[fred]

You can bet that one regular forums poster, skaeran, is a very happy man right now. skaeran is Harald Skjaran from Norway. I am not sure what his official title is, but as far as I can tell he in charge of the Norwegian Bridge Federation.

Of course I would expect many Norwegian bridge players (and even some non-bridge players!) to be very proud of their team's well-deserved victory in the Bermuda Bowl, but I have no doubt that this is an particularly special moment for our friend Harald.

In my day-to-day work I am frequently in contact with officials from various National Bridge Federations from around the world (groan). It is unfortunately the case that many of these people are more interested in politics, bureaucracy, and self-promotion than they are in bridge and serving their members.

Harald stands out as a shining counter-example. The number of posts he makes to BBO forums and the content of these posts is just one small piece of evidence that Harald if far from being your average bridge official.

I am not sure what Harald's drink of choice is, but let's raise our glasses and make a toast to him on this great day for Norwegian bridge!

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[kenrexford]

Cheers!

[skjaeran]

Thanks a lot Fred!

Today is indeed a very special day, for me, the Norwegian Bridgefederation and for a lot of our members. Of course it's even more special for our team, team officials, journalists and fans participating in the Farewell Dinner and Pricegiving Ceremony in Shanghai right now.

I've been working for our federation for 16 years (in fact it's 16 years tomorrow since I started in this job). I've been second in command at the office all the time. My responsibility today is mainly the bridgerelated stuff in a very broad meaning.

I was coach for our junior team in 1992 (Paris), 1994 (Papendal) and 1997 (Hamilton). I did in fact visit you and Sheri in your apartment in Toronto together with Sten Bjertnes (NPC of our junior team then and of our open team in Shanghai now) and Jon Sveindal during the Junior WC in Hamilton.

Tomorrow night we'll have a reception for our players at the airport when they return for Shanghai. Hopefully with a lot of bridgeplayers attending to cheer them and give them a warm welcome home. The news of our World Champions was in several internet editions of our newspapers shortly after the match today. We may have TV-coverage too.

Thanks again, Fred. Your post meant a lot to me.

[fred]

Not to take anything away from Harald, but it occurred to me that there is another bridge official in our midst who is deserving of both our congratulations and praise.

That would be Jan Martel, the President of the United States Bridge Federation.

Like Harald, Jan is also an active participant in forums who has plenty of smart things to say. Like Harald, Jan has been a huge supporter of BBO vugraph over the years. Like Harald, Jan is one of those rare bridge officials who cares more about the "bridge" part than the "official" part.

And like Harald, Jan's country did rather well in Shanghai too

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[cherdano]

Prost!

[jdonn]

Well done and well deserved by the players. The are all likeable, and the Viking Club book by Grotheim is one of my favorites.

My first experience ever with Helgemo and Helness was playing against them in an early round Spingold match. The quarter I was at their table they had what is probably one of the worst sets of their entire lives (they did end up beating us handily in the end, real shocker.) In the 16 boards they doubled us in a making 4♠ four times. But they never lost their good humor or friendly nature, both at myself and my partner and each other. They are great examples and I congratulate the Norway team.

[Walddk]

As soon as the Norwegian victory was a fact I congratulated Harald and Norwegian bridge in a private chat message to skjaeran. We have a fierce (but friendly) rivalry among the Scandinavian countries, but if we can't win it ourselves, most of us root for our neighbours.

There is absolutely no doubt that Norway played the better bridge in the final. They won 7 of the 8 segments.

Norway is a huge country with a small population (around 4.5 million). A little more than 11,000 are members of the NBF. Norway has taken part in 6 of 8 World Championships since 1993 with impressive results: second in Chile in 1993, third in Tunisia in 1997, second in Paris in 2001 and third in Monaco in 2003.

Helness, Helgemo and Grøtheim were finalists in 1993 and 2001, Brogeland and Sælensminde in 2001 whereas Tundal participated in his first final. They are not only great players but also the most pleasant guys you can imagine. Many congratulations!

http://www.bridgefederation.no/t2.asp for a picture of the gold medalists.

It is also appropriate to congratulate the United States on winning the Venice Cup and Senior Bowl. The most successful nation by far even without adding the well deserved silver medal in the Bermuda Bowl.

Roland

[hrothgar]

I'm happy to have seen Norway win, but its a little sad that Terje Aa wasn't on the team.

It feels vaguely reminiscent of the whole "Nomar" deal here in Boston

[Echognome]

Congratulation to Harald and the Norwegian team. You would be hard-pressed to find a nicer and more-approachable guy.

Skål!

I also think a congratulations are in order for Jan. The U.S. teams finished 1st in the VC and the SB and 2nd in the BB.

Cheers!

[Walddk]

Echognome, on Oct 13 2007, 07:36 PM, said:

I also think a congratulations are in order for Jan.  The U.S. teams finished 1st in the VC and the SB and 2nd in the BB.

Indeed, but a sad incident occurred during the presentation tonight. When the American ladies received their gold medals on the podium, they displayed a poster with

WE DIDN'T VOTE FOR BUSH

Hardly the place for a politcal statement in my opinion. I never thought that something like this would happen in bridge circles. The question is now whether the WBF/ACBL/USBF will take some kind of action.

The incident in Shanghai reminds me of the Olympics in 1968 in Mexico when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists in a Black Power salute and made an iconic image of the time.

Roland

[han]

Have a brigg from me Harald, congrats to Norway!

[jkljkl]

Hello,

indeed congratulations to the winning teams!

I found it remarkable that so many matches were so close till the end. And I wonder if the performance of many teams as South Africa is boosted by the possibilities given by internet bridge.

ciao stefan

PS
Could we move the VC stuff into a own thread, for instance in the watercooler?

[glen]

PrecisionL, on Oct 14 2007, 04:43 PM, said:

...I will reread the Viking Club again.

Especially since both authors of the book (English version - albeit one had more input than the other) won events.

(For home page of book Click here - Viking Club))

--- ---

Congrads to Norway!

[uday]

VC stuffed moved into a thread in the watercooler

[Gerben42]

Norway was the deserved winner, they won all three KO matches convincingly. Congratulations (finally!) after being on the losing side of the BB final twice.

Of course congratulations to Harald on winning the prestigious World Championship prediction thread.

[HeavyDluxe]

Congrats to the Norwegian team, administrators (like Harald), and other Norwegian bridge 'fans' on their team's success!

As Gerben noted, the team had a very convincing march through the KOs and an even more convincing win in the finals. Worthy champs, indeed.

[joker_gib]

Yes, very good Norwegian team !

Congrats to all !

[Walddk]

http://www.bridgefederation.no/t2.asp

for pictures of the gold medalists when they arrived at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo late last night.

Roland

[joker_gib]

Walddk, on Oct 15 2007, 04:19 PM, said:

http://www.bridgefederation.no/t2.asp

for pictures of the gold medalists when they arrived at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo late last night.

Roland

Nice !

And, please, Roland, update the upcoming Vu-graph page asap ! Don't tell me that we have to wait till 27/10 to have a show !

Alain