Talk:Bill Koch (skier)

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Untitled[edit]

How could Bill Koch compete in the 1974 European junior championships? Was the championship open for non-European countries too?

The EAA website states: Europe extends from Portugal to the Urals. Among the medal winners in Riga were to be found a number of talented athletes who were born outside Europe or who are children of non-European parents. Examples are the French from Northern Africa or the Caribbean and for the British from Jamaica. There many of immigrants in many countries and one has got used to it over decades.

(It's worth noting that Iceland competes, as well) Koch is mentioned on various reputable skiing websites, to have competed in 1974 at the event; I don't think this can be disputed. But, being an American (born?) in Vermont, he's not a European, unless he may have been born somewhere else. His parents could perhaps be immigrants. Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 04:22, 16 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Sources?[edit]

This article appears to cite no sources, aside from the FIS page that only lists his results. Where did the rest of the article come from??

In particular, I wonder what source states that Koch developed the skating technique. If I recall correctly, other skiers were also experimenting with skating techniques. Bill might have been the first one to use it to great advantage at a competition? Phlar (talk) 05:18, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Freestyle?[edit]

...a new skiing technique that resembled ice skating on skis, now known as the freestyle cross-country skiing technique.

The technique is not called "freestyle": I think freestyle is used to refer to some competitions that allow skating, but the actual technique is called skating. Compare to the skate skiing section in the cross-country skiing article. Would someone who is up-to-speed on current terminology want to fix this? Phlar (talk) 05:23, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Embarrassment of riches[edit]

I'm deleting this paragraph:

An embarrassment of riches. Koch is the best cross-country skier ever reared in the U.S. He won the 1982 World Cup title (decided in 10 races over four months), the only American ever to do so, and finished third last year, 1983,

Reasons for removal:

It doesn't add any information that doesn't already appear elsewhere in the article.
It appears to have been copied straight from this Sports Illustrated article without attribution (or any editing to make it fit into the flow of the wikipedia article). Phlar (talk) 19:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]