12 Incredible Moments From The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

The opening ceremony for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 featured a snowflake design made with the names of all of the participating countries inside of it. This event took place on Feb. 4, 2022 in Beijing. 

Exactly one year ago today, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 kicked off with a beautiful opening ceremony. The Games marked the 24th Winter Olympic Games in history, lasted a total of 17 days, and featured a record 109 events spread over 15 disciplines. Team USA sent a contingent of 224 phenomenal athletes who trained day and night for the opportunity to represent the red, white, and blue. When the Games concluded, Team USA secured 25 medals — eight gold, 10 silver and seven bronze. It was the third-most of any country that participated. Several athletes posted personal bests, and a few even made historical firsts. Throughout the month, Team USA will be posting 12 incredible moments for fans to relive across its social media platforms. Below is a list of those moments in chronological order.

Deedra Irwin competes in the women's 15-kilometer individual biathlon during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 7, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

February 7, 2022: Although many European countries have dominated the sport of biathlon, that didn't stop Deedra Irwin from reaching a new high for Team USA in the sport. After making the biathlon A-Team for the 2020-21 season, Irwin finished the women's 15-kilometer individual event in seventh place, marking the highest-ever individual finish by an American in Olympic history. 

Ryan Cochran-Siegle poses with his silver medal from the men's super-G event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 8, 2022 in Yanqing, China.

February 8, 2022: Almost exactly 50 years to the day from when Barbara Ann Cochran captured her slalom gold medal in the 1972 Sapporo Games, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Cochran's son, surprised a stacked men's super-G field by winning a silver medal in the event. The Vermont native, who works on his family's maple syrup farm during the summer, came within four-hundredths of the gold-medal winning time posted by Austria's Matthias Mayer. He finished the event with a total time of 1 minute, 19.98 seconds, cementing another milestone moment for the legendary Cochran family's ski racing legacy.

Lindsey Jacobellis reacts after the women's individual snowboard cross final during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on February 9, 2022 in Beijing.

February 9, 2022: After over a decade of dominating the sport of snowboard cross but coming up just short in Olympic competition, legendary snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis earned her first gold medal in the fast-paced event. The Connecticut native's breakthrough medal marked the first gold medal for the U.S. in the Beijing Games, ending a five-day drought. The five-time Olympian competed in her first X Games when she was just 15 years old, and made her Olympic debut at the 2006 Torino Games, where she captured a silver medal in the same event.  

Nathan Chen competes in the men's singles short program skate during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 4, 2022 in Beijing.

February 10, 2022: After a fifth-place finish in Pyeongchang, U.S. figure skating star Nathan Chen bounced back four years later to capture his first gold medal. Additionally, it was Team USA's first gold in the men's individual discipline since Evan Lysacek took home gold in 2010. Chen leaped into first place after scoring a world-record 113.97 points on his short program routine. The routine included two quadruple jumps. He backed that up with a spectacular free skate routine which included four quads and placed first by a margin of 22.55 points.

Chloe Kim celebrates after winning her second halfpipe gold medal in as many games during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 10, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

February 10, 2022: Chloe Kim burst on to the Olympic scene when she captured the snowboard halfpipe gold medal in her Olympic debut in Pyeongchang, becoming the youngest ever woman to do so. Then, four years later, she added another historic milestone to her already illustrious career. Kim scored a 94.00 during the first run of the halfpipe final, enough for her second gold in as many games. In doing so, the California native became the first woman to win two Olympic golds in women's halfpipe.

Shaun White celebrates his final Olympic halfpipe run during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 11, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

February 11, 2022: After an extraordinary career and becoming one of snowboarding's all-time icons, five-time Olympian and three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White slid down the halfpipe for the final time in Olympic competition. After posting solid scores of 72.00 and 85.00 for his first two runs, White attempted to snag a podium spot with a more-difficult third run. However, he could not land the second of a pair of back-to-back cab double cork 1440s, which left him with a fourth-place finish. Nonetheless, tears streamed down White's face at the end of his final run, illustrating what the sport has meant to him over the years.

Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner celebrate their gold medals in the mixed snowboard cross event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 12, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

February 12, 2022: The Beijing Olympics hosted the debut of a few new events, including the first-ever mixed snowboard cross race. Two days after securing her first-ever gold medal, Lindsey Jacobellis returned to the top spot on the podium with Nick Baumgartner, as the duo took home the inaugural gold medal in the brand-new event. The pair finished first in their heat and second in the semifinals to earn a spot in the medal finals. In the final race, they edged out Italy's Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli for the gold.

Erin Jackson celebrates after competing in the women's 500-meters during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 13, 2022 in Beijing.

February 13, 2022: Growing up in sunny Florida and being accustomed to inline skating, U.S. speedskater Erin Jackson didn't try ice skating until 2017. However, that did not stop her from shocking the world while competing in Beijing. Jackson took home the gold medal in the 500-meter final, becoming the first Black woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual sport. To boot, it was also the only gold medal the U.S. secured in long-track speed skating during the Games.

(l-r) Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries celebrate their medals in the monobob event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb 14, 2022 in Yanqing, China.

February 14, 2022: Another event making its debut at the Beijing Games was the monobob, a single-person bobsledding event. Team USA put forward its best bobsledders for the event, and was rewarded with a 1-2 finish. Legendary bobsled pilots Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor took home the first-ever gold and silver medals, respectively, in the new discipline, both adding to their impressive Olympic resumes. 

Alex Hall smiles after winning gold in the men's slopestyle event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 16, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

February 16, 2022: Making his Olympic debut in 2018, freestyle skier Alex Hall left Pyeongchang with a 16th-place finish in slopestyle. After four more years of hard work and difficult training, Hall rose to the top in Beijing. The Utah native posted a high-flying score of 90.01 points in the finals on his first run down the course. The total would not be topped for the rest of the competition, earning Hall his first-ever Olympic gold medal. Not to be outdone, Hall came back and posted a 86.38 in run number two, which also scored higher than all but one rider during the competition. Hall's teammate, Nick Goepper, secured the silver medal with a score of 86.48.

Abby Roque handles the puck during Team USA's first group game against Finland during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 3, 2022 in Beijing.

February 17, 2022: The U.S. women's ice hockey team has a long-standing tradition of being a top contender in the Olympic Games. Oftentimes, the squad battles neck-and-neck with Canada for the gold medal. However, Abby Roque made new history when she stepped on the ice for her Olympic debut in 2022. The forward became the first Indigenous player to play for the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team. the Games, Roque tallied a goal and two assists while finishing +4 for the tournament. The U.S. earned the silver medal after falling to Canada in the gold-medal match by a score of 3-2. Last November, Roque wrote an athlete blog about what it means to be Native American and the significance of National Native American Heritage Month.

Jessie Diggins celebrates after capturing the women's individual cross-country sprint bronze medal during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 8, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

February 20, 2022: Four years after helping secure the first U.S. gold in cross-country skiing, Diggins tallied two medals in 2022, making her the most decorated U.S cross-country skier of all time. She secured a bronze medal on February 8, 2022, becoming the first-ever U.S. woman to medal in the women's individual cross-country sprint. On the final day of competition, the Minnesota native took home a silver medal in the 30-kilometer freestyle race.