In the aftermath of Canada's gold medal victory over the USA in mens ice hockey today, as Vancouver city went mad and people stormed the streets in an insatiable desire to be together in celebration, a fan climbed on to the sky train and cheered "Whoooo... we won the cross country!"
The quip earned general laughter and the point was well made... who noticed the mens 50km cross country race being contested on this, the last day of the Vancouver Winter Olympics? How could there be any thought for anything but the final hockey match on which so much depended, certainly Canada had no mind for anything else.
And so the game was fought in an epic pantomime, fatefully scripted into a clash of titans that represented so much more than a mere gold medal and was played out accordingly - with seven minutes of overtime before the tie breaking goal was scored.
It was a redemptive moment for Canada and for the United States - neither nation managed to progress past the quarter finals at the 2006 Games in Torino, but for the host nation it was so much more. A victory in their nation's game, the seizure of a record - most gold medals won by a single country at a winter Olympics - a triumph over their bigger bully of a neighbour and the golden crown on a glorious two weeks.

One Aussie golden girl brought them in and the other takes them out - following Torah Bright, who carried the flag in the Opening Ceremony, gold medal aerialist Lydia Lasilla has borne the standard for the Aussies in the closing.
Looking more relaxed in their casual cargos the Australian team - who wore formal suits for the Opening - came into the stadium to great cheers and set about enjoying the party atmosphere of the stadium.

All the results and the final medal tally

The 2010 Australian Winter Olympic Team

tags: olympic, feature, features, mogul, skiing, womens, medal, brittney, cox, short, track, tatiana, borodulina, tally

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