The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea are history and Team USA finished with some serious gold bling. As of now, USA has earned nine gold medals, eight silver medals and six bronze medals, putting the U.S. in fourth place overall behind Norway (39), Germany (31) and Canada (29).
Unsurprisingly, the Netherlands sits at the top of the leaderboard with 13 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals. Germany is in second place with 13 gold, seven silver and six bronze medals, while Canada holds third place with 10 gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals.
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It wasn’t until Feb. 22 that the U.S. finally started to kick some butt, raking in five total medals, including the nail-biter gold medal from the women’s hockey team.
Here are all the gold medals won by Team USA in the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Women’s Ice Hockey
For the first time in 20 years, @TeamUSA @usahockey‘s women hear their national anthem played with gold around their necks. pic.twitter.com/CjWqNTLq9x
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 22, 2018
Perhaps the most thrilling victory of them all, the U.S. women won a nail-biter when goalie Maddie Rooney, just 20 years old, made the save of her life in a shootout that went to extra shots, with Team USA prevailing over arch rival Canada, 3-2.
The gold medal, which is the women’s hockey team’s first since the ’98 Oylmpics, may go down as the most memorable American medal to come out of Pyeongchang, 38 years to the date after the “miracle on ice.”
“They should make a movie on [this women’s final],” forward Hilary Knight said. “We had all of the drama.”
“My niece is going to wake up tomorrow and see this and it’s going to be more important for her than it is for me,” center Gigi Marvin, who scored in a shootout, told USA Today.
David Wise, Ski Halfpipe
DAVID. WISE.
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 22, 2018
97.20 in his 3rd and final freeski halfpipe run to get into 1st! #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/DSg57roh2X
The defending Olympic ski halfpipe champion lost a ski on both of his two first runs in Thursday’s men’s final, but after tightening up one of his bindings, Wise found that sweet spot in an epic third run that held up for gold.
Starting off with a switch double-corked 1080, then a double-corked 1260, another switch double-corked 1080 and finishing with another double-corked 1260, Wise scored a 97.20 to win gold.
\If that sounds foreign to you, here’s a breakdown: Wise landed four off-kilter double flips in all four directions — front left, front right, switch (backward) left and switch right, accomplishing a goal he set for himself for Pyeongchang. His highest trick measured some 17.8 feet out of the 24-foot tall pipe walls.
Mikaela Shiffrin, Alpine Skiing, Giant Slalom
GOLDEN GIRL Mikaela Shiffrin takes gold in giant slalom! #BestOfUS #WinterOlympics https://t.co/KX4CHncv2t pic.twitter.com/zHJudPT4i0
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2018
Skier Mikaela Shiffrin may have entered the Winter Olympics with a goal of going home with five medals, but she’s leaving Pyeongchang with a gold and a silver — not that she’s disappointed.
“First of all, to come away from this Olympics with two medals is insane, especially after the schedule changes on the front end and then having the combined pushed forward,” Shiffrin told USA Today Thursday after claiming a silver medal in the Alpine women’s combined event.
It was the third rescheduled event of the Games for Shiffrin, 22, who withdrew from the downhill and Super-G after weather delays compressed her schedule.
“It was like something was playing ping-pong in my brain over this whole Games,” she said with a laugh. “So it’s really nice to be at the end of it and to know that I do have two medals.”
Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins, Cross-Country Skiing, sprint
Golden Girls: Kikkan Randall, Jessie Diggins win first-ever gold medal in #Olympics history for @TeamUSA in cross-country skiing! #PyeongChang2018 #BestofUS #USA https://t.co/FtjEwed2DF pic.twitter.com/uFYApB21Nh
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 21, 2018
A team of two American women ended one of the longest droughts in the U.S. Olympic sports on Wednesday when Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won the women’s team spring freestyle race, outsprinting more heralded teams from Sweden and Norway to become the first Americans to win an Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing.
In fact, they are the first American cross-country skiers to medal at the Olympics since Bill Kick took home a silver in 1976.
“Hearing it out loud, it still doesn’t feel real,” said Randall, a five-time Olympian. “It’s what I’ve been working on for 20 years and with this team for the last five years and, wow, it’s just so fun to put it together tonight, finally.”
Randall told The New York Times the first words out of Diggins’ mouth were, “Oh my gosh, did we just win the Olympics?”
“It feels unreal; I can’t believe it just happened,” Diggins said. “But we’ve been feeling so good these entire Games, and just having it happen at a team event means so much more to me than any individual medal ever would.”
Shaun White, Snowboard Halfpipe
REDEMPTION FOR SHAUN WHITE!
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 14, 2018
HE WINS GOLD on his final run in men’s snowboard halfpipe! #BestOfUS #WinterOlympics https://t.co/E1XuTKbGvd pic.twitter.com/b4Yn2jVVGN
The Flying Tomato made Olympic history by becoming the first-ever person to win a trio of Olympic gold medals in snowboarding. White scored an impressive 97.75 in his final halfpipe run for a historic third gold medal.
Landing back-to-back 1440s, which require four full aerial rotations, the 31-year-old bested the competition in dramatic fashion.
His win also marked the 100th gold medal for the United States during its Winter Olympic history.
After his win, White shed a few tears as he took in the historic moment.
“Honestly I just felt it inside [that] I had it. I knew I had to put it down. It’s so hard to describe,” he told NBC. “It’s the feeling that I knew I had it but I had to still do it. And I’m working my way through the run, trick after trick, and it’s going well, better and better. And I’m riding away and I can’t tell you how amazing it felt. I’m so proud of even my first run out here.”
Red Gerard, Snowboard Slopestyle
BREAKING: Red Gerard wins first medal for Team USA at 2018 #WinterOlympics, grabbing the gold in men’s snowboard slopestyle. pic.twitter.com/Smhb4MltoG
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 11, 2018
Just three days into the Pyeongchang Winter Games, Redmond “Red” Gerard claimed the United States’ first gold medal with his slopestyle snowboarding run. The 17-year-old scored an 87.16 on his third run, catapulting him to the lead.
“I cannot believe it. I’m shaking right now, maybe from the cold, or from the excitement, I don’t know,” he said, just after finishing his third run on Sunday. “But I’m ecstatic.”
Slopestyle snowboarding was introduced to the Olympics in 2014, and so far has always been won by Americans. It involves athletes performing a variety of tricks and jumps on their way down a mixed-terrain course. It’s often compared to skateboarding.
“After I landed the second jump I was like, ‘Come on, don’t blow it on the last one, let’s just make it through,’” Gerard told reporters.
“The wind was really bad, and the first two runs it was pretty tough, but we got a nice little break on the third and I’m just happy I got to land.”
Gerard is now the youngest American man to win any medal at the Winter Olympics since 1928. He’s also the youngest snowboarding medalist overall, which is no small feat in the sport that’s looked down on by many as a concession for the younger generation.
Chloe Kim, Snowboard Halfpipe
I hate crying but I’ll give myself a pass for this one. Thank you everyone for the love! Stoked to bring home the gold pic.twitter.com/vxApf1lxbI
— Chloe Kim (@chloekimsnow) February 13, 2018
Not only did Chloe Kim win an Olympic gold medal at age 17, she also made history by being the first woman to land back-to-back 1080 degree spins at the Games. With a near perfect score of 98.25, Kim put on a show for her family in the stands, including her South Korean grandmother.
“It means a lot just being able to do it where my family is from,” Kim told The Guardian. “A lot of pressure, but I’m happy I was able to do it here and do it for the fans and the family. It was a really fun moment for everyone.”
“I have no time to cry,” Kim’s father, Jong Jin, said, wearing a look of satisfaction only a father could understand. “Maybe I’m going to cry when I go back home.”
Jamie Anderson, Snowboard Slopestyle
How Jamie Anderson beat the wind to win Olympic gold https://t.co/vYIzeMwR4P pic.twitter.com/AXHLTYrqkS
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 13, 2018
Not only did Jamie Anderson win gold in snowboarding slopestyle on Feb. 11, but she also did its in some of the most dangerous snowboarding conditions imaginable. Of course, there will be cold temperatures — but with those temps came a huge impediment on the course: wind. Anderson’s first run score of 83 held up for gold and was easily the best run of the day, as she finished seven points ahead of silver medalist Laurie Blouin from Canada.
“I’m not extremely proud of my run,” Anderson told the Associated Press after winning, a statement that acts as a testament to the truly dangerous conditions the riders were subjected to.
Men’s Curling
We did it. Olympic gold!!!!
— USA Curling (@usacurl) February 24, 2018
The men’s team of John Shuster, Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner and alternate Joe Polo swept past Canada 5-3 in the semifinals on Feb. 22 and then favored Sweden 10-7 on Feb. 24 in the finals to to claim only the second curling medal ever in U.S. Olympic history.
It also marked the first U.S. curling victory by the men or women against Canada in the Winter Games.
Shuster’s last throw in the eighth end clacked off a Swedish stone and knocked it into another, sending them both skittering out of scoring range. Five yellow-handled American rocks were left behind.
The score, known as a five-ender, is so rare it has only been topped once before in the history of the men’s or women’s Olympic final. And it effectively clinched gold for the Americans, who rallied from the brink of pool play elimination to win gold.
“I can’t tell you how un-nervous I was sitting in the hack to throw it,” Shuster said. “Just let it go.”