Olympic Spirit 5

Forty-three year old Peruvian cross-country skier Roberto Carcelen broke ribs during training two weeks earlier, but still completed a painful 15k Classic Style competition on Friday. He came in 87th - dead last.

When he crossed the finish line, dejected and in pain, he was proudly holding up his flag (he is Peru's first Winter Olympian). He was given a standing ovation by the crowd, and was greeted by two fellow competitors.

The first was Dachhiri Sherpa of Nepal, who finished 86th, a full 11 minutes earlier. The next was Dario Cologna. Cologna skied for Switzerland and won the competition in 39 minutes. The gold medalist, who himself had completed a grueling race with a close finish, waited around the finish line for another half hour so that the last finisher would have someone to greet him.

Olympic Spirit 2

Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland competed in the 10k (6 mi) cross-country race in the Olympics. She had a little tear in her Achilles heel. She (**yuck alert**) had to have her toenails removed because of frostbite. AND she had a broken foot. A broken foot! And she still competed. With injuries that would have most of us laid up at home with our foot up, she skied for over 6 miles. AND she won. Gold medal for Poland, on a broken foot.

Olympic Spirit 1

So, how about the Russian who was favoured to win in cross-country ski today, but instead was part of a three-guy pile-up that ended up breaking his ski? He's Russian, and he was going to finish, goldarnit. Kicking along with a broken ski dangling from his left foot, he was interrupted when one of the Canadian coaches ran down two snowbanks with a spare ski for him. The Canadian felt bad for the Russian, and he wanted him to finish with dignity in front of his home crowd. That's why I love the Olympics.