'Miracle on Ice' captain couldn't believe US Olympian said she'd burn flag: 'I thought it was a prank'

close

Video

'Miracle on Ice' captain sounds off on athlete who says she'd burn flag at Olympics

Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, said he 'couldn't believe' the statement by American athlete Chelsea Wolfe.

"Miracle on Ice" captain Mike Eruzione, who helped defeat the Soviet Union hockey team in 1980 in one of the greatest upsets in sports history, joined "Fox & Friends" Tuesday after BMX alternate Chelsea Wolfe said in a now-deleted Facebook post that she would burn the flag if she were to win a gold medal. 

Eruzione was baffled by the remark and said he thought it was "a prank." He then spoke about the meaning of competing in the Olympics representing the United States.

US OLYMPIC ATHLETE THREATENED TO BURN FLAG ON MEDAL PODIUM

"It's the ultimate honor, it's not a Super Bowl or a World Series or a Stanley Cup. This is the United States. You represent every part of this country," he said.

Screenshot.

Eruzione said he couldn't believe the BMX freestyle rider would ever think about burning the flag at the podium at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

"I actually couldn't believe it. I mean, first of all, burning the American flag anywhere is disgusting. To use your forum on the podium of the Olympic Games, I was like really, could someone actually think about doing that? … I just couldn't even imagine the mindset of someone thinking that made sense," Eruzione said, calling it an "incredible honor" to stand on the Olympic podium and hear the national anthem played and see the flag raised. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

"My goal is to win the Olympics so I can burn a US flag on the podium. This is what they focus on during a pandemic. Hurting trans children," Wolfe wrote on Facebook on March 25, 2020, along with a link to a PinkNews story about the Trump administration's stance on transgender girls in female athletics.

Wolfe, who identifies as a transgender woman, told Fox News that the post, which has since been deleted, doesn't mean she doesn't care about her home country.

"Anyone who thinks that I don't care about the United States is sorely mistaken," Wolfe told Fox News. "One of the reasons why I work so hard to represent the United States in international competition is to show the world that this country has morals and values, that it's not all of the bad things that we're known for."

Fox News' Evie Fordham contributed to this report