The Winter Olympics ended Sunday, with Canadians celebrating their team's best performance ever. Canadian athletes hauled in a record 17 medals in 17 days, coming in fourth place in the overall country standings.

That tops the previous record of 15 medals won during the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

Canada came in fourth place, just ahead of Russia which had 16 medals. Germany placed first with 35 medals, followed by the U.S. (34), and Norway (24).

But the excitement, for most Canadians, wasn't just in counting up the medals.

Records were broken, history was made, Canadian-made Roots jackets and caps quickly became the hottest selling items in the Olympic Village, and a scandal over judging in the pairs figure skating event put two-heavily photographed Canadians on TV newscasts and talk shows around the world.

Then there was the much-hyped hockey finale. Canada's Olympic fever reached its peak on Sunday afternoon in the final event, when the men's hockey team won the gold medal for the first time since 1952 Games. Their 5-2 victory over the U.S. team set new ratings records for a televised hockey game.

Last week, the Canadian women's team won the hockey gold medal, also beating the U.S. team in a final match.

Figure skating pairs champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were chosen by their fellow athletes to carry Canada's flag in the closing ceremonies in Salt Lake City Sunday night. A week ago Monday the duo were awarded a silver medal for their flawless performance, and after an unprecedented public outcry and accusations of vote-swapping on the judging panel, Sale and Pelletier were eventually awarded a gold medal.

Sale and Pelletier had both expressed concerns that their subsequent P.R. bonanza would overshadow the achievements of other Canadian athletes, but there was no chance of that on Saturday, the second last day of competition, with a literal gold rush Canadian speed skaters -- five medals in just a few hours.

Marc Gagnon stood for O Canada twice on Saturday night, after the short track 500 metre even and the 5,000 metre relay. Add those gold medals to a bronze he picked up earlier in the games, and two from the Nagano 1998 Games, and Gagnon became Canada's most decorated Winter Olympian with five medals.

And Clara Hughes won bronze in the 5,000 metre event Saturday night, making her the fourth athlete - and the first Canadian - to win medals in Summer and Winter Olympics. Hughes was a double-bronze medallist in cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.

Canadian medal winners:

Gold
Marc Gagnon: Short-track speed skating, 500 metres
Men's team: Short-track speed skating, 5,000-metre relay
Catriona Le May Doan: Women's 500-metre speedskating
Jamie Sal(C) and David Pelletier: Pairs figure skating

Silver
Jonathan Guilmette: Short-track speed skating, 500 metres
Kevin Martin rink: Men's curling
Veronica Brenner: Freestyle skiing, women's aerials

Bronze
Deidra Dionne: Freestyle skiing, women's aerials
Clara Hughes: Speed skating, 5,000 metres
Kelley Law rink: Women's curling
Marc Gagnon: Short-track speed skating, 1,500 metres
Women's team: Short-track speed skating relay, 3,000 metres
Cindy Klassen: Long-track speed skating, 3,000 metres
Mathieu Turcotte: Short-track speed skating, 1,000 metres
Beckie Scott: Cross-country skiing, five-km. free pursuit

The games closed Sunday night with an entertaining ceremony in Salt Lake City's Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium. Bon Jovi, Willie Nelson, Christina Aguilera and Gloria Estefan were among the performers.

The Olympic flag was passed on to the mayor of Turin, Italy, where the games will be held in 2006.