tuesday night joanie rochette proved it to the world.tire country on her side, she delivered a stunning performance. friends, family and teammates were there, but the one person who really mattered was missing, her mother. therese rochette died suddenly saturday night in vancouver of a suspected heart attack. joanie, an only child, was extremely close to her mother. both parpts had just flown to vancouver to see their daughter compete. her dream to be an olympian was her mother's dream, too, which is why she's refused to give up. >> what impressed me about her is not the fact that she's strong, it's the fact that she handles everything with such grace and dignity and even every now and then a smile on her face. >> reporter: somehow she mustered the strength doing what those know her say her mother would have wanted, doing her very best. dazzling the crowd, holding on until the end. when finally, the tears came. the crowd showering her with applause. >> there is no bigger stage than the olympic games, but the skate and the moment is much

mao asada took silver and joanie rochette skated beautifully, capturing the bronze.one point blowing a kiss to her mother in the sky. the usa women's hockey team storybook run crashed this evening on the ice at canada hockey place in front of thousands of screaming mapleless-waving fans. it see. ed the canadian net was bulletproof. goalie swatting away everything america's best could offer. 28 shots on goal. the canadian women have not lost at the olympics since 1998 and their victory was seen as a bold defense of this nation's deeply-rooted hockey tradition. and speedy peterson brought his five twists and three somersaults to the aerials on cyprus mountain today. there was a wager on the usa women's hockey game today between the white house and the prime minister's office. now it looks as if the white house is going to pay up. you will see robert gibbs, according to plan, wearing a canadian jersey at his next briefing. >> thank you, phil rogers, in vancouver. let's go to bob and get more details about this windy weather and when tngs are going to settle down finally

perhaps the moment of the games was joanie rochette who overcame enormous grief just to compete.unday morning here in vancouver. >> she was my biggest fan, my best friend and i'm sure she was with me tonight. >> reporter: rochette put on the performance of her life and in front of an emotional crowd, she won the bronze medal. kevin tibbles, nbc news, vancouver. >>> nbc olympic primetime coverage starts tonight at 8:00 p.m., 7:00 central. we want to tell you about a series of reports we'll bring you next week, about how you can achieve your personal best, fitness, health, better life all around. that is next week here on our broadcast. and finally, we would be remiss during this last weekday broadcast from here if we didn't thank our hosts, canada and canadians welcomed the world and have done a remarkable job. it is a great place and perhaps the best way to say good-bye is with a wave. thanks to our host country and our neighbors to the north. that is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. thank you for being with us for all of it. i'm brian williams reporting ton