The United States reached a historic milestone on Tuesday evening at the Olympics. With Shaun White picking up the gold in the snowboard halfpipe, Team USA now has 100 gold medals in its Winter Olympic history.
Olympic medal count: United States wins its 100th gold in Winter Olympics history
Shaun White won a gold in snowboard halfpipe for USA’s 100th Winter Olympic gold.
Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
It didn’t come without drama. White led after a strong first run, but Japan’s Ayumu Hirano scored 95.25 on his second run to take over the lead, while White fell. That meant White would have one last chance to to take the gold, as the final athlete to go in the event. Near perfect, White scored 97.75 to claim gold.
The U.S. won its first gold medal at the inaugural Winter games in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Charles Jewtraw took the gold in men’s 500-meter speed skating, which happened to be the only time Team USA topped the podium that year. They’ve gone on to win gold at least once in every Winter Games they participated in, with their high point coming in the 2002 Salt Lake City games when they took home 10.
Of course, the Americans still have a ways to go before catching up with Norway, which is the all-time Winter Olympics leader with 121 gold medals of the 1,026 that have been given out.
Following White’s win, the U.S. currently sits at four gold medals this year. They’ll have a chance to earn many more and gain further ground on Norway before the Pyeongchang Games conclude.
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