Golden memories of the Olympic Games

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic games were two weeks of fun and excitement, as well as memories to last a lifetime.

The defining moment of the Vancouver Winter Olympic happened Sunday just after 3 p.m. Pacific time. The immense pressure and expectations were fulfilled as the next great Canadian hero, Sidney Crosby, scored a goal 7:40 into overtime to win the gold medal game in men’s hockey.

To put it bluntly, if Team Canada had lost to the United States, many people across the country would have considered the games an epic failure.

Would the games have been a failure, though?

As I was watching the events on television, I couldn’t help feeling inspired by our Canadian athletes.

So yes, I would have been incredibly disappointed if Canada had lost Sunday, but I wouldn’t have remain inspired by the performances of the rest of our athletes.

There was Joanne Rochette skating in the women’s short program and winning a bronze medal two days after her mom died of a heart attack; Alex Bilodeau winning the first gold medal for a Canadian on Canadian soil while his older brother Fredric, who suffers from cerebral palsy, cheered him on; and Kevin Martin and the men’s curling team banishing the demons of eight years ago in Salt Lake by finally winning gold in men’s curling.

Sure, I’ll remember where I was when Sidney Crosby scored “the goal,” because for my generation that is our Paul Henderson moment. And I am a hockey fan after all.

But I will also be able to recall where I was when Bilodeau was presented his gold medal and O Canada was played for the first time on Canadian soil at the Olympics.

Or what I was doing when I found out that Clara Hughes won a bronze medal in her final Olympic race ever.

The Olympic Games gave me the opportunity to witness great acts of patriotism as well as a newfound respect for what our amateur athletes go through to win for our great country.