Usain Bolt, Rosie MacLennan top our bloggers’ most memorable moments of the 2012 Olympics

The Olympic fever never dies; it just settles into the cockles of our heart, where it rests for years, only to be awakened again one day when again we hear the dulcet tones of Jacques Rogge (or whoever replaces him next year). We'll spend the next 2-4 years navel-gazing about all our bronze medals, and debating the merits of the Own the Podium program that left us tied with Uganda, but there will be plenty of time for that later.

For now, we asked Don Landry, Neate Sager, Andrew Bucholtz and Jim Morris - the bloggers who brought you Canada's best Olympic coverage for the last three weeks - about their most memorable moments of the 2012 Olympics. Here's what they said.

Don Landry: Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt's utter mastery over all things Olympic stands out as the supreme highlight of these games. No, he didn't quietly enter the decathlon while you weren't looking. If he did, it wouldn't be a surprise if he hit the podium, though. When I say all things Olympic, I mean his event, the media, the fans, everything that goes into making an Olympic star.

Specifically, when he slowed down to glide across the finish line in the 200 metre sprint and brought one finger up to his lips in a metaphorical silencing of his doubters; that's the most memorable moment for me.There were many detractors, too. They said he'd lost it. Not fast enough anymore. Too injured or just plain not interested enough. Wrong. Bolt not only repeated as 100 and 200 champ, he again rose far above the rest of the games to be its most compelling star.

[Related: Usain Bolt serious about taking up professional cricket]

Neate Sager: Rosie MacLennan's gold-medal performance

Rosie MacLennan's trampoline triumph would stand out even if it was not the first Canadian gold medal of the Games. Rosie -- she's so down-to-earth it seems okay to break protocol and refer to her by first name -- seemed to reflect the best of who we are while winning gold. She was tough in the face of a tough job, earning the highest score of her career in the final to dethrone China's He Wenna. She was also, in the classic Canadian way, focused outwardly, calling it "bittersweet" that her performance served to keep Karen Cockburn, whom she grew up in awe of, off the podium.

Rosie's victory attests to Canadians' curiosity and eagerness to find out what's possible in sports where people try to defy gravity. Who knows what Rosie MacLennan's athletic destiny might have been if Canuck coach Dave Ross had never decided to put his physics degree to use coaching trampoline instead of finding a more traditional and lucrative line of work. Rosie is just the best to come along yet, taking Canada to new heights after the successes of Cockburn, Mathieu Turgeon and Jason Burnett. Perhaps our Olympic success in the 'big air' sports such as freestyle skiing, snowboarding and trampoline reflects how our relatively stable existence prods a certain number of us to build in a element of risk to our lives. Rosie MacLennan showed how high Canada can fly, yet she stayed grounded. '

MacLennan may not have carried the Canadian flag in the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, but there's a good idea of who should carry the flag in four years from now in Rio.

[Related: Too bad golden glow from trampoline medal couldn't shine brighter during Olympic Games]

Jim Morris: Brent Hayden's podium finish

Prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when Brent Hayden was still the 100-metre freestyle world champion, he was asked about his medal chances at the Olympics."I like to say I'm only accepting gold,'' Hayden said.He learned a hard lesson in Beijing by failing to make the final.That's why seeing Hayden win the bronze medal in the 100 metres at London was a memorable moment for me.

The Olympics have not been easy for the 28-year-old from Mission, B.C. At his first Games in Athens he was beaten up by police for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.Hayden didn't let pain or personal disappointment derail his dreams. He learned from his mistakes, trained harder and finally claimed the medal that had eluded him.

[Slideshow: The best photos of the 2012 Olympic Games]

Andrew Bucholtz: Canada's women's soccer bronze-medal winning team

When Diana Matheson fired a deflected shot home to give Canada a last-minute victory over France, it marked that for once, the Canadian women's soccer team had come out on top. This team had been through a remarkable amount of tough situations, from the extra-time loss to the U.S. in the Beijing quarterfinals four years ago to the Women's World Cup disaster of 2011 to the controversial semifinal loss to the Americans this time around, and despite tremendous potential, something always seemed to get in the way for them.

The reverse happened this time, though. After being kept on the defensive for most of the match, Canada put on the pressure late in stoppage time and a blocked Sophie Schmidt shot fell to Matheson, who made no mistake, burying the Canadians' first shot on target of the entire game. It was a spectacular moment for Canada's second-most-capped player of all time, the five-foot midfielder who'd battled back from a brutal 2011 knee injury. Matheson, the Canadians' shortest player, lifted a whole country onto her shoulders with the goal, giving Canada its first Olympic medal in a traditional team sport since 1936 and its first Olympic soccer medal since 1904.

The medal demonstrates how far this Canadian soccer team has come in less than a year under head coach John Herdman and how far it's progressed since players like Matheson, Christine Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi started their careers; it also gives the program a tremendous boost in advance of Canada's 2015 hosting of the Women's World Cup.

[Slideshow: Controversies of the 2012 Olympics]