The tragic death of Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili superceded anything else at the Games, especially at the Whistler Sliding Centre. That said, a host of other athletes had to deal with both the physical and mental aspects of competing on what had become a "killer" track, putting black tape on the helmets of all competitors and a pall over the entire competition. Some athletes and coaches blasted the track as dangerous, while others insisted that while it is a fast track, it is no more dangerous than others in the world.

It's a good thing Canada did not try to "Own the Podium" before sports like freestyle skiing and snowboarding were added to the competition. While the speed-skating team provided one medal of each colour over the first week, the less traditional snow sports really made the country's medal tally what it was. Alexandre Bilodeau and Jenn Heil took gold and silver, respectively, on moguls while snowboarders cross riders Maelle Ricker and Mike Robertson did the same in their event.

Sex. Controversy. America. No matter which angle you prefer, Lindsey Vonn had to be a huge story of the Games. Posing as a pseudo-swimsuit model, the Sports Illustrated cover and a cheese-wrapped shin injury alleged by ailing Canadian rival Kelly VanderBeek to be, well, at least slightly exaggerated, the 25-year-old's downhill gold made her a darling of the "U.S.A" chanting crowd as the first American woman ever to win the event. When she crashed in the women's super-combined going all out for gold instead of skiing safely for a lesser medal, it simply added credence to her ultimate competitor image.

 

Of course, not all sports are making progress, most notably women's hockey where Canada and the U.S. - the only two nations to ever win gold since women's hockey debuted in 1998. In the first five games involving either North American nation at this year's Games, the average margin of victory has been 10.5 goals, including Canada's 18-0 win over Slovakia and the U.S.'s 13-0 toppling of Russia. At least it's not been as bad as qualifying in 2008 when Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.

He is nicknamed the Flying Tomato, he looks like Carrot Top and he used to live in a van. Now, Shaun White's a millionaire, his sponsor builds him a secret training facility in the Rockies and, if you can get past the shock of television announcers breaking out words like "rad" and "stoked" simply because they're covering snowboarding, the 23-year-old flipping his way to a second consecutive gold in the men's half-pipe competition marked a stunning visual display for these Games.

 

It was not just that Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada's first gold on home soil or that he dedicated it to his disabled brother or that he provided a triumphal moment for a host nation dealing with a lot of negative moments. It was the young Quebecer looking for all the world like the happiest man on Earth, inviting his fellow medallists on to his platform. That he did this by beating turncoat Dale Begg-Smith, the unsmiling Canadian-cum-Australian who made millions via Internet pop-up ads simply added to the equation.

Not since the mid-1960s had anyone other than Soviet/Russian figure skaters topped the podium in Olympic pairs figure skating, notwithstanding the 2002 "tie" Canada's Jamie Salé and David Pelletier had with a Russian pair. At least not until this week when two Chinese teams swept top spots in Vancouver -- two-time bronze medallists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo broke through to win gold while Pang Qing and Tong Jian captured silver.

Hockey long ago left the days when any country that was not Canada or Russia could only hope for bronze or worse in best-on-best men's hockey tournaments. The Swedes, Czechs, Finns and Americans proved themselves worthy opponents long ago. But now, supposed speed bumps like Switzerland and Slovakia are showing anything can happen. Sweden barely eked out wins over Belarus and Germany. Canada needed a shootout to beat the Swiss, while the Slovaks toppled the Russians in another battle of breakaways. 

So much for the second coming of the Crazy Canucks. Instead, Whistler Mountain was littered with crashing Canucks as the much-hyped men's and women's downhill ski teams both failed to win a single medal. Injuries put world downhill champ John Kucera, Jean-Philippe Roy, Larisa Yurkiw and Kelly VanderBeek on the sidelines, but podium results did not seem out of reach for Manual Osborne-Paradis, Erik Guay, Jan Hudec, Emily Brydon or Britt Janyk. Guay's pair of fifth-place finishes in the downhill and super-combined paced Canada's best results, with few races left for the Canadians to mine for a medal.

 

Oxford Dictionary may want to update its newest edition with some examples for the word "perseverance." Take Iron Ladies Anja Paerson and Petra Majdic. Both literally picked themselves up to win their Olympic medals, Sweden's Paerson recovering from a fall during Wednesday's crash-filled downhill that sent her to hospital to win bronze in Thursday's super-combined. The Slovenian Majdic, meanwhile, broke both her poles, a ski and suffered abdominal injuries slipping into a into a three-metre ditch while warming up for a sprint race on Wednesday -- and still managed a bronze before withdrawing from the others races at these Games. The only time Majdic needed assistance was in stepping up on to the podium.