My Favorite Moments of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

I am now a fan of men's figure skating because of the smack down match between USA's Evan Lysacek and Russia's Yevgeny Plushenko. The question was who would jump a quad (four spins in the air) and who would not to win the gold medal? Plushenko felt he deserved to be top dog because he always jumps a quad. Lysacek responded with an all around technical and artistic performance. No quad. He won the gold medal by 1.31 points over Plushenko. The reason why this was so anticipated was because both men are great competitors and elite athletes. The enormous pressure brought out their best.

Two days before Canada's Joannie Rochette was to perform in women's figure skating. Her mother died of a sudden heart attack. She decided to continue in the Olympics and landed in third position after the short program. Rochette did an incredible job and everyone was speechless and emotional. It took courage and that moment will be remembered fondly in the years to come. She went on to win the bronze medal and captured the hearts of millions.

What can I say? Apolo Ohno needs no introduction with eight Olympic medals total in his illustrious career. I follow him on "twitter" and he is so positive and humble. He knows speed skating inside and out. I cheered him on through all his races. The 500-meter final gave Apolo a disqualification because he touched a Canadian competitor. I thought it was so wrong. They took away a silver medal. Like a true champion Apolo expects the unexpected in his sport. He accepted the referee's decision and moved on to win another bronze medal for USA. This guy inspires me to no end.

The most thrilling race came down to a photo finish in the men's 1.6km sprint. Two Russians went head to head and ski to ski in the last ten meters of that race. The commentators couldn't control themselves and neither could we the audience. That sprint was so thrilling and so exhausting it was over the top exciting. Thank you Alexander Panzhinskiy and Nikita Kriukov.

Shawn White is again the Olympic gold medal winner in "half pipe" snowboarding. He makes it look so easy that he led the field right from the start. His competitor's fell or stumbled and White came out on top. He had one last run and he didn't have to because he won the gold medal. He felt he had to perform this new jump called the "double mc twist 1260." He did it and thrilled everyone around the world. Way, way cool.

It just couldn't get any more competitive than the fight between USA and Canada for the gold medal in men's hockey. The pressure was on and team USA pulled it through by scoring a goal to push that game into over time. The score was 2 each and for seven "on the edge" minutes we just couldn't breathe. Canada scored and the gold medal was theirs. What a valiant effort by team USA. We are so proud of you.

The pressure was on for Korean figure skater Kim Yu-Na. She is already a mega-star in her country and the expectations were so high. It was just unbelievable how she lived up to it all and more. No one could catch her after the short program. She became untouchable after the free skate program and set a new record with 150.06 points. Her total was 228.56, a lead of 23 points above her competition. She was flawless and with an attention grabbing performance.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada got their due at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic winter games. We followed chosen travelers across Canada to a theme called "landscape of a dream." It was filled with traditional images of the indigenous tribes and it was a perfect welcome beginning of these Olympics.