Remembering The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Sports News - March 1st, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

It all depends on what you value most: quality or quantity.

While Americans "won" the 2010 Winter Olympics with a record 37 total medals and overcame long olympic odds in Online Sportsbooks, Canada rallied from potential disaster in the second week of the Games to earn a record 14 gold medals. The host country didn't "Own The Podium" like it hoped, but that mattered little as it's banner soared during the final medal ceremony Sunday afternoon. Canadians got the only victory they really wanted.

Truly, there were arguments everywhere that could point to one country winning the Games instead of another, none of them overwhelmingly convincing, yet all of them compelling.

There was tragedy and triumph - misery and bravery - over the last two weeks that suddenly transformed the Vancouver Games into the kind of celebration it was marketed as.

There was reason to believe that these Olympics were the most forgettable in years, yet other reasons to believe they were the most memorable. Weather, finance, and safety issues nearly trainwrecked the Vancouver Games, but personal . It was kind of like a bad road trip in which a family despises, yet fondly remembers after all.

And so was the ambiguity of the entire 2010 Winter Olympics. There was the embarrassing moment in the Opening Ceremonies in which the cauldron lighting stalled because of a hydraulics problem, but humor in the self-deprecating fashion of the Canadians in the Closing Ceremonies.

Lindsay Vonn won gold in her very first event, but skied out of her last three.

Bode Miller pulled off a stunner to win gold in the super-combined, silver in the Super-G and bronze in the downhill, but failed to qualify in his last race.

Canada and Team USA beat each other in men's ice hockey, but Canada's was worth gold.

There was devastation in the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili before the games even started, but honor in the way his countrymen arrived at the Opening Ceremonies and performed in the games.

There was heartache in Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette's mother's death just days before her short programme, but honor in her teary-eyed bronze performance. And there was Kim Yu-Na's record-shattering performance that shared the headlines.

There was Evan Lysacek's dazzling performance to steal gold in men's figure skating, which was only marred by Russia's outrage. Russia actually finished without a gold in figure skating for the first time since 1960.

There was the heartsick feeling that accompanied the Canadian National Men's Ice Hockey team after it's loss to the United States last Sunday, but overwhelming joy when Sidney Crosby punched through the game-winner in overtime to win capture gold.

And there was Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer's devastating mishap on a lane change that turned his record time in the 10,000m final into a disqualification. His coach took blame for the missed lane, and said it was the worst moment of his life. Kramer wouldn't go home empty-handed, though. He won gold in 5,000m.

Germany won the second-most medals, led by a dominating performance by Vonn's rival Maria Reisch in Alpine skiing. With her biggest competition out of the way, Reisch won two golds in the second week. She took the women's super-combined event by nearly a full second, then won the slalom by 0.43 seconds.

In all, 25 countries took home a medal, including Kazakhstan, when Elena Khrustaleva took silver in the women's 15km individual biathalon.

Six countries won more golds than any other medal, including the Netherlands, which dominated in speedskating with seven medals - three of them gold.

We saw Shaun White dazzle in his final run, although he knew he had already won gold, with his Tomahawk - a Double McTwist 1260 that asks for two front flips and three and a half spins.

Apolo Anton Ohno became the winningest athlete in Winter Olympics history with his eighth medal, but he failed to win gold in any event.

There was tragedy and there was triumph that will probably be lost to time. Who won the Olympics is up to taste. The Americans took a record medal haul in February, but few had the weight of Rochette's bronze, or Canada's hockey gold.

The lasting images from these Games will be determined by the quality of the memory, and there was certainly a large quantity to choose from.