If anyone needed a strong skate leading up to the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver it was Joannie Rochette.

The world silver medalist from Canada had struggled all season long in this, the most important season of her career. She did not have two clean programs in any of her international events this season. Although she won the title at Skate Canada, she mustered just four triples in her free skate. She placed third at Cup of China (following a fifth-place showing in the short program) and was fifth in the ISU's Grand Prix Final.

At the national championships last month, Rochette, who was seeking her sixth Canadian title, fell on a triple Lutz and found herself second to Cynthia Phaneuf in the short program.

When it came time for the free skate, she was determined to send a message.

It came through loud and clear.

Rochette landed seven triples in her free skate program to "Samson and Delilah,'' erasing any doubt that she has the mettle to be considered a medal contender in Vancouver.

"It was a big confidence boost,'' Rochette said in a telephone interview. "A big one. I think I really needed that. It was not only that but I just have had a really good month of training.''

Although it seemed abundantly clear that Rochette had her ticket to Vancouver ready long before she ever landed in London, Ontario, for the national championships, she still had quite a bit to prove. She wanted to win six national titles, and, more importantly, she wanted to send a message to her international competitors that she hadn't fallen out of the medal picture.

Rochette ended last season on the highest note of her career with a silver-medal performance at the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, where she was second to Korea's Yu-Na Kim, the most dominant woman in the sport. In her four previous trips to the World Championships she had never finished higher than fifth. That set the bar high for this season.

Rochette took some time off during the summer to make a six-day trip to Peru on behalf of the charity organization, World Vision. She visited with children from impoverished communities, where some families literally slept in houses with dirt floors, and she said the experience made her appreciate skating so much more. World Vision is the official charity for the Sears Stars on Ice tour.

"It was an amazing experience and something I never would've imagined before,'' Rochette said. "To see it with my own eyes ... It helped me put things in perspective when I got back to the rink.''

She also spent a lot of time during the summer handling sponsor obligations so she could spend the season concentrating on her skating. She has six corporate sponsors-Cold-FX, Bell Canada (telephone), JOICO (hair products), General Mills, Danone and Molson-and literally, along with men's skater Patrick Chan, has become the face of Canadian figure skating. In a country mad about hosting the Winter Games and equally passionate about figure skating, the attractive Rochette can be seen all over the country. Her face is on the front-and back-of Multi-Grain Cheerio's and Oatmeal Crisp.

"What strikes me most is when I see my face on a cereal box,'' Rochette said with a laugh. "And then I will be in supermarket and people I don't know will talk to me and wish me luck. It is something I will tell my kids about some day.''

Rochette said her sponsors were supportive of her practice time.

"I knew I would need some space now so I could focus on my skating and the Olympics, so I am really thankful for their help with scheduling things,'' Rochette said.

But the pressure of carrying Canada's medal hopes into the Vancouver Olympic Games has not come without added stresses. No Canadian woman has won an Olympic ice skating medal since 1988 when Elizabeth Manley captured the silver medal. The only Canadian Olympic gold medalist in figure skating was Barbara Ann Scott back in 1948.

And it was apparent during the beginning of the season that Rochette was having a rough time living up to high expectations on ice.

After the Grand Prix Final, Rochette returned home and regrouped. The biggest change she made was in her training. Whereas in the past, she would skate most of a session and then finish with a run-through of her program on tired legs, she now skates a quick warm-up and then skates her program at the beginning.

At competitions, skaters have a six-minute warm-up before they are to perform their programs. At Canadian nationals, Rochette was the last skater to compete in the short program and the next-to-last skater in the free skate.

"That was my main focus, my training,'' Rochette said. "The change really served me well at nationals. I had to find that rhythm''

The other reason for her success, she said, was working with Canadian world champion ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne, who choreographed Rochette's short program. Bourne visited Rochette at her rink in Montreal shortly before nationals.

"She's a very calm person,'' Rochette said. "And she helped me focus on the right things. I love to skate, but when there's all this pressure, sometimes you lose the fun. Shae-Lynn brought the fun. Just when you see her on the ice, she has this spirituality to her.''

Bourne was with her in the kiss and cry at nationals, and she returned to Rochette's rink shortly afterward.

"I knew before nationals that Joannie was going to skate well because she was in the right head space,'' Bourne said. "You can tell a skater, or anyone for that matter, 'Oh, you're great, you're this, you're that,' but unless they believe it for themselves it makes no difference. I could see Joannie was believing.

"She was herself and that fighter in her came out in the long program. She just went for it. She was being herself and telling the world, 'Here I am!.' ''

When Bourne spent time with Rochette following nationals, Bourne made a point of reminding her about the big-picture focus at hand.

"I never put the focus on the result,'' Bourne said of when she approached competitions in her own illustrious career. "If you're thinking too much about the result then fear sets in and doubt sets in and everything starts tumbling down. Instead, as I told Joannie, she should focus on the every day and appreciating the people on that road with you.''

Rochette, who turned 24 last month, plans to attend the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver, but since the women's event is the last figure skating competition of the Games, she is going to do her best not to be distracted by the Olympic festivities. When she competed in Torino four years ago, she said she got a chance to watch some speedskating and hockey games and "get into the atmosphere of the Games.'' It was her first Olympic competition and she placed fifth.

"In Torino, it was a long wait until the competition, and it was not easy to wait all that time,'' Rochette said. "I would spend time in my coach's room and I learned from that. I know I can deal with it now.''

This time, however, there is more on the line.

"I'm in a totally different mindset,'' she said. "When I step on the ice in Vancouver I want to make sure I've done everything in my power to be on the podium.''

The only people she plans on spending time with in Vancouver (aside from her coach, Manon Perron, and Olympic officials) are her parents and about four friends who will be making the trip to support her in Vancouver. Only her parents traveled to Torino. With the Games on Canadian soil this time, she has made a whole new corps of "friends.'' Many of them have made their ticket requests very clear.

"It was hard for me to get tickets just for my family!'' she said.

But if they see her on the podium in Vancouver, the effort will be more than worth it.