all travel everywhere by Penny Farthing. pic.twitter.com/pvEFhg6iC1
— 👑Princess Anna 🇪🇺â„ï¸ (@mrsspanner) February 11, 2018
In Ireland 🇮🇪 we Irish dance to work in summer they why we are so good at river dance
— Darren Butler (@boogiebutler7) February 11, 2018
But thankfully someone was prepared to cut Ms Couric some slack.
She dÃd not make this up, she must have read this somewhere.
— zet van zacharias (@zetje01) February 11, 2018
I heard this exact same story over 15 years ago.
Cannot remember where, unfortunatly.
It was the pre-social media era though, so they could get away with this fairy tale.
Canals in the Netherlands do freeze over on occasion, but not as a regular occurence. Temperatures must fall below freezing for a week before they are considered safe for skating.
Elfstedentocht, or the 11 cities competition, is a 200km (120 miles) race around the nationa's waterways featuring up to 300 contestants. However, years of high temperatures have prevented the legendary race being held since 1997. In 2012, hopes were dashed at the last minute as organisers deemed the ten-day cold spell as being insufficient to guarantee contestant safety.
