thousands of spectator tickets had to be canceled because the footing on top of the hay bales underneath was unsafe.  Still, competition went on.  Whistler Mountain events were not affected.  That's where alpine skier Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to win the Olympic downhill gold medal.  Later in the season she was the first American — and only second woman ever — to win the overall World Cup title three straight seasons.

But despite tragedy and weather issues, the host Canadians rejoiced on the final day when their beloved men's ice hockey team captured the gold medal with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the United States.

In the professional hockey ranks, from which the Olympic teams were drawn, the Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup since 1961, beating the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.

The Los Angeles Lakers won their second straight National Basketball Association title, beating the Boston Celtics, four games to three, and Kobe Bryant was once again named Most Valuable Player.

Quarterback Drew Brees guided the New Orleans Saints to their first ever National Football League Super Bowl title.  Their 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts provided a big morale boost to the city five years after the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

Baseball's San Francisco Giants won their first World Series since moving to California from New York back in 1958.  They were victorious in five games over the Texas Rangers, who appeared in their first World Series.  But sadly, the steroids issue made headlines in baseball as well.  New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez admitted he took performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers six years ago.  On the other hand, retired star pitcher Roger Clemens was indicted on charges of lying to Congress two years ago, when he claimed he had never used performance-enhancing drugs.  His trial will be in 2011.

In the other bat and ball sport, Sachin Tendulkar of India became the first batsman to surpass 14,000 runs in test cricket.  And Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan retired with a world record 800 wickets, achieving the feat from his final ball in his final test match in July against India.

And in a thrilling Formula One season that came down to the final race, German driver Sebastian Vettel won his and the Red Bull team's first ever championship.

Leavy says Mickey Mantle loved his wife and family, but was distant from his children, and had dozens of extra-marital affairs, some lasting for years.  Through it all, Mantle continued his spectacular performance on the field, despite being in almost constant pain from osteomyelitis and other injuries.  In 1962, he was named the American League's MVP for the third time.  And while the Yankees continued to win the American League pennant, they lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 and to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964.

In 1965 the Yankees started to slide into mediocrity.  Mantle was in increasing pain, striking out more and more, and said the game was no longer fun.  But he played through the 1968 season. Ms. Leavy says Mickey Mantle retired with numerous records and achievements.

"He hit 536 home runs when 536 home runs really meant something, prior to the Juiced Era.' When he retired at the end of 1968, that put him third on the major league list," she said.  He was undoubtedly the greatest switch-hitter that ever lived.  He was the epitome of post-war American power."

Mickey Mantle played 2,401 games for the Yankees.  In addition to his home runs, three MVP awards and Triple Crown Award, he led the American League in home runs four times.  He played on 12 pennant-winning and seven World Series-winning teams.  He still holds the all-time record with 18 home runs in World Series play, as well as numerous other World Series records.  Mickey Mantle was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1974.

After retiring from baseball, Mantle pursued a number of businesses, most of them unsuccessful.  To make money, he made appearances to sign autographs and play in golf tournaments.  He also did public relations work for a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, — a move that got him temporarily banned from baseball.

Mantle lived in denial of his alcoholism until 1994, when he went into rehabilitation at the Betty Ford Clinic and stopped drinking.  But after his release, Mantle learned that his years of heavy drinking had left him with cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis-C and liver cancer.

Although he received a liver transplant in June 1995, the cancer had spread to other organs, and Mantle died two months later.  Despite the controversies surrounding his personal life, his outstanding abilities on the baseball field and courage in the face of pain made him a hero to a generation of baseball fans.

John Malkovich plays Lucien Laurin, the horse trainer who, at Penny's urging — and guided by her unflagging faith in him — pushes Secretariat on to victory.

Movies about horse racing have been done before. For instance, in 2003, the Depression-era hero Seabiscuit was the subject of a hit film. So "Secretariat" director Randall Wallace says he set out to show the grueling and sometimes dangerous sport from a different perspective.

"I understood about this movie from the beginning that we had to experience these races as participants, not as observers," Wallace explained. "That required that we shoot the movie in a way no horseracing movie had ever been shot with an approach of filming where you are subjectively in the race. You are not seeing what it is like to have watched Secretariat run. You experience what was it like to run like Secretariat. There is a world of difference in that. and we had to understand what it was like for the characters when they were alone. Some of the most evocative moments in this movie, for me, are when the characters are by themselves."

Wallace put the viewer in the races by shooting them with lightweight video cameras mounted right on the horses. Of course, horse racing fans know the results of the 1973 season when Secretariat won the Triple Crown, but director Wallace contends there is still suspense and a sense of religious exultation about the outcome of the film.

"In all of my other films, "Braveheart," "We Were Soldiers," "Man In The Iron Mask," along with courage and honor there is a sense of tragedy," Wallace said. "This was a movie in which it is unalloyed joy that glories in love and courage."

"Secretariat" reinforces that religious tone with lines from the biblical book of Job at the beginning and the 1969 hit version of the Christian hymn "Oh Happy Day" at its climax. The book "Secretariat: The Making of A Champion" by journalist Bill Nack is among the sources for the script by Mike Rich.