Two of the Tri-Cities' trio of Olympic medallists came home to a heroine's welcome Monday while the other stayed to travel Europe for a month.
Regardless, all three told The Tri-City News they were elated and overwhelmed with the response after having served their country and community at the 2012 London Games.
"I'm very proud to come from Coquitlam and the support the community has shown me has been amazing," Brittany Timko wrote Tuesday in an email while travelling with her boyfriend overseas.
Timko, 26, was part of the Canadian women's soccer team that earned the bronze medal with a thrilling 1-0 stoppage-time victory over France last Thursday. It was a huge step for Timko and the team after a gut-punching, controversial 4-3 overtime loss to the U.S. in the semi-finals, and a quarter-final loss to the Americans at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"Our team goal before the Olympics was to [make the] podium and to see the Canadian flag being raised, so walking away with a bronze medal is very satisfying," Timko said. "It was a heart-breaker to lose to the U.S. in the semi-finals, but that's sport.
"After the game was done, there were a lot of tears and then the next morning, we did our best to shake it off, knowing that we still had an amazing opportunity in front of us."
A reserve player during the Olympics, Timko, a forward-midfielder, was inserted into the bronze-medal match by Canadian head coach John Herdman in the 77th minute to add fresh legs and replace high-scoring forward Melissa Tancredi.
Timko was on the field when Canada's Diana Matheson hit a gaping net off a deflection nearly two minutes into stoppage time.
"This Olympic experience was more special to me than Beijing not only because of the team's success but because my family was able to be there and enjoy it with me," Timko said. "They have been the ones who listened to me as a five-year-old say that I wanted to play soccer in the Olympics and have always supported everything I've done.
"Beijing will always be special in that it was my first Olympics but London has been an absolute dream come true."
For Port Moody 32-year-old Krista Guloien, it was also the thrill of a lifetime when her women's eight rowing team roared to the silver medal - half a boat length shy of the winning American crew.
"I knew going into the final we were going to have our best race, even though I was really nervous," said Guloien, whose team started slow before surging late to press the U.S. squad to the limit.
"It was really exciting. When you're there [at the Olympics], everything happens so fast. You prepare for so long and then you're actually there... it's kind of surreal."
Guloien has watched the tape of the race a few times and admitted she thinks occasionally just how close to gold her team came.
"Part of me wonders if we had gotten out faster at the start, would we have been able to maintain our lead?" said Guloien, who said she's retiring from competitive rowing but plans to stay involved in the sport in some way.
"A small part of me thinks that but I don't stay up at night thinking about it too much. Silver is pretty special still."
Meanwhile, cyclist Jasmin Glaesser came home to a throng of supporters at Vancouver International Airport and, a few hours later, was at home in Coquitlam celebrating her bronze-medal win in three-member women's team pursuit amid family and friends.
"I love it, it's amazing," Glaesser said of the welcoming party that greeted her. "It's incredible the amount of support we had over here [in Canada]."
Glaesser, with teammates Gillian Carelton of Victoria and Tara Whitten of Edmonton, placed third behind host Great Britain and the U.S., and just ahead of fourth-place Australia.
"We had our expectations set high," Glaesser said. "We knew we had the potential [to medal] but it's difficult to be able to put it all together on the given day."
