To become the next Eric Heiden – or something – American skater Jordan Stolz hopes to once again wear the floral hat he was seen wearing after winning gold at the Winter Olympics in the 1,000 meters.
According to his parents, it is a congratulatory chapeau thrown to the winners by a Dutch fan who made it.
“They have to throw it away for the Olympic champion,” said Jordan’s father, Dirk Stolz to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday.
“I can’t ever remember a woman wearing it,” Jordan’s mother, Jane Stolz, added.
Apparently athletes have to give it back too.
“Wear it once, take a few pictures of it and that’s it,” said Jane Stolz.
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Heiden, the only skater to win five gold medals at one Olympic Games, watched from the stands as Stolz won his first race in Olympic record time.
Stolz won’t be able to match the legend’s 1980 victory total because he has one fewer individual event – but he could still become the only male skater to achieve exactly four wins at the same Olympic Games.
So there may be three more chances to wear the hat again.
There are, of course, other hat traditions in the sport.
The rally cap calls on baseball players or fans to turn their caps inside out if they need a comeback.
And in a well-known rite on the ice, hockey fans throw hats when a player scores three goals, also known as a hat trick.
You could say Stolz is a hat-trick of wins away from Olympic immortality.
