I did a deep dive on the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The Olympics officially barred professional athletes from hockey. Everyone had to be an amateur. The Soviet’s blatantly ignored this rule. They had 11 month training camps for their players and paid little to nothing. They did this as a symbol of national pride, but it just made them look stupid. More over, the players that were allowed to goto the NHL, they were taxed at 99%. This made them defacto slaved for the Soviet system.
