It is only for two weeks every four years that most sports fans in the U.S. pay attention to international snowball fights. So even though he was a speed-skating idol in Amsterdam long before 1980, Eric Heiden of the Golden Skates was an astounding discovery at home. One charm of the Winter Olympics is the inexpert opinion, maybe not completely mistaken, that the athletes in these neglected sports come close to some lost ideal, possibly even amateurism. Against a bright backdrop of ignored ski jumpers trying to...
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