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Said Norwegian Skating Coach Sten Stenson: "In Norway, we say that if you can be good in the 5,000 and 10,000, you can't do the 500. But Eric can do it. We have no idea how to train to take him. We just hope he retires." "What Heiden is doing," said U.S. Marathon Star Bill Rodgers as Eric's medals piled up, "is comparable to a guy winning everything from the 400 meters to the 10,000 meters in track. There may be guys who can do 5,000 and 10,000 meters, but to do this—my God! Equating it to running, it is doing the impossible." Said Bob Mathias, winner of the Olympic decathlon in 1948 and 1952: "It's spectacular. He has to have the sprinter's ability, plus the lung capacity and the stamina for the longer distances. He is just a super athlete."
At 6 ft. 1 in., 185 lbs., Heiden is certainly one of the best-conditioned athletes in the world. Sometimes he bicycles 100 miles a day to build endurance, bending low over the handlebars and drilling his body to keep that horrific skater's crouch. He lifts weights, he duck-walks for miles, he rollerskates, he spends hours each week sliding back and forth in stocking feet across a 10-ft. formica-covered slideboard, an exercise that mimics the speed skater's side-to-side stroking of the ice. After eight years of such routines, Heiden's thighs are oak thick in circumference: 29 in. each.
Even with such conditioning, the speed skater endures considerable pain. Before a 10,000-meter race has ended, Heiden says with feeling, "you think you'd give your life to be able to stand up. Your back is killing you so much you'd do anything to get out of that crouch." Each race has distinctive elements of suffering. The 1,500-meter, for example: "When it's over, you cough up fluid from your lungs for a couple of days afterward. The 1,500-meter hack, we call it. I like the 1,500-meter the most, but I've got to prepare for the pain. The only way you can win it is by suffering a lot."
In addition to his strength, discipline and sheer natural speed, Heiden has another edge: he is a shrewd competitor. Speaking of the 10,000, his final test, he told TIME Associate Editor B.J. Phillips last week: "It is a strategy race. You have your intervals [planned times for each lap] and you try to keep to them but, within that, there are things you can do to work on the other guy. You can try to get behind him for a few moments and let him break the wind for you, like race-car drivers do. Or you can pick up your speed for a lap or two and make him think he's dying, maybe get him a little panicked. And you've got to watch out he doesn't do the same things to you."