Talk:Nikolajs Štelbaums

Notability???

It is hard to even find any information about this speed skater, apart from this article and its copy on other sites. I finally found his skating results at [1]. He participated in the Soviet Allround Championships six times and his best result was a sixth place. He participated in the 10,000 m of the 1960 Winter Olympics, but was disqualified. He did not participate in any World or European Championships. He skated a time on the 10,000 m that was faster than the world record at the time, but it was not recognised by the International Skating Union. Even if his time had been recognised by the ISU, it would not have been a world record because Vladimir Shilykovskij skated more than 5 seconds faster than Shtelbaums that day. No national or international records, no national or international medals, nothing. He is mentioned in one or two other articles, but I do not think this person meets the notability criteria. wjmt 23:51, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

(somewhat late reply) I disagree. For obvious the internet presence of quite well-known figures from the 1950s and 1960s is going to be small - there's about 2,500 google hits for such a person as Alexey Kosygin, to take one example. From the DESG link, it appears he was the fastest 10,000 metre skater in the Soviet Union in 1959, but was too slow on the shorter distances to ever get to start at the allround championships. And he beat Kosichkin by eight seconds, and he won the bronze on the distance at the World Championships eight seconds behind Knut Johannesen - so there's an argument for him being one of the best in the world that year. That's a claim to notability; also, the bit about Shilykovskij is wrong, as he only skated faster in the same competition a year later, so had Shtelbaums' time from 1959 been approved, he would have been a world record holder for about one year. Having been the fastest in the world in an Olympic event is noteworthy, in my opinion. Sam Vimes | Address me 23:13, 7 September 2007 (UTC)