VANCOUVER — The international media cleared out of here Monday, but anyone who covered these Winter Games will see red maple leafs in their sleep for weeks. Canada’s unbridled enthusiasm for its Olympics and its athletes was rewarded with a record performance on the snow and ice, if not off them. It was not an easy Games for fans to negotiate, but when you have a gorgeous city such as Vancouver as your backdrop, no one complained too much. With “O Canada” still ringing in my ears, here’s a look at the best and worst of the 2010 Olympiad:

Biggest story:

Canada’s gold rush. The United States won the overall medal battle with 37, but since when are Americans satisfied with second and third? Canada has 34 million people; we have 308 million. Canada had a Winter Olympics-record 14 gold medals; the U.S. had nine.

Best story:

Lindsey Vonn-Julia Mancuso catfight. The U.S. alpine team had a reality TV show on its hands with Mancuso getting snippy about Vonn’s attention and Vonn popping off about the team’s jealousy factor. Meanwhile, skiers from other countries openly questioned Vonn’s shin injury. You can’t make up this stuff, folks.

Best gold medal battle:

Canada-U.S. men’s ice hockey. It’s not just that the game went into overtime. It’s that the entire host nation was on the edge of its snowblower waiting to see if its Games would be a success or a disaster. Canada won in an epic game that will live in the sport’s lore forever.

Biggest flop job:

Austria’s alpine ski team. The all-time leader in Olympic alpine medals was favored to win five. It won one.

Worst story:

Luger’s death. The image of Georgia’s Nodar Kumaritashvili’s mangled, lifeless body wrapped around a support pole stayed with all of us throughout the Games. Lugers and bobsledders were crashing all through training. Kumaritashvili told his father he was worried about that deadly turn.

Best clutch performance:

Hannah Kearney, moguls, U.S. Canada’s favored Jennifer Heil had just nailed a monster run and was poised to win Canada’s first Olympic gold on Canadian soil. But Kearney silenced a delirious Canadian crowd with an even better run and stalled Canadian history for another day.

Best quote:

Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, Norway, after winning silver in the men’s 4×10 cross country relay: “I skied the second lap, and I (messed) up today. I think I have seen too much porn in the last 14 days. I have the room next to Petter Northug, and every day there is noise in there. By the way, Tiger Woods is a really good man.”

Biggest choke job (coach division):

Gerard Kemkers, speedskating, Netherlands. Sven Kramer is Holland’s new Ard Schenk, a legend already. Kramer was cruising on his way to his second gold medal of these Games when Kemkers told him he was in the wrong lane and to move inside. Kramer wasn’t mistaken. Kemkers was. Kramer was disqualified.

Biggest choke job (athlete division):

Mellisa Hollingsworth, skeleton, Canada. Holding a silver medal going into her fourth and final run, she ripped off a fast start but banged down the home stretch and wound up fifth. No picture better illustrates the Olympics’ agony of defeat than Hollingsworth’s tears in front of her home crowd.

Best venue:

Cypress Mountain Snowboard Stadium. The site of snowboardcross and skicross athletes making the course’s final jump over the Olympic rings is a snapshot every snowboarder should have on his or her wall.

Biggest snafu:

Transportation. Too many fans had major problems getting to or leaving events because buses were too full or not running, and taxis were far too few. It was a mess.

Biggest shame:

Price gouging. Locals said prices were jacked up as much as 25 percent. British Columbia has fine wines, but every one isn’t worth $10 a glass. And what’s with La Bosca in Whistler charging $28 for spaghetti Bolognese?

Longest line:

Olympic Superstore. This is quite an honor, considering long lines for tickets, buses and restaurants plagued these Games. But rarely was the line to get at the souvenirs inside the Hudson’s Bay Company less than two blocks long.

Best final Kodak moment:

At 2 a.m., hours after Canada beat the U.S. for hockey gold, seeing a maintenance worker cleaning up outside an empty subway station, quietly singing, “O Canada.”



Newest sexy sport:

Curling. Camilla Jensen of Denmark posed in a Danish magazine. There’s a curling calendar featuring two U.S. women. John Morris was listed among Canada’s 100 most eligible bachelors. Canadian skip 43-year-old Cheryl Bernard was nicknamed Vancougar. And this sport’s vernacular has too many sexual innuendos to even think about listing in a family newspaper.



Most courageous athlete:

Joannie Rochette, figure skater, Canada. You can play lots of sports after tragedy. Ice hockey. Cross country skiing. Speedskating. You can work out your frustrations. But figure skaters must land on a steel blade one-eighth of an inch wide and perform solo in front of a worldwide audience. She not only did that two days after her 55-year-old mother died of a massive heart attack, she won the bronze.



Most dominating performance:

U.S. four-man bobsled. Driven by Steve Holcomb, the United States won all four heats, setting track records in its first two runs, and its total time beat the field by nearly half a second. In bobsled, that’s like half a football field.

John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com