Canada, Joannie Rochette and the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010
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Recently, like many people in our society, I found myself caught up in an unfolding story about which I might have had an interest that approached zero. It was the Winter Olympics 2010 in Canada. At first it was just curiosity about whether Australians would be involved in making snow where there was none - unsurprisingly, they were. It's an odd solution when so many other places have more of the stuff than they want. But here in Oz, we sometimes have to make our own. And having developed the techniques, we sometimes help other people. So there we were, making snow and trucking (helicoptering?) it in from other places.

And unavoidably, another story came to my attention. It wasn't what you might expect - the lovely Torah Bright had a gold medal and a smile that could be studied for nuclear fusion. It was the opposite - someone who didn't have much to smile about and "only" won a bronze medal. Her name was Joannie Rochette. Joannie was facing something that we will all face sooner or later but in her case the timing was terrible. Her mother died suddenly the week before her competition.

It looked to me like she skated with tears in her eyes. It must have been bloody hard. Sometimes it's not always the person who wins the gold medal that's the biggest hero. Sometimes the hero is a real surprise. She carried the flag at the closing ceremony for Canada and I don't doubt that she was the only flag-bearer who wasn't wearing a gold medal (OK - some countries didn't win medals - point.). Joannie Rochette's medal is possibly irrelevant. It's her courage and her dignity that distinguished her. I reckon the Canadians need to take a bow for choosing Joannie when they were snowed under (no pun intended) with a record number of gold medals - the most gold medals ever won by any country at a Winter Olympics. People sometimes wonder why we place such an emphasis on sport when the world has so many other problems. It's not just the competition that counts. It's the time when we get real about our own abilities and most of all, our own inner demons. No one but Joannie and her demons were on the ice when she skated, no matter how much we were all with her in spirit.

The greatest thing that the Canadians did at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 was not to win a lot of gold medals. It was to recognise the courage, the grace under enormous emotional pressure and the dignity that a team member showed in extraordinary circumstances. They recognised Joannie Rochette for her heroism.

And Joannie carried their flag.

I'm proud to be an Australian. But I'm also immensely happy that we have such people as Joannie Rochette in the world. We are all the better for it. Thanks Joannie. Christopher Woulfe

~~~~~~ Courage is where you find it ~~~~~~