The 2014 Winter Olympic Games have come to a close after 16 days of intense competition in Sochi, Russia. Throughout the games, Team USA experienced inspiring comebacks, exciting wins, and some upsetting losses.

The team returned to the United States with a total of 28 medals, finishing second place in the overall medal count behind host country Russia. Norway finished close behind in third with 26, and Canada finished in fourth with 25.

Team USA had a total of nine gold medals, seven silver medals, and 12 bronze medals. The total number of medals won by each gender for the team was split at 14 each.

Of the 12 new events included in Sochi, the US won three. Sage Kotsenburg and Jamie Anderson became the first-ever gold medalists for snowboard slopestyle. Kotsenburg quickly became a star when he tweeted, “Ahh I wish the Sochi medals were made out of bacon thoooo..!!” after taking the classic gold medal biting picture. In his interview with Conan O’Brien, he was presented with a bacon medal, completing his Olympic dreams.

Joss Christensen became the first winner for men’s ski slopestyle, with his teammates Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper placing behind him in second and third, completing the third-ever American podium sweep in the Winter Olympics.

“I thought slopestyle made a really good impression for it being the first time, and I don’t think anyone predicted the sweep,” senior skier Zach Cermack said.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White were also extremely successful at the Games, taking home a gold in ice dance as well as a silver in the team figure skating competition.

Not every Olympic story finished with a good ending, however. Snowboarder Shaun White and speed skater Shani Davis were both looking to make history for winning the same event in three consecutive Olympics, but both failed to even make the podium in their respective events.

“I expected that Shaun White was gonna win, but I-Pod (Iouri Podladtchikov) deserved the win,” junior snowboarder Mike Colon said. “Shaun’s just getting too old.”

The men’s hockey team also had an upsetting performance. After losing to Canada in in the 2010 gold medal game, the USA was looking for revenge, but ended up facing Canada in the semi-finals where they lost 1-0. They then went on to lose to Finland 5-0 in the bronze medal game, coming home empty-handed. They did, however, beat Russia in an eight round shootout in one of the preliminary games.

TJ Oshie became a hero by getting four of his shootout shots past the Russian goalie, giving Team USA the win and completing yet another “miracle on ice.” After being called an American hero, Oshie said, “The real heroes wear camo. I’m not one of them,” showing true pride in being an American.

“I thought it was very exciting,” senior Pete Long said about the USA v. Russia game. “Although the The United States fell short of medalling, that was the most exciting game of the tournament and they should be proud of what they did.”

Back on a positive note, Chris Creveling, a local speed skater who graduated from Palisades High School, was a part of the men’s short track relay team that won a silver medal. The relay was the last event for speed skaters in Sochi, and US speedskating had not yet won any medal prior to the race, despite a few fourth place finishes. The US team of JR Celski, Eddy Alvarez, Chris Creveling and Jordan Malone finished just .271 behind the winning team of Russia, and both teams were under Olympic record time.

Creveling’s mom, dad, and sister were all able to make the trip to Sochi to watch him compete and win his first Olympic medal, thanks to fundraising and generous friends and family.

“Watching Chris win a silver medal was amazing. To have been a part of his journey from — quite literally — the very beginning and to see his dreams come true like that was very overwhelming and rewarding,” his sister Chelsea Creveling said. “I’ve been to a lot of different events, including five inline speed world championships, and the Olympics was much more than I had ever imagined. The Olympic Park and venues were larger than life, and it was nothing like what the media said it would be.”

Now that the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics have officially ended, we will have to wait two more years until the next Olympic event. The 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5-24. The Winter Olympics will return in February 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

If you have Olympic dreams of your own, you better start training!