I had no idea how big the 2010 Olympic medals are until I saw the silver hanging around Johnny Spillane’s neck and the gold around Billy Demong’s.

Stuck in the security line during the actual medals presentation (I did see the two American and one Austrian flags rise beyond the metal detector and hear the Star Spangled Banner), I decided to walk backstage just to see Johnny and Bill with their medals.

Why? Because these guys are the nicest people out there. We’re not supposed to have favorites in this business. But it’s hard not to. Throughout the year, we interview a lot of athletes, and some are inevitably nicer — and easier to reach — than others. They are the kind of guys who answer questions until there are no more questions asked. They even politely answer the stupid questions (which I can personally attest to!).

Billy, Johnny, and Todd Lodwick, who helped get the Nordic combined ball rolling for the U.S. back in the mid-1990s, aren’t just ambassadors for their sport. They’re great role models.

Not long after Bill and Johnny won their medals in the Nordic combined large hill event yesterday (meaning they jumped off the big jump, not the smaller one called the “normal hill”), Bill was informed by U.S. cross-country skier Kikkan Randall that he had been selected as flag-bearer for Team USA at the Closing Ceremony.

A four-time Olympian, Bill was selected by his fellow team members — and not just Nordic combined teammates. All of Team USA voted.

"It could have been any one of my teammates, and it is meaningful that our peers are taking notice of what we've achieved," Bill said.

Lindsey Vonn is one of his fans. Talking about Olympic moments that inspired her, she listed Billy’s and Johnny’s 1-2 finish as tops on her list.

“I think [Billy] truly loves pain!” she said after today’s slalom. “He just keeps pushing himself to the limit every day of his life.”

She laughed as she recounted a commercial that she and Billy were filming in Chile for Alka-Selzer cold medicine.

“I was out shooting on the hill, and he hiked up the whole mountain and around the mountain and down,” she said, still amazed. “I asked him what was going on, and he’s like, ‘Oh, I just hiked the mountain for like five hours.’

“I’m always shocked by the physical exertion that he puts himself through. I think he honestly enjoys it.”

But an Olympic gold medal and flag-bearer duty isn’t all that Billy won on Thursday. Last night — after the medals ceremony and after he found out he would be the flag-bearer — he proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Katie Koczynski, during a ski team party. And she said yes.

Although I wasn’t at the party, the story goes something like this:

Bill had been carrying a ring with him for several months, looking for that perfect time to pop the question.

Last night, he knew there would be no better time than the night of an Olympic gold medal. But it took some last-minute encouragement from Johnny, who is married and had just led the party in singing Happy Birthday to his wife Hilary.

Johnny then gave Bill the thumbs up, and Bill grabbed the microphone. Bending down on one knee, Bill asked Katie to be his wife as the crowd cheered wildly.

I heard that after the proposal, Bill was questioning the cheese-ball factor of what he had just done. But I think it’s sweet. I haven’t heard of many down-on-the-knee proposals. At least not among my jaded friends.

But what would you expect from one of the nicest guys out there?