When Jacques Rogge made his first visit to Canada as president of the International Olympic Committee, he encountered a nation in mourning.
He arrived during the National Hockey League lockout in 2004 and everywhere he went, all he heard about was the lack of hockey.
"I discovered your passion for hockey when I first came here," Rogge said in an interview.
Now he's returned to find a nation in celebration.
Canada won four medals on Wednesday and defeated Russia in men's hockey to advance to the semi-final.
Rogge was there for one of them, sitting alongside the speed skating track in Richmond as Clara Hughes took to the ice for her final race, winning a bronze.
The IOC president, who has presided over two prior Winter Games, marvelled at the full house in the oval, even on a rainy midweek afternoon.
While Dutch fans wearing orange roared for their teams, he said their spirit was old hat - their country is next to his native home of Belgium, he pointed out, and he knows them well.
But the Canadians?
"I have never seen a city embrace the Games as Vancouver has done, it's really been astounding," he told a small group of reporters.
"I would say Sydney comes at the same level, but you cannot compare Summer and Winter Games. What we have seen here, in the streets of Vancouver, is absolutely extraordinary."
The 2010 Olympics will be the last Winter Games Rogge oversees as president. His term expires in 2013.
His days in Vancouver have been busy, if the handwritten schedule he carries around inside his suit pocket is any indication. It's filled with the sporting events he's attending and the meetings he has with sponsors, sports federations and various national Olympic committees.
He's made it to see all seven winter sports taking place in Vancouver and Whistler, a task he called a "piece of cake" compared to the 28 sports he sees at a Summer Games.
But still, his time is tight.
After the 2006 Winter Olympics, he called Canadian Cindy Klassen the "Queen of the Games," for her five medals. He was running late on Wednesday and missed her race.
But he'd already pegged the Czech Republic's Martina Sablikova as the winner anyway, and as he watched her stride around the ice towards her gold, marvelled at what he called her elegance.
Sablikova "is definitely the queen of skating. Whether she will be the queen of the Games remains to be seen," he said.
While it's true that Canada won't reign on the podium at the Olympics, he believes government and organizers did the right thing in putting together the $117-million Own the Podium program.
"The ambition to say that you will be No. 1 and have more medals than the rest of the countries was maybe a bit ambitious," he said.
"You need to have a high goal. If it's too low, it doesn't express ambition so you have to set a high bar."
It is in the athletes that Rogge appears to find inspiration.
He remains upset by the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili and admired the courage of Canada's Joannie Rochette, who took to the ice in figure skating only days after the death of her mother.
He said it's too early yet to pick his 2010 Olympic moment, but Switzerland's Simon Ammann stands out.
Ammann, a ski jumper, won two gold medals at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, tumbled down the rankings in Turin, but staged a comeback for 2010.
"He is someone who has resisted the test of time," Rogge said, adding that Ammann has had to adapt to changes in rules, equipment and his own body size.
"Eight years later, he wins a double gold, I think that is unique," he said. "He's only 27. There is more to come."
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