There will be a program on Dutch tv this year "Vliegende Hollanders; Sterren springen schans", something like "Flying Dutchmen; Stars jump from the Schanze", with famous Dutch people who will try to ski jump.
Personally I don't like it so much, they want to make it look like it is very very dangerous, and all the people who never watch ski jumping will use this program as their example of the sport :sauer:
Last week on a radio station there was an interview with Lara Thomae, I don't think anyone understands Dutch, but just in case:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mytJI8XayOY
It already starts with the 2 radio hosts showing that they don't know anything about it. "We all watch Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 1 january of course, and the Olympics. Then all those Norwegians and Finnish are standing above that 90 meters Schanze, go down with huge speeds, are just in time to jump and more than 200 meters further they finally land".
(More than 200 meters on a HS90? Maybe on the moon.)
Then they get a bit more serious, asking themselves how dangerous it actually is, and introducing Lara as a professional ski jumper. While waiting for a phone connection with Lara, they tell about the lack of ski jumping tradition in Holland, talking about Gerrit-Jan Konijnenberg in the 80's who he still remembers, but he can't name any other Dutch ski jumper.
When the phone connection with Lara is there, they ask her "How dangerous is it what those "famous" Dutch people are going to do??".
Lara: "Well actually it isn't such a dangerous sport. It's maybe a bit more dangerous than most normal sports, but normally there aren't many bad things happening. Maybe because the famous people who will participate in the show are a bit older it will be a bit harder for them to learn.
Hosts: "Lara, you mostly jump from a 90 meters and a 120 meters hill right?"
Lara: "Yes, mostly 90 meters."
H: "And at the moment of the
Absprung, how fast are you going?"
L: "Uhm around 90 km/h."
H: "So then you get into position, you open your skis and then you fly?"
L: "Yes."
H: "Then with around the same speed at some moment you land, but if you aren't used to that, you will be completely fucked won't you?!?! (in the meantime the other host shows his knowledge by saying "Telemark!")"
L: "Yeah but if you can't do that, you aren't really flying yet. Those famous people in the show will start on hill where you can jump like 30 meters, and probably they should be happy if they get to 15 meters."
H (sounding dissapointed): "So they will jump from a little 15 meters hill??"
L: "I saw they started at the 15 meters hill, but there goal is to jump from a 30 or a 70 meters hill, where we would normally jump around 70 meters, but I don't think they will pass 30 meters on that hill.
H (the other one): "But this is a bit a shame to hear, cause it would have been so fantastic if Emile Ratelband
(a strange famous guy in Holland, noone really likes him) would fall right on his mouth."
L: "Well the chance is pretty big that he will fall, but not in a way that he will break every bone in his body, at least if he hits the ground a bit ok."
H: "But Lara, we don't know so much about it, but it seems so dangerous to me that untrained people even jump from a 30 meters hill."
L: "Yeah it is a bit, because with alpine skis, it is ok, but they also want to do it with ski jumping skis, and that's something completely different than alpine skis, which most people are able to do, so that will be the hardest thing."
H: "Starting 22 february we will see how they are doing, and I think you will watch how they are doing Lara?"
L: "Yes I'm curious!"
H: "Well not better than you I think..."
L: "Haha let's see! Maybe there is a talent there!"
So that was it, of course nothing that the people here don't know (we all know how ski jumping works), but as with many things I post here, it is a bit an insight in the way ski jumping is seen and treated in the Dutch media.
