The Olympics, whether summer or winter, is a time when millions of people from across the world come together to witness the talent, dedication and sport of the athletes representing their home countries. This year the Olympics were held in PyeongChang, South Korea. The stakes are high, and as always, millions are watching the athletes, awaiting the next big turn of events that will unfold to be remembered by many.

So far, some of the most memorable performances that have made history, set records and have amazed crowds was the performances of Mirai Nagasu, couple Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Nathan Chen during their figure skating routines.

Mirair was the most notable one when she became the first American Woman in history to successfully perform the triple-axle move during her skating routine. This is a very complicated move that many don’t dare to try. As reported by CNN, skaters have to reach a certain amount of momentum to be held up in the air and must land perfectly while holding their weight as they land on their thin blades. Others, such as Tonya Harding, have tried this move in Olympic competition but have not had success.

Another memorable performance of the 2018 Olympics was that of Canadian figure skating pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. They now hold the record for the highest short dance category score ever recorded and have the highest score overall. According to NBC, the pair are now the most “decorated figure skaters in Olympic history” with the record of five gold medals each. They are the only figure skaters in history to achieve this. They have been a duo for 20 years and announced at PyeongChang that their gold medal performance would be their last performance. 

Nathan Chen’s free skate is also one that left people talking. Despite ending up in fifth place, Chen set a new record, a performance NBC Sports labeled historic. He became the first figure skater to land five quads during his performance. He attempted but failed to land a sixth. This means during five different jumps, Chen rotated his body a full four revolutions. 

At at the 2018 Winter Olympics, viewers saw an incredibly rare tie at the two-man bobsled final.  Both the German and Canadaian teams ended with the exact time of 3:16:86.With this result, both teams ended up winning gold medals and were both placed on the first place pedestal.

As reported by CBC Radio, the last time a tie like this took place where both teams received a gold medal was twenty years ago at the 1998 Olympics when Canada tied Italy.

Coincidentally enough, Mark Connolly, the man that announced the tie at the 1998 Olympics, was also the same man that announced this recent tie between Canada and Germany. This did not go unnoticed by Connolly or the German and Canadian teams. The similarity captivated viewers, announcers and competitors alike. Sometimes history truly does repeat itself.

Justin Kripps led the Canadian team along with Alexander Kopacz while Francesco Friedrich led the German team with Thorsten Margis. At the beginning of the race, the Canadians were leading with just barely a hundredth of a second, and when dealing with a sport like this where the bobsleds are known to reach speeds of up to 93 mph, every curve, lean and millisecond counts.  They soon enough evened out by a tiny setback seen by the Canadian team that led people to the edge of their seats eager to see who would win.

During the medal ceremony, there appeared to be no contempt or malice of the shared gold medals. Both teams seemed very excited for each other.

The U.S. is a nation that has consistently made a strong showing at the Olympics and is widely known by competitors from around the globe. The PyeongChang Winter Olympics was no exception.

By the closing ceremony of the Olympics on Feb. 25, as reported by CBS sports, Team USA had won a total of 23 medals; nine gold, eight silver and sixbronze. This total puts the U.S. in fourth place for most medals earned at the 2018 Winter Olympics. There were a total of 30 countries competing.

Norway led with a total of 39 medals; fourteen gold, fourteen silver and eleven bronze.

Germany followed with 31; tied with Norway for fourteen gold, ten silver and seven bronze.

Canada came in thrid with 29 medals; eleven gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.

The medal count did end up falling a little short of Team USA’s total in the last Winter Olympics. In the  2014 Sochi Olympics the U.S. amassed 28 medals with (nine gold, seven silver and twelve bronze).