New Winter Olympics Event: Egg-and-Spoon Short Track Speed Skating
The egg-and-spoon race is a featured and fan favorite event at many
primary schools around the world as part of the annual “Sports Day.”
In the event, contestants balance an egg on a spoon and race to the
finish line by a foot. Usually, this event occurs along with the sack
race near the end of the Sports Day festivities.
A slight variation on this egg-and-spoon race is going to be a new
event at the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Short track speed skaters will race around the track at blazing speeds
while balancing an egg on a spoon in their hands. If they drop the
egg, they will be disqualified from the event. They must finish all
laps of the even while balancing the egg.
In cases where the eggs fall, they will crack on the ice, causing
other skaters to have to weave and dodge to avoid skating over the egg
yokes because the yokes will be perilously slippery. If more than
three contestants in a single race drop the egg, the event will be
postponed for at last a half hour so the yolks can be cleaned up and
the ice cleaned up with the tractor-like ice machine typically used
between periods at hockey games.
“This will be the most challenging and intriguing event at the Winter
Olympics,” said Apolo Anton Ono, who won eight Olympic medals for the
U.S. before retiring a few years ago. “Think of how hard it is to lean
to your left side while making turns with your left-hand grazing the
ice to maintain balance, while at the same time balancing an egg on a
spoon in your right hand.”
The eggs and spoons will be used for all male and female races, which
includes distances of 500, 1,000, and 1,500 meters.
“NBC expects TV ratings for the egg-and-spoon short track speed
skating events to be sky high,” said NBC sports broadcaster, Bob
Costas. “It’s the first time eggs have been used in an Olympic event,
so the novelty of this is remarkable. Everybody can relate to the
egg-and-spoon race, and this event will take that to a whole new level
of tension and excitement.”
Favorites to win these events will be the usual short track powers
such as South Korea, China, and the United States.
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