Knowing how to answer the tough questions from the media, Smith-Valade said, is key.

"It's really standing firm and not letting those kinds of questions get you down because they are going to come," she noted. "They came in Calgary. I went to Beijing, and I went to Torino. The tough questions come in the first five or six days of the games, and if you're ready for it, and you're composed, and you feel confident in your answers and the confidence that the best part of the Games is still to come, then you make it through those sessions."

Renee Smith-Valade said in addition to making it through the media sessions, she and her staff have also worked hard in making sure the Vancouver Olympics Web site has been a source of good, fast, accurate and detailed information about the Winter Games.