Old friend

You come to enough of these Winter Olympics and you develop some personal favorites. We watched one today in speedskating. Claudia Pechstein of Germany.

Not a name familiar to most. But after putting her name in previews and watching her skate for the last FIVE Olympics, you develop a type of bond.

That's why it was so fun to watch her today in the women's 5,000 meter race. She had just turned 34 earlier this week and you knew this would be her last race.

As we watched from the press center, she had her own little cheering section in Bob Ryan and myself. One of our younger colleagues, Amalie Benjamin, probably thought we were a little weird.

Anyway, Claudia (we're on a first name basis in our unique way) skated to the silver. It was her second medal here and her ninth overall.

As we were later telling of her performance to John Powers, he noted that she is probably the only skater here who competed when the competition was held outdoors. The last time that happened at an Olympics was at Albertville in 1992. Ever since, the competition has been indoors.