Red, White, and Gold: The Rundown of the USA Olympic Team Wins

Though the Winter Olympics are always set in a cold February climate, our USA team was on fire! With a record-breaking 12 gold medals and 33 overall medals, Team USA beat out their competitors against all odds. The best part of it all? Each gold-winning competitor had an amazing and heart-touching story.

       Figure skater Alysa Liu brought home the gold for the first time since 2006, and her journey to the top is not like any other. After competing in the 2022 Beijing Olympics and receiving 7th place, Liu announced her official retirement from the sport. Liu was 16, competing in the sport she gave her life to without the joy and gratitude that most professional athletes feel. For two years, Liu traveled, tried new hobbies, hung out with friends, and lived a normal teen life. After taking this time to just live and learn more about herself, Liu announced her return in March of 2024. Fans were excited but nervous for her comeback, expecting Liu to hit road bumps. Instead, Alysa Liu showed up and showed out by winning the 2025 World Championships and now the Olympic gold. Her secret superpower? Herself. “No one’s gonna starve me or tell me what I can and can’t eat. No one tells me what I am going to wear. No one tells me how my hair will be. I do,” she states. Liu’s strength and grit come straight from her heart and from her willingness to do what’s right for her in order to win big.

      Downhill skier Breezy Johnson has chased after gold her entire life. A personal goal since she was a child, Johnson put everything she had into becoming the best skier she could be. After competing in the 2018 Olympics for the first time, Johnson was hit with major injuries to the knee, including a ruptured ACL and a 2019 PCL/MCL tear. It didn’t look like professional competitions were in the cards for Breezy Johnson—until this year. Johnson made her comeback in the 2026 Olympics, receiving the coveted gold medal, as well as a certain special prize: a proposal.

      At the bottom of the hill stood Johnson’s boyfriend, Connor Watkins, down on one knee and holding a gorgeous engagement ring. Breezy Johnson, of course, accepted his proposal and later told a news reporter that she “had always dreamed of getting engaged at the Olympics.” This amazing downhill skier not only got her lifelong goal but her dream as well.

      Though Canada has been known to bring home the hockey gold, both the Women’s and Men’s USA Hockey Teams pulled through. With an overtime goal against Canada, the USA men’s team won gold for the first time since 1980, or as most of us know it, the Miracle on Ice. USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves for the rest of his team, but in the end it was New Jersey Devils player Jack Hughes who scored the final overtime goal.

      Even though this 46-year-anticipated win was spectacular, the women’s team created a feat none of us knew was possible. During the 2026 Winter Olympics, the USA Women’s Hockey Team ended the games 7–0, not losing a single one. This is also the team’s third gold win, after the 1998 Olympics and the 2018 Olympics. One of their two game-winning goals was scored by Hilary Knight, making this goal her 15th Olympic goal. Knight is now the all-time U.S. leader in Olympic goals, a title once held by women’s team players Natalie Darwitz and Katie King.

      In the end, every story is an amazing story, but these three Olympic golds especially touched my heart and the hearts of fans all over the country.