Amazing effort. To me that is what the Olympics is all about and that is exactly what I saw as I watched Rosie MacLennan of Richmond Hill, Ontario win Canada's first gold medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games in individual trampoline. Way to go Rosie! And it is most certainly what I saw when I watched the Canadian women's soccer team put it all on the field in what can only be called a heart breaking loss to the U.S. Ladies, you were and are awesome! I am overcome with a sense of patriotic pride, exhilaration and awe. Win or lose, these young women have shown the world why they are among the very best in their sports.

While these moments are the culmination of personal commitment, determination and courage, they also serve to highlight the long journey of women to make their mark in perhaps the most male-dominated field: sport. It took 120 years but the modern Olympic Games have crossed a significant threshold. Finally, in this the 30th Olympiad, with the introduction of women's boxing, there are no remaining sports that do not include events for women. It is a complete reversal from the first modern Olympics in 1896, when no women competed because Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee, felt including women would be "Impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect."

That is the kind of mindset women athletes have worked hard to change ever since and in some countries continue to fight against. Even as recently as 1996 in Atlanta, 26 countries had no women participants. Prior to these London Games, Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia had never sent a female athlete to the Olympics. But they are here now symbolizing the power of women. IOC president Jacques Rogge acknowledged that power to the world in the opening ceremony, declaring: "For the first time in Olympic history, all the participating teams will have female athletes. This is a major boost for gender equality."

A major boost but we still have a long way to go. In Saudi Arabia, for example, girls continue to be denied physical education in schools and women are not allowed to attend sporting events even as spectators. That is why the efforts of 16-year-old judo Saudi competitor Wojdan Shaherkani are so important. She was greeted by cheers when she entered the arena for her bout and even though she was quickly defeated, her presence alone was a huge victory.

I think the same is true of every woman competing in each of the 26 categories of events. Perhaps Marnie McBean, three-time Canadian Olympic champion and a mentor to Canadian Olympians since 2006, put it best. In her book The Power of More, McBean makes the case that to accomplish goals, whether they be in sport, in business, in life, you have to believe in the importance of doing a little bit more all the time. Break down the task into manageable bits of more, she says. And that's exactly what women have done to achieve gender equality at the Olympic games. Well done women. You are all golden!