Vancouver, British Columbia ? They will be remembered as the Games where the fall cometh before pride.

The fall–the horrible, very public death of an athlete–was a hard one, the worst-case scenario for planners who sweat every detail of hosting an Olympics.

Before Canada officially had launched Winter Games XXI, its third Olympics, Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luge slider who said he would master the world’s fastest track at Whistler or die trying, lost control of his sled near the last curve of a training run. He struck an exposed steel support beam and died instantly.

The show had to go on, and did, only hours after Kumaritashvili’s death, with an Opening Ceremony that included a crowning failure: one of four large pillars failed to rise from the floor of B.C. Place and triumphantly light the Olympic caldron. The next morning, Vancouverites awoke to find a companion outdoor caldron on the city waterfront encased in chain-link fencing.

Rough start would be an understatement.

Yet Canada — and the spirit of the Games — slowly, inexorably, began to recover. The shock of the early trauma eased, and Canadian athletes, after a slow start, finally began to win medals. Eventually, the 2010 Olympics got a kick in their step that built to a street dance by the triumphant final day, with Canada’s hockey gold medal crowned by the Closing Ceremony.

Unfortunately, other problems follow these Games into the history books. Early Canadian expectations to “Own the Podium” looked comically optimistic during the first week as hometown athletes buckled under pressure — while the archrival U.S. team took an early medal lead it never relinquished.

Before a week had passed, journalists from Europe were raising the specter of “the worst Games ever.” It was ridiculous hyperbole, but maybe that’s what it took to get the fires fully lit in Maple Leaf nation.

By the time Canada’s true Olympic passion, the hockey tournament, started, the country was fully plugged in to its first Winter Games since Calgary in 1988.

Credit goes to the fans. They came early, cheered loudly, and for the most part, filled the stands. They were rewarded with America’s greatest Winter Games performance ever, with 37 medals, a Winter Olympic record for any nation. U.S. athletes owned the podium by succeeding in their usual strong sports and several new ones, settling old scores and breaking long droughts.

The U.S. nordic-combined team, which had never won an Olympic medal, charged to four, with Bill Demong of Vermontville, N.Y., winning his nation’s first gold medal in an nordic sport. Steve Holcomb of Park City, Utah, and his team won the nation’s first bobsled gold medal in 62 years.

In the end, Canada also overachieved, winning 14 gold medals — a Games record. Of course, the nation would have traded the other 13 for that final one, earned in a 3-2 overtime hockey victory over the U.S.

In the end, the Games that began with tears and anguish ended on an upbeat, celebratory note — “With Glowing Hearts,” as the Games slogan said. It was no small feat, and a credit to the strong Olympics ethic that’s clearly alive and well to the north.