NBC Olympics commentator Katie Couric managed to tick off plenty of people in the Netherlands when she attempted to explain the country’s dominance in speed skating.
Couric called skating “an important mode of transportation” in the city of Amsterdam.
“As you all know, it has lots of canals that can freeze in the winters,” Couric said during the Opening Ceremony. “So, for as long as those canals have existed, the Dutch have skated on them to get from place to place, to race each other and also to have fun.”
While that might sound like a nifty explanation, it’s not entirely accurate. Amsterdam has canals, which can freeze in winter. Certainly, some people enjoy skating on them at those times. But the canals don’t freeze all winter and in plenty of years, they don’t freeze at all.
The Dutch Review said the country’s dominance in speed skating was more likely due to the sport’s popularity there combined with big investments in Olympic-level training. This was quickly pointed out to Couric on Twitter:
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