Christine Sinclair has earned the peace of her decision to exit international soccer on her own terms

The real lure of sports is their perpetual mystery. Every game, every season, every athletic career is a wonder.

Then, always, there comes an end. A whistle is blown, a trophy is engraved, a tearful announcement is made, and for an instant, at least, every question is answered. We bask in that understanding until the calendar turns, and new questions are asked, again and again.

In 2000, when Christine Sinclair was 16 years old — a shy, quiet teenager making her first precocious appearances for the national team at the Algarve Cup in sunny Portugal — nobody could have foretold how the rest of her story might unfold.

Today, on Wednesday afternoon, in the thin light of a grey day in Vancouver, we can make a perfectly complete account of her international soccer career.

She played until she was a shy, quiet 40-year-old, earning a remarkable 331 caps for Canada. Her last came on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in a 1-0 win over Australia in a stadium renamed Christine Sinclair Place for the occasion.

WATCH | Sinclair plays part on Canada's winning goal:

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She was cheered on by 48,112 supporters, the most for a women's soccer friendly in Canadian history.

She didn't add to her record tally of 190 international goals, but she did get a vital touch before her team put one in, and it proved the winner.

After the game, she gave her last post-game interview to TSN — "It's perfect," she said ��— and then semi-staggered to the middle of the field, the turf turning cooler by the minute. She was met by a circle of former and current teammates — now, all former teammates — and they put their arms around each other's shoulders.

Celine Dion's "The Power of Love" was played over