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Diane Jones-Konihowski hasn't given up on a Canadian Olympic team limping its way toward Beijing.

While the former Olympic athlete and current Canadian Olympic Committee board member doesn't like seeing so many medal hopefuls felled by hardship, Jones-Konihowski is buoyed by how Canadians have adopted a comeback kid's approach in previous Olympics.

"Look at [rower] Silken Laumann," Jones-Konihowski said. "Winning a bronze medal [after her training accident before the Barcelona Olympics in 1992] was like winning a gold."

Laumann's left leg was shattered when a boat rammed into hers just 10 weeks before the Olympics opened. Doctors scoffed at the world champion and Olympic favourite participating in Barcelona and warned she might never walk normally again.

But just 27 days after her accident, Laumann put down her crutches, got back into her boat and paddled into Olympic history with a bronze medal.

Synchronized swimmer Sylvie Fréchette had her own battles in Barcelona. Before leaving for Spain, she came home from a training session in Montreal to find her fiancé dead on their bed. He had committed suicide. Despite competing in a shroud of sadness, she turned in a performance of a lifetime.

A scoring mistake by a Brazilian judge who hit 8.7 instead of 9.7 on a computer keypad cost Fréchette the gold medal. The International Olympic Committee investigated the incident and eventually awarded Fréchette the gold.

Alex Baumann was widely considered Canada's best chance for a gold medal in the pool at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. He was the reigning world record holder in the 200-metre and 400-metre individual medley, but his physical and emotional status was questionable.

Baumman was bothered by a shoulder that would pop out of its socket if he swam too hard. He also had to deal with the loss of his father, Bedrich, who died of complications from diabetes. Four years earlier, Baumman's older brother, Roman, committed suicide.

Undaunted, Baumann went on to win Olympic gold in the 200 and 400 individual medley, both in world-record time.

As for the Winter Oympics, who can forget figure skater Elvis Stojko's silver-medal showing in 1998 at the Nagano Games? Stojko headed to Japan hiding a month-old groin injury. During the short program, he reinjured himself and was diagnosed with pulled abductor and lower abdominal muscles, a pinched nerve and a slight tear in the groin.

Despite the pain, he went on to compete in the 41/2-minute free-skate final, nailed eight triple jumps, but could barely make it off the ice. His gutsy effort earned him Canada's Meritorious Service Cross.