NBC has brought on some nontraditional hires to help with their unrelenting coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics from PyeongChang, South Korea. SNL all-star Leslie Jones is live-tweeting the events with unbridled enthusiasm and extreme hilarity, for example. The Peacock also brought back beloved former Today host and news anchor Katie Couric to do some commentary.
While creating noise to fill in the empty moments during last weekend’s Opening Ceremony, the talk turned to the Dutch national team, and now the squad tends to dominate speed skating Olympics after Olympics. According to Couric (or at least the copy written for her to read), it’s because it’s part of the daily life of living in the Netherlands.
You just can't make this up.
NBC opening ceremony coverage. Katie Couric talks about why The Netherlands is so good at speed skating as The Netherlands enters the stadium.
And this folks is why Americans are less bright about the rest of the world as they spread fake news! pic.twitter.com/7YC5deTl2w
— Jos Duijvestein 🇳🇱 🇨🇦 (@JosDuijvestein) February 10, 2018
Speed skating, Couric says, isn’t just a sport in the Netherlands, but “an important mode of transportation,” particularly in Amsterdam. “As you all know, it has lots of canals that can freeze in the winters. “So, for as long as these canals have existed, the Dutch have skated on them to get from place to place, to race each other, and also to have fun.”
Logically, that makes sense, except that in reality, very little of what Couric said is actually true. Yes, Amsterdam has canals, but they only occasionally freeze, and certainly not all winter long. Also, Amsterdam still has, like, roads and stuff where people can walk, drive, and bike. The main reason why the Dutch do so well in speed skating is because it’s a popular sport in the Netherlands and a lot of money is spent on training athletes there.