The Spirit Of The Olympics

Nearly 24 hours later and I'm still struggling to find the words.
And wiping away the occasional tear.
Then again, there may truly be no way to do proper justice to what unfolded late on a Tuesday night of the second week of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Courage, bravery, guts, heart ... all of them have been used to describe Joannie Rochette's emotional short program skate, just days after the shocking death of her beloved mother, Therese.
Every one intended to express the utmost in admiration, to be sure. But still, none seems quite enough to describe an Olympic moment that was so dripping with emotion and gripped by sadness and heartbreak.
Through it all, one question defied explanation: How did Rochette do it? How could she summon the strength to deliver the best short program of her 24-year-old life, with her heart so heavy and the entire world watching and hoping so badly for her ... and perhaps fearing the worst?
To know Joannie Rochette, though, is to know a fierce competitor with the heart of a lion and a steely focus to match. She needed each and every one of them to get through the most difficult night of her life, and get through it she did. Well enough that Rochette is extremely well-positioned to bring Canada its first medal in Olympic women's figure skating since Liz Manley's silver in 1988.
Now while some will suggest — and perhaps rightly so — that Rochette scored her biggest victory by merely stepping on the ice Tuesday night, she knows her work isn't close to done. There is a free program to skate on Thursday evening and perhaps a medal to accept afterward — she is third by a comfortable margin and close enough to Japan's Mao Asada to perhaps match the silver she earned at last year's world championships in Los Angeles. All of that is a mere 4-1/2 minutes away.
But it was in her utter brilliance that Rochette paid her biggest tribute to her mother's memory on Tuesday night. It is in the performance that she can do it one more time on Thursday night.
Regardless of how it all turns out, anyone who witnessed that remarkable scene on Tuesday — and an astounding 7.5 million Canadians were watching on TV, when it was 11:30 p.m. in Rochette's hometown of Ile-Dupas, Que., and even later out East — won't soon forget the moment. It is an Olympic memory to last a lifetime.
And, it says here, there should be one more before the flame is extinguished in Vancouver. Hand Rochette the red maple leaf and let her proudly carry it high as she leads our athletes into B.C. Place for the Games' closing ceremony on Sunday. It would be a most fitting and ultimate tribute to the ultimate display of the Olympic spirit.
Canadians everywhere were inspired by Rochette's courage in the face of tragedy. For many, it will be their most enduring memory of the Vancouver Games. Let it be their final one, too.