I think I speak for all Canadians when I say no one saw this coming. In the lead up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, who could have ever predicted the two weeks we've had? The world has seen a side of our wonderful country that rarely shows its head, and what a triumph it has been: a celebration of sports, a celebration of athletes and individuals, and a celebration of a proud, joyous nation.

Tragedies struck, conflicts arose, and rain fell, but like a determined athlete battling adversity, the Vancouver Olympic Games met all challenges head on and rose high above them. And here we are, at the end of two weeks, with our highest medal tally ever, and the most gold medals ever won at a Winter Games. Winning, does it make such a difference to our country? Taking a stroll down Granville Street on Saturday night might have left you deaf from all the Canadian chants. Spontaneous outbursts of "Oh Canada" would echo in your ears. Canada's athletes, to a man, said that they were competing for us. The medal winners won for us, and we graciously accepted and stood next to them on the podiums.

When Alexandre Bilodeau's grin stretched from ear to ear, couch-prone Canadians across the country smiled with him. As Kevin Martin finally achieved redemption after eight long years of waiting, Canada itself felt redeemed. And when Joannie Rochette showed us the true meaning of courage, continuing to compete after losing her mother halfway through the games, we watched over her, lifting her onto the podium with all our thoughts and prayers.

For two weeks, our nation has been united. For two weeks, we've all been pulling the rope in the same direction. There is nothing else that can unite such a massive, diverse group in celebration. Nothing but sports has the power, and nothing but the Olympic Games has the breadth.

"I Believe," CTV's Olympic slogan could not have been better chosen. We have become a country of believers. Our heros have inspired and united everyone, from the young to the old, and our country is a happier place than before. What a difference two weeks can make.

In a previous Vancouver 2010 Olympics preview post, I wrote about Canada’s best medal hope in men’s figure skating. Today the focus is on our medal contender in female figure skating.

Joannie Rochette:

Joannie Rochette is a relative late bloomer in terms of how long it took her to contend for world titles, but at the age of 23, she is pushing her name into the list of the world’s elite skaters. Her past results have been nothing to scoff at, with the most impressive being a 5th place finish at the 2006 Turin Olympics and a 5th at the 2008 World Championships in Sweden, but with the Olympics coming up in her home country, lately she has been setting her sights even higher.

To set the tone for her 2009 season, she dominated the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in January, winning by a margin of 25 and capturing her fifth consecutive title as the country’s champion. Using that as a springboard into world competition, she won a silver medal at the Four Continents Championship in February, losing to Korea’s Kim Yu-Na. Indeed, Kim may be Rochette’s toughest competition on the world scene, as she showed again in March at the World Figure Skating Championships where Rochette achieved the best result of her career, winning a silver medal, and once again finishing second to the Korean.

With the next major world competition being the Olympics, Rochette aims to add a few elements to her routines to increase the her potential maximum score, the toughest being a triple-triple combination in her short program. If she manages to pull these jumps off by the time the Olympics come around, she may very well be standing atop the podium in Vancouver come February.