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KEARNS -- Eric Heiden wonders if he missed out on the honor of lighting the Olympic caldron to begin these Games because a cluster of hockey players rallying around their heroic captain make for better television than a single athlete performing the rite on his own.
"It's a great honor to be able to light the flame, an honor that really transcends patriotism and nationalism and that is given to somebody who has done something exceptional," said Heiden, the only U.S. Olympian -- man or woman -- to win five individual gold medals in a single Games.
Heiden won all five speedskating events at the 1980 Lake Placid, N.Y., Olympics, a feat that probably will never be matched. Not a single skater at the 2002 Games is even competing in all five events.
Heiden thinks the decision on the caldron lighter should have been based purely on athletic achievement, not the demands of television.
"If you allow television to make decisions, the honor is diminished and cheapened."
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