Speed skating one of Beijing Winter Olympics' most beautiful sporting spectacles — and a playground for the Dutch

There is something wonderfully peaceful about ice skating, even at a competitive level.

As the skaters glide around the 400-metre-long track, the gentle clinking of blade on ice is closer to the sound of cutlery on your nan's finest china, something more associated with a posh dinner party then Winter Olympic event.

Three skaters wearing skin-tight bodysuits and bicycle helmets follow each other, nose-to-tail, with the rearmost two skaters resting one arm on the hip of the skater in front of them, following their every move as they speed around the oval.

This is the team pursuit speed skating at the brand-new National Speed Skating Oval, colloquially known as the Ice Ribbon.

Teams start on opposite sides of the ice and use their respective leader's slipstream to go faster although, unlike their cycling brethren in a velodrome, the skaters are less likely to switch their order over the course of the race – with pushing from behind more efficient than giving the leader a break in the relatively short race — six laps for the women and eight for the men.

However, the Dutch women's team did it to help them win bronze, with Marijke Groenewoud, Irene Schouten and Ireen Wust switching places to beat the ROC.

The gentle sounds that accompany the race throughout its duration are punctuated by the coaches shouting encouragement from the sidelines and the occasional ripple of excitement in the otherwise staid crowd which is spread out on the far side of the arena.

The start is harsher too, a rhythmic scraping to go with the clicking of the spring-loaded blades clapping back up with each stride as skaters on both sides of the ice get up to speed.

Immediately before the start, the skaters kick down onto the ice, using their blades to create a