Today’s media has outlined success as winning a gold medal, but what makes an athlete prosperous is the longevity of their career and the accomplishments that they achieve overtime. With the Winter Olympics having come to an end, we can recollect as to which athletes triumphed and those who came up short. Athletes such as Shaun White, Shani Davis, and both the hockey teams had a great deal of media pressure on them to win gold medals and they all gave disappointing executions. On the other hand, the ice dancing pairs Davis and White, slalom skier Mikaela Shiffrin, and slopestyle snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg all gave stellar performances that ended in a gold medal.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White have been ice dancing together for seventeen years and are as close as two people can get. The two attend the University of Michigan and enjoy reading J.R.R. Tolkien. The duo admits that at first Meryl was so shy around Charlie they would put stickers on his forehead so she could focus on something other than his eyes. Being just nine and ten years old, the two found being in such close proximity awkward, but now they cannot imagine their lives without each other. In an interview with Today, they stated, “We’ve gone through so much together, and so many of our experiences have been so meaningful in terms of life in general.” Davis and White have credibility to back up their career, being the six-time reigning U.S. national champions and five-time Grand Prix Final champions, just to name a few. After taking silver to fellow Canadian training partners, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, in the Vancouver Olympics, the American’s brought home gold in Sochi, highlighting the end to a remarkable career together. Watch their world record-scoring performance on NBC Olympics if you missed it.

Slalom has found their new teenage sensation as rising star Mikaela Shiffrin rocked the Sochi Winter Olympic stage. With American idol Lindsey Vonn out of the winter games due to a knee injury, medaling in slalom looked quite bleak, but not to those familiar with the name Shiffrin. At just seventeen, she stormed the world, winning the World Cup finals in slalom as the youngest American to ever do so, and she’s the youngest World Champion in U.S. history. Her future looks bright for such a young competitor and Bode Miller went as far as saying she was a “phenomenon,” which is quite a complement coming from the slalom legend. She was born in Vail, Colorado, and in 2003 moved to Vermont to focus on her technique and form. She graduated from Burke Mountain Academy in June of 2013. After taking home gold in Sochi, she became the youngest ever slalom gold medalist and the world started buzzing with the news of this youngster. The only question now is if Shiffrin will compare or surpass the likes of Lindsey Vonn.

Sage Kotsenburg started the United States off strong, winning our first gold medal of the games in slopestyle snowboarding. The twenty year-old professional grew up in Park City, Utah, and was overlooked as a possible medal contender because of teammate, Shaun White. Just before the slopestyle event, White pulled out due to a wrist injury in order to focus on the half pipe. Kotsenburg pulled out a clutch Japan 1620, or what he calls a “Holy Crail”, in his first run in order to score a 93.50. After talking with Fox News, Kotsenburg stated, “I kind of do random stuff all the time… I had no idea I was even going to do a 1620 in my run until three minutes before I dropped. It’s kind of what I’m all about.” And after performing the Holy Crail (4.5 rotations off a jump as the front hand grabs the toe edge just behind the front foot and the board is then pulled behind the rider), he admitted that this was the first time he had ever tried this new trick. His creative mind set and carefree attitude is why this breakout star has gained millions of followers on Twitter. What was his first request once he was home? A medal entirely made of bacon. This underdog pulled out an impossible run by using creativity and gut, over a gymnastics style run.

The Winter Games ended with the United States earning a total of twenty-eight medals, nine of which were gold, seven were silver, and twelve were bronze. This put the U.S. in second to the host country, Russia, by five total medals. Even though the U.S.’s hockey teams failed to take gold and media star Shaun White fell to fourth, remember there will be more Olympics for redemption and other races on which to base their career. The magical moments created here were unforgettable. The wait for the Rio 2016 begins now.