For all the hoopla that surrounds the coming of the Games, there's a certain amount of sadness that comes with their closing. This seems especially true this year after what a success this international competition was and what a feat the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee pulled off.

Amidst all the pit-of-your-stomach discomfort in having that many people in one spot in the wake of September 11, the Games went off in grand style, despite a few controversies (judging and doping), and acted as a catharsis to a host country in distress.

Ultimately, these 2002 Winter Olympics seemed to represent what the competition was always meant to be.

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." These words are called The Olympic Creed and are commonly attributed to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.

And the Olympics are never just about the 16 days of international competition broadcast throughout the world. They are the stories behind the stories: who are these athletes, what brought them this far; and, what did they overcome to get here.

Those athletes that make us misty-eyed and become the star water cooler fodder seem to be the ones that are somehow greater than their immediate challenge. Maybe this is because people love to rally around the underdog, whether they're given this status based on talent or some perceived hurdle in their paths to greathood.

Historically, we can look to say the Jamaican bobsled team or this year, perhaps, cross-country skier Isaac Menyoli, representing Cameroon, who only began participating in the sport in 1997. Or to Vonetta Flowers, the first black athlete, male or female, to ever win gold. Or to 16-year-old Sarah Hughes, who upset not only the Russians, but who also, with one camera on her obvious surprise yet crumple-to-one-knee elation at her gold-medal win, in three minutes stole the title of darling-of-the-ice from Michelle Kwan, who took bronze.

While all the 2,500 athletes who competed in these games deserve praise for their focus, strength and determination, we had to narrow the list down to the skiers and snowboarders.....