By TIM DAHLBERG

updated 1:01 a.m. ET Feb. 25, 2006

TURIN, Italy - For a guy who insisted nothing mattered except gold, Chad Hedrick looked awfully happy after his last Olympic race.

Even “The Exception” is entitled to make an exception once in a while.

There was no reason not to. Hedrick completed a personal set of Olympic medals with a silver Friday in the 10,000-meter speedskating, and he did it on a night when his tank hit empty midway through the race and the laps around the Lingotto oval never seemed so long.

That was enough for him to boast Texas-style about what kind of heart he had and how no other skater would have been able to dig so deep and get so far. And it was enough to whet his appetite for 2010 in Vancouver, where he vowed to be back to win even more medals.

Best of all, he was able to enjoy himself on the victory podium with Shani Davis, who didn’t compete in the race. No need for a forced smile because this time it was for real.

Not a bad night. Certainly not a bad Olympics.

Just not the exceptional one that Hedrick had promised everyone coming in. That would be the one where he would win five gold medals and match Eric Heiden’s haul from 1980.

He won his first race, then had the brashness to tell reporters they ain’t seen nothing yet.

“I didn’t come here to win one gold medal,” he said. “You’re going to see this face around a lot more.”

Hedrick may not have come to Turin to win one gold medal, but that’s what he went home with. He was oh-for-four in his races after the 5,000, though he did pick up a bronze and a silver to fill out his collection.

The second part of his vow was more accurate: We ended up seeing more of Hedrick than maybe anyone would have liked.

The stuff on the ice was fine. More than fine, actually, because Hedrick ended up with more medals than any other American athlete in the games.

Slide show   Emotional Moments Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.

And Hedrick certainly had the right to call out Davis, his teammate and fellow gold medalist, over Davis’ refusal to skate in the team pursuit event. Hedrick had his sights set on five medals, and he thought he might have lost one there because all of America’s best skaters weren’t represented.

The rest of the act, though, was just petty. He refused to congratulate Davis on his win in the 1,000, and made it a point not to have any contact with him as the two stood on the victory podium after taking second and third in the 1,500.

Then came the farcical press conference when the two sat three chairs away from each other, insisted for nearly a half-hour that everything was fine, and then finished it by showing everyone that it wasn’t.

That seemed to be a trend for Hedrick. He talked nearly two weeks nonstop, but by the time he was through it was hard to figure out what he had said.

Slide show   Pictures of the Day Check out Sunday's best Olympic images.

First he was going for five gold medals. Then he said he never said that at all.

He said he had nothing against Davis, then allowed that he felt betrayed by him.

It all made for good theater, might have even gained speedskating a few more fans. There’s nothing like a little controversy to stir things up.

“It built the hype up, I guess,” Hedrick said.