All the medals may have been handed out in Vancouver, but there’s still time to hand out some other awards.

Best Performance: Joannie Rochette
There really is no one else that can claim this title.  As most people know, Rochette performed her figure skating routine two days after the death of her mother and wound up claiming bronze for Canada.  The circumstances were absolutely extraordinary as Rochette’s mother had just gotten to Vancouver when she suffered her fatal heart attack.  Yet Rochette decided to continue, making her one of the symbols of the Olympics and a national hero in Canada.

Most Enthralling Game: USA-Canada Gold Medal Hockey/Norway-Canada Gold Medal Curling
A tie for this one, as both games were enthralling in their own ways.  First off, the hockey game was the ultimate event of the Olympics, with the people of an entire continent glued to their seats. The game was hyped with full rosters of NHL players and the golden child himself, Sidney Crosby.  The game delivered as well, highlighted by Zach Parise’s game-tying goal with 24 seconds left in regulation before Crosby’s game-winner in overtime.  I probably would have been able to stomach the loss, except for the fact that Crosby scored the winning goal.  How soon is it before he’s up for canonization?

Now for the curling.  This match between Canada and Norway provided one of the coolest moments of the Olympics. And no, it’s not because of the Norwegian team’s pants.  It happened late in the 10th, when the Canadians had the match wrapped up with a 6-3 lead while the rowdy crowd who had been clanging cowbells, doing the wave, and yelling rambunctiously for most of the match, broke into “Oh Canada.”  A teary-eyed Kevin Martin, the Canadian skip, held off on delivering the rock until after the crowd had finished.  The patriotism displayed at both of these events provides the perfect illustration for what the Olympics are all about.

Gutsiest Performance: Petra Majdic
The cross country skier from Slovenia won a bronze medal in the 1.4km sprint with five broken ribs and a collapsed lung.  She was in such unimaginable pain that she had to be carried from the stadium after the finals of her race and had to be helped to the podium while having a tube in her chest to relieve the collapsed lung.  Even more impressive was the fact that after Majdic suffered her injuries during the morning warmup session– when she skied over a snowbank, down a 10 foot ditch, and fell on her back on the rocks in the bottom of the ditch– she skied four races.  That’s right, four.  Majdic had to race through qualifying, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the finals before she received her bronze.  Majdic had to pull out of the rest of her scheduled events before receiving the Golden Order for Services from Slovenian president Danilo Turk.

Most Popular Shin: Lindsay Vonn
Going into the Olympics, media coverage of Vonn’s shin dominated any American coverage of the Games.  As the skiing events were delayed due to poor weather conditions, the speculation around Vonn’s shin increased before she silenced all doubters with a gold medal in the downhill and a bronze medal in the super-G.  While she crashed during her other three events, course conditions played a larger role in her failure to complete those courses.

Greatest Redemption: Bode Miller
Miller has one of the most well-known Olympic stories of all the Americans in Vancouver.  After two silver medals in Salt Lake City in 2002, Miller was supposed to dominate in Torino in 2006, but flamed out after spending his nights partying and skiing recklessly.  He disappeared from the public eye for a bit before returning in Vancouver to win a gold, a silver, and a bronze in three of the five events he skied. 

Greatest Embarrassment: Sung Si-Bak and Lee Ho-Suk
The two Korean speed skaters had the silver and bronze locked up in the men’s 1500m short track event before the final turn when the two went down, giving silver to rivals Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski.  Short track is the sport of choice in South Korea, so to fall with a medal in your grasp is beyond embarrassing. 

Most Interesting Character Award: Petter Northug
Going into the Olympics, Northug, a cross country skier, was carrying the entire country of Norway on his shoulders after the powerful Norwegian cross country program came up empty in Torino.  A man who called himself more important than the king of Norway, Northug’s confidence was high entering Vancouver, and he backed it up with four medals. 

Best Hair: Shaun White
Come on, you knew this was coming.

Daniel Gallen can be reached for comment at [email protected].