Thursday, February 18, 2010
Imitation zamboni screws up speed skating
The Vancouver Olympic Committee decided to buy Canadian and got a lesson inwhy you always buy quality.
It wasn’t a Zamboni. That’s the message from Frank J. Zamboni & Co. after reports from the Winter Olympics suggested the ice-cleaning machines that leaked and forced delays in speedskating events were made by the U.S. manufacturer.One would reasonably expect that for the Olympics they would have been all over the maintenance issues before the Games started.
“It was widely reported that these machines were Zamboni machines, which in fact they were not,” Zamboni said in a statement yesterday, adding it’s “deeply concerned” about the situation.
An Olympia ice-cleaning machine made by Zamboni’s rival, Resurfice Corp. of Canada, leaked water in the middle of at least two events during the Games, leading to an hour delay at the men’s 500-meter speedskating event on Feb. 15 at the Richmond Oval.
The two machines used to clean the speedskating oval in Vancouver are Olympia brands, made by Elmira, Ontario- based Resurfice. Though Zamboni machines were used to clean the ice at the Winter Games in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006, Resurfice won the contract for the Vancouver Games. The firm supplied 17 battery-powered machines at the Vancouver Olympic rinks used for hockey, speedskating and figure skating.
The breakdowns were the result of an “electrical malfunction,” according to a statement from Resurfice.
“This was a maintenance issue, not a design issue,” said Don Schlupp,
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