Every Olympiad has its defining moment. That snippet of time that “goes big” over all the others and stands out as the signature Olympic imagery years from now.
Mary Lou Retton sticking her final vault in 1984 for a perfect 10. Mike Eruzione’s goal and Al Michaels’ “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” call 26 years ago in Lake Placid. The Black Power fist-raising of Tommie Smith and John Carlos after winning gold and bronze in the 200 meters in 1968.
These are moments indelibly linked to their respective Olympiads.
In the Winter Olympics, without question the marquee event is women’s figure skating. It has provided many a moment, from spills to thrills, from Dorothy Hamill and Katarina Witt to Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. 
This year, in Turin, figure skating did not deliver my golden moment of the Games. Instead, it came through with the gold-medal photo. Just take a look at Sasha Cohen staring down skaters warming up in an earlier group than hers. She’s such a punk, it’s awesome. She’s got that 1992 gangsta rap winter coat on, with a look that says, “What’s you gonna do about it, sucka?”
Some may look down on that aspect of her game. I look up.
Some say it’s evil. I say it’s admirable.
We should want all our athletes to be fiery and competitive. Joe Namath is called “brash” for his Super Bowl III prediction and it’s a good thing.
Of course, Cohen didn’t win as Namath and his Jets did, but second place in the world ain’t so bad.
But the true golden moment of these Games for the paradigm-challenging Mark La Monica (Hello, third-person reference, it’s been years, where ya been?) came Thursday afternoon New York time. It came during a most unexpected event.
Curling.
Curling!
It's the new sweet science.
During an intense moment in the middle ends of the women’s gold-medal match between Sweden and Switzerland, Swedish skip Anette Norberg slid a rock perfectly into the house to give her team the advantage.
The announcer, whose voice was familiar but name was unknown at the time, viewed the play and gave me my golden moment of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
"Hey, lemme tell you," he said. "That’s clutch curling."
I turned the television off.
Life gets no better.