Among the Canadians celebrating Whistler and Vancouver's success at winning the 2010 Olympics, not many were as joyous as Nancy Greene -- Canada's Female Athlete of the Century and a trailblazer who helped put Whistler on the map.

"We are very proud of what we've done in Whistler," Greene, 64, told CTV News.

It was more than 40 years ago that Greene dominated the world of downhill skiing.

At the age of 16, she undertook an exercise program that was almost unheard of for female skiers, a gruelling regimen of weight and dry-land training that put her in peak physical condition.

Greene won her first World Cup race in 1967 while still in her early 20s, creating tremendous pressure to succeed at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France.

"I was Canada's hope for the Olympics," Greene, who was born in Ottawa but raised in British Columbia, told CTV News. "I was probably the only favourite for winning a gold medal."

Greene met those expectations, winning gold in the women's giant slalom event at the age of 24. She won by a remarkable margin of 2.68 seconds. Greene also took home silver in the slalom event.

She returned to Canada as the country's only athlete to win gold in the 1968 Games, but never expected the sort of enthusiastic welcome she received.

"When I came back home, the parades and the reception were just amazing," she said. "People would come up to me and say, "See this? I cut myself shaving when you won!"

She continued to race that year, dominating the sport. But everyone wanted to ski faster than Greene and she became tired of defending her status.

"The joy of winning had gone," she said. "You realize that you're the target. At that moment I said, 'I got my goal, I did what I had set out to do, and I would rather retire on top.'"

The following year she married land developer Al Raine, at the time an official with Canada's National Ski Team. The couple became instrumental in building a major skiing destination and B.C. resort town -- now known as Whistler.

Greene has since moved to the Sun Peaks ski resort just outside of Kamloops, B.C., where she takes to the slopes six days a week.

But it's in Whistler where Greene's life has come full-circle - the town where the Olympics have come, partly because of what she achieved as an Olympian.

Greene said she fully expects to hear the Canadian anthem in 2010, a sign that the country's athletes are continuing her legacy.

"I'm fully expecting people to be on the podium in Whistler," she said.

With a report by CTV's Perry Solkowski