Olympics

The battle belonged to Korea's exquisite Kim Yu-na and Japan's sensational Mao Asada, who are the two best women skaters of their time. But the night belonged to Canada's courageous and heartrending Joannie Rochette, who was competing just two days after her mother, Therese, died of an apparent heart attack early Sunday morning shortly after arriving in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate.

It was an unforgettable evening on several levels. The quality of the skating by Kim and Asada, whose rivalry lived up to its billing, was, honestly, without precedent. Adding to the drama, they took the ice back to back. First it was Asada, the 2008 World Champion, landing her huge triple axel-double toe combination with ease -- the first triple axel by a woman in the Olympics since Japan's Midori Ito in 1992. And she brought more than her jumping to these Games. On a night when the judges were very conservative in awarding positive Grade Of Execution (GOE) points, Asada's spiral sequence was given a +2.00. She made no mistakes, and her artistry was masterful -- her program component scores ranged from 7.40 to 8.40. Pumping her fist after her final spin, Asada burst into a huge smile, as if to say: Beat that, Yu-na! -- as the Pacific Coliseum was suddenly aflutter in Japanese flags. Asada's total was 73.78, the second highest mark for a short program this year.