A Real Team Effort

Up the back stairs of Rice-Eccles Stadium they crept, a special force unlike any other in U.S. history, clad in black jackets so they wouldn’t be seen in the dark.

As they reached their appointed destination at the top, one group went right, another went left. And one man broke off and for a moment stood alone, silhouetted against the night sky, waiting in the wings, his jacket now off.

At the climax of Friday night’s opening ceremony of the XIXth Winter Olympic Games, the spotlight swung toward him. There, in the glare, stood Mike Eruzione, who 22 years ago had scored the winning goal in the most memorable Olympic upset of all time, when a bunch of young American men prevailed over a seemingly unbeatable Soviet hockey machine.

In a repetition of what he had done on the medals stand after the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team had done the unthinkable and won the gold medal, Eruzione waved his hand. From the shadows, the rest of the U.S. team joined him in a moment intended to capture the essence of the American spirit in the wake of the terrorist attacks, and they lit the caldron.

The ceremony culminated months of secrecy by Olympic organizers and marked a significant departure from the traditional approach to lighting the Olympic caldron. Usually, one athlete is chosen for the honor, such as Muhammad Ali, a 1960 Olympian, who memorably lit the torch at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

But this was meant to remind the nation and the world, organizers hoped, what is possible with teamwork and passion and will.

It was Jan. 10 when Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney, ceremony executive producer Don Mischer, NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol, NBC Olympics executive vice president David Neal and SLOC creative director Scott Givens made the final decision that the hockey team would light the caldron.

Who better, they reasoned, to inspire a nation that could use inspiration? Who better to represent American values to the world?

Until Friday night, the choice remained a secret, known only to a few.

Most often, a winter-sports athlete from the host nation lights the caldron at the Winter Games.

At the very outset, though, Romney wanted Nelson Mandela, the former South African prisoner of conscience, now a statesman, to do it.

“Our theme would be well expressed, and perhaps best expressed, by Nelson Mandela, who has really inspired the world,” Romney said.

Inquiries were made discreetly. Mandela was unavailable.

Romney then proposed the hockey team. Givens said, “Sounds good.” Mischer was, according to Romney, “somewhat comfortable, [not] pulling one direction or the other.”

But NBC’s Ebersol wasn’t convinced.

Then came the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

In the aftermath, Romney’s attention was focused for weeks on security concerns at the Games. When he had time to think again about the ceremony, he wondered if maybe one of “heroes or victims” of the attacks would be best, perhaps a firefighter or police officer, but ultimately that was rejected.

“Our feeling is the Olympics is an international event. While 9/11 is an international tragedy and people all over the world were affected, it was perhaps too U.S.-centric,” Romney said.

Ebersol, meantime, immersed himself in videotape of the 1980 hockey tournament--and to think about the symbolism of the U.S. team’s victory.

The U.S. team’s win over the Soviets in the semifinals, and then the gold-medal victory over Finland, lifted a nation that was then in the midst of a hostage crisis with Iran.

It had reminded the nation of a cherished national value, American can-do spirit, something that rang especially true in the wake of Sept. 11. It was soon settled.

The 1980 U.S. hockey team would light the caldron.

The discussion turned to the supporting cast, important players in their own right:

Who ought to carry the Olympic flag? Who ought to carry the flame into and around the stadium?

Traditionally, the eight flag-bearers are divided into five and three, representing the five interlocking Olympic rings and the three “pillars” of the Olympic movement--sport, culture and environment.

Choosing wasn’t all that easy. Eric Heiden, for example, the five-time gold-medal winning speedskater, said he refused an invitation unless he could light the caldron.

But by mid-January, the group reconvened in Romney’s office and settled on an all-star lineup:

Astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) was chosen to represent the Americas. Lech Walesa of Poland, the former labor union leader who became the country’s president, was picked for Europe. Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, instrumental in the abolition of apartheid, for Africa. Double gold-medal winning ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki of Japan for Asia. And runner Cathy Freeman, who lit the caldron at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and then went on to win the women’s 400 meters, for Oceania.

Then came the three “pillars”: French skiing star and IOC member Jean-Claude Killy for sport, movie director Steven Spielberg for culture and Jean-Michel Cousteau for the environment.

The flame would be carried around the stadium in pairs, continuing the theme of connectedness.

Gold-medal figure skaters Scott Hamilton and Peggy Fleming were picked to bring the flame into the stadium.

They would hand off to skiers Phil Mahre and Bill Johnson, gold medalists at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games.

Then back to speedskaters Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen, both gold-medal winners.

Then to the Shea family, the country’s only three-generational Olympic family. Plans were for Jack, Jim and Jimmy Shea to appear together. But Jack died last month at age 91 when his car was stuck by a drunk driver.Gold-medalist Picabo Street, a skier, and hockey gold medalist Cammi Granato would run the flame to the top of the stadium, where Eruzione would accept it.

Then he would call for his teammates.

During rehearsal early Friday, all but two of the members of the 1980 team were on hand. “It wasn’t until last night at 1 o’clock in the morning that we figured out we were going to be the guys,” Eruzione said, “It was like, ‘wow.’”’

All the flag-bearers and torch-runners and skaters were worthy, Mischer said. But of the hockey team, he said, “Certainly, they’re deserving.”