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The party may be over, but the feel-good factor from the 2010 Winter Games continues to ripple around Canada. Its images, videos and storytelling enthralled the world for two weeks and more.

These were the first truly digital Olympics. Online viewing records were smashed to smithereens according to figures from Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. By day five numbers had sailed past the grand total for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and by Feb. 21 that total had reached 110 million sets of eyeballs. It’s a significant change in how people tuned into the action and entertainment in Vancouver and Whistler, BC.

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) assisted rights-holding broadcasters and other media in putting their stories together, as well as showcasing Canada to the VIPs and dignitaries visiting these shores.

Here are some more highlights:

• The NBC TODAY Show definitely fell in love with Canada. It came up trumps again with another segment—“Call of the Wild: Life Lessons from a Blind Dog.” Mary Carillo’s report focused on dogsledding in Manitoba, in particular on Isobel, a blind sled dog. Heart-warming stuff. Carillo, of course, was one 14 international stars in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay chosen by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) in collaboration with the CTC. Watch the video.
• Other recent TODAY Show features included “Totem Poles: Timeless Traditions,” a report on that most iconic of First Nations’ craft as well as an interview with Ghana’s “Snow Leopard,” Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong. The latter also came to Canada as part of CTC’s “Connecting with Canadians” program last summer.
• Gold medal-winning skeleton racer Jon Montgomery took to a different podium with an appearance last week on “The Oprah Show.” Montgomery talked to Winfrey, the monarch of daytime TV, about his amazing Games experience and what lies ahead. It was a TV moment to rival the Manitoba-born racer’s victory celebration: chugging a pitcher of beer, instantly endearing him to many watching Canadians.