NL skating coach: US football "sucks", waste of talent

In an interview with CNBC, the Dutch speed skating coach, Jillert Anema, blamed the overall American sports system for the US skaters' poor performance, and particularly the American's dedication to a 'foolish' sport like football. Anema, who coached his team to 21 speed skating medals in Sochi, claimed the few talented US skaters did not stand a chance during Olympic competitions once every four years, because they lack competition and support from their home front.

The coach dismisses the discussions as would the high-tech suits be to blame. 'We have found something that makes a suit very fast,' said the coach, who continued to say: 'it's the man in the suit.' The Dutch coach compares the achievements of a US basketball team, a popular sport in the US, with an abundance of teams and competitions, to those of the few 'lone wolf' American skaters who are basically left to fend for themselves. In the Netherlands speed skating is wildly popular, so there's lots of competition. Anema singles out American football as a precious waste of talent, where people aim to hurt each other, something he can not begin to understand. And the sport is not even played anywhere else in the world. As long as the American speed skaters don't get the support they need, not only during the Olympics, but just as important during the years leading up to the Olympics, it doesn't matter how much the skaters are favored, they will never win from the Dutch, not anytime soon anyway, according to Dutch speed skating coach, Jillert Anema.