Olympic veteran has found the fun again, something that has translated into a top-10 ranking. There was a time, not long after a teary exit from the Turin Olympics in 2006, that Emily Brydon sought only to escape her sport.

Then, as now, Brydon was the veteran of the Canadian women’s skiing squad, but a 20th-place finish in her downhill run in San Sicario brought on a near-collapse and headlines of retirement. Only 25, she retreated to Australia for six weeks alone.

“I just ran away,” she said. “From skiing and everything that I knew.”

Two and a half years later, the native of Fernie, B.C., was once again front and centre as the Canadian alpine ski team was announced yesterday in Toronto – the oldest member of a women’s crew coming off a podium-filled season on the World Cup circuit. And while teammates and Alpine Canada Alpin brass crowed about how Own The Podium had pumped up the team’s financial resources as the Vancouver 2010 Olympics approach, Brydon spoke to how changes in her headspace are what will carry her through to the Games 472 days from now.

“I was so shocked that I was there at the Olympic Games and I wasn’t enjoying it,” Brydon said of Turin. “I wasn’t enjoying the sport. That’s why you do sports.

“You can’t live this lifestyle, on the road all the time and all the ups and downs, if you’re not having fun. It’s painful.”

Yesterday, beaming onstage alongside her teammates with a new season approaching, it was clear Brydon – known among teammates as Mama B – has found the fun, something that has translated into a push all the way into the top-10 rankings of women’s downhill and super giant slalom.

Coming off a season in which she finally earned her first World Cup win in her 163rd event, Brydon leads a team with a few familiar faces and plenty of youth, a group that includes 25-and-under hopefuls such as Kelly VanderBeek, Shona Rubens, Emilie Desforges and Larisa Yurkiw. Team veterans Britt Janyk, who finished third in downhill in the World Cup standings last season, and Genèvieve Simard, are also back onboard, and both have been along for the ride of highs and lows of Brydon’s career.

“I think over the years I’ve learned that, when she does feel that way, it’s better to give her some space and let her figure it out on her own,” Simard said of Brydon’s near-retirement in 2006.

“The day she decided that she wanted to be back, and do what she does, she was 100-per-cent committed. It was tough for us because I was thinking maybe we were going to lose a veteran that’s brought a lot to the team. I’m glad that she’s still around.”

Alpine Canada chief athletics officer Max Gartner also knows Brydon’s journey well and said yesterday that what she brings to the youngsters in the group is the experience of both ends of the spectrum that a skier goes through.

“She’s done a lot of soul searching,” Gartner said. “That’s why I distinguish our sport so much from other ones because there are so many downs. Especially injuries – you spiral way down. You have to really dig deep and decide what to do with your life.

“Emily is a very bright lady, she could do a lot of other stuff, but she hung in there. She said she hasn’t done what she wanted in ski racing and last year was a payoff for her. And her focus is on the Olympics, there’s no question. Even if there are some more downs, she’s going to be battling through them.”

Even Gartner admitted the women’s team exceeded expectations last season, winning seven World Cup medals to the men’s three, and Brydon was at the head of the class in terms of over-the-moon performances with three trips to the podium. Gartner said he doesn’t see why her success can’t continue all the way until 2010.

“She has a lot of grit,” he said. “I think she’s at the peak of her career.”