Men's 500-meter speedskating race is delayed

 Forget about the snow issues in the mountains. How about the ice issues on the track?

For the second straight day at Richmond Olympic Oval, an ice resurfacing machine (we call them Zambonis; here, they're Olympias) mishap has delayed competition. This time, one of the machines broke down while resurfacing the ice during the men's 500-meter races Monday night, and the skating is now set for a 5:30 p.m. Los Angeles time restart.

The 500-meter racing was one-quarter done, with 10 more pairs left in the first round of, followed by a second set of 500-meter races to determine medalists.

On Sunday, a machine busted and spilled water onto the oval while resurfacing during the ladies' 3,000-meter races, delaying that competition while workers shoveled and squeegeed the track clean of the puddle.

-- Brian Hamilton in Richmond, Canada

Comments

[B.]

Mr. Hamilton:

Please check your facts before reporting: "Zamboni" and "Olympia" are brand-names of ice-surfacing machines.

Much like Chev and Ford are both automobiles, they are entirely different companies, much like Zamboni and Olmypia are.

Thank you.