With Olympic flame lit, it's time to enjoy the real beauty of the Games

No matter the geopolitical madness, no matter state-sponsored drug cheats, no matter the eternal hypocrisy from the IOC to stay political neutral amid dealing with totalitarian regimes, here is the ultimate truism about the Olympics

The athletes always save it.

They are why we watch. They are why we believe in the Olympic mythology. They are why the Olympics continue to possess some magic dust for me.

As a kid, my dream was to attend one Olympics as a fan. As an adult, I found myself in a lottery ticket job at Sports Illustrated that allowed me to cover seven Olympics onsite, from Salt Lake City in 2002 to Sochi in 2014. At every one of these Games, from sun-baked Athens to Putin’s Potemkin village on the Black Sea, the athletes always won me over. 

The Olympics provided me with one of the greatest sporting events I’ve witnessed in person — Canada’s 3-2 overtime win over the United States in the women’s hockey gold-medal game in Sochi. With her team leading 2-1 late in the third period and Canada having pulled goaltender Shannon Szabados for an extra skater, U.S. forward Kelli Stack found the puck on her stick in her own zone and aimed for history. Her clearing attempt traveled the length of the ice and clanged off the post, missing by an inch. An inch to the right and history changes. That’s the magic of sports and the Olympics. It’s a two-week journey of best on best competing from across the planet in sports often as exotic as the Galapagos Islands.

How a goal post changed everything for Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics

The CBC has an army of great people who will bring you the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games from every possible angle. You will find plenty of content here on Team Canada athletes and their quest to own