A Dutch sheep farmer and his wife sat in the stands at the Nagano Olympics on Monday and saw their talented young daughter take gold in the speed skating.
Beside Lucas and Jans Timmer sat their daughter's boyfriend, desperately reassuring them after her run that no-one else on the ice below could rob Marianne Timmer of a gold medal and a 1,500 metres world record.
Eleven skaters followed before Canadian skater Ken Overland was proved right. Not even Germany's triple Olympic champion Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, the eventual silver medallist, could better a performance that came so, so close to perfection.
"She won the race so early. It took a few years off their lives waiting for the others," said Overland, a bronze medallist in last week's 500-metre sprint. "But I reassured her that no-one had that speed today.
"I mean, look at the race times. Have you ever seen a better race ever run?"
Timmer's victory, in a time of one minute 57.58 seconds, brought the Netherlands its third speed skating gold in Nagano and the first for a Dutch woman since Yvonne van Gennip lifted three golds in Calgary in 1988.
A nation that once dominated the sport but did not capture a single title in Lillehammer four years ago is again on top.
"I had no idea that I would skate like this," Timmer told a news conference after an emotional medal ceremony. "I thought maybe if I had a good race I could come from third to sixth.
"Then I saw 1:57 and I couldn't believe it was true. I looked at my time 10 times."
The race will install Timmer as favourite for Thursday's 1,000 metres, her preferred distance.
Once considered a superpower, Russia's ice hockey muscles seemed to have atrophied to the point where few thought they would do much more than provide a good warm-up match for the North American rivals ahead of the gold medal game.
But now, after clinching first place in Group C with a hard fought 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic on Monday, the unbeaten Russians enter the quarter-finals brimming with confidence, ready to once again assert themselves on the ice.
"When we grew up the teams of our country were always favourites, and now, in this tournament we want to show that we are still among the best," said the 24-yearold Yashin of the Ottawa Senators. Since players such as Detroit Red Wings veterans Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov, Dallas Stars defenceman Sergei Zubov and Vancouver Canucks forward Alexander Mogilny all turned down spots on the team, few thought the Russians would have the experience and talent needed to win gold.
But Yashin, along with Sergei Fedorov, Vancouver Canuck Pavel Bure and a host of other players plucked from the NHL, has shown that a new generation of Russian players may be ready to pick up the torch.
"We may be surprising some people but not ourselves. When you look at this team there are a lot of good players and we think we proved that in this round," said Russian captain Bure.
