After a long six months of anticipation and buildup, the Olympics are back, but noticeably colder this time.

On Friday, February 4, the 2022 Winter Olympics officially began with the Opening Ceremony in Beijing, China. Team USA, who has the most Olympians representing with 224, walked in sporting their traditional Ralph Lauren gear.

Like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which actually took place in the summer of 2021), COVID restrictions are in place. This includes mandatory masks and testing. Additionally, there are limited audiences, and family and friends of athletes are not allowed.

However, these mandates have not stopped Team USA from getting on the podium.

After a slower start for the team, it seems things have turned the corner with the US currently having seven gold medals and a total of seventeen medals overall. Even though the US usually performs better during the summer Olympics, they have been proving their worth against higher scoring winter Olympic countries.

The first highlight of the games for Team USA comes from the figure skating team. The team placed second in team skating just behind the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

According to CBS News, “The U.S. earned the silver after back-to-back bronze medals at the past two Olympics, thanks largely to a winning dance program from Madison Chock and Evan Bates.”

Other notable American skaters on the team include Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue who earned the highest score in ice dancing, as well as Karen Chen who skated a successful free skate after a rocky short program.

In response to Chen’s achievement, the skater elaborated, “Just coming back from yesterday is a huge thing for me…I knew that I’ve been training so well and [I’ve just been] waiting for that moment.

In other Team USA figure skating news, Nathan Chen achieved a redemptive gold medal in men’s figure skating.

After not getting on the podium during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, it seems Nathan Chen came to dominate in Beijing. According to NPR, “[Chen] performed a clean routine, nailing two, effortless-appearing quad jumps [during his short program].”

During his free skate he had a total of five quad jumps set to several popular Elton John songs including “Rocket Man.”

On his spectacular win, Chen expresses, “It’s been a dream of mine to make it to this stage and I never really thought that it would truly be possible.”

Figure skating is not the only sport Team USA has won gold in. American snowboarders shined this past week.

Team USA came out on top in women’s snowboard cross thanks to five time Olympian Lindsey Jacobellis. Jacobellis had previously only medaled silver in Torino in 2006, marking another Team USA comeback story.

Chloe Kim won her second gold medal in women’s halfpipe, after winning gold in 2018 at just 17 years old. She scored a 94.00 on just her first run, which basically solidified her gold medal win.

In a post on Instagram Kim wrote, “Thank you thank you thank you for all the love. It still hasn’t hit me yet but so so proud to bring home another gold.”

And in more sadder snowboard news, Shaun White, who is considered the GOAT of snowboarding, did not place on the podium during his fifth and last Olympics. Despite his loss, fans poured in the love with the #ThankYouShaun trending on Twitter. White later posted on Instagram thanking the sport that put him on the map.

Overall, Team USA has competed well so far, but there’s still one week left for the country’s medal count to grow.

You can watch the Olympics on NBC and its affiliated channels, as well as their streaming service Peacock.