The Seven Best Team USA Moments of the Winter Olympics, Ranked

The United States was always going to have a good Winter Games. The country jumped from sixth in the medal count to second between the 1998 Nagano Games and the 2002 Salt Lake Games and has been holding in the top five ever since — thanks to impressive results in relatively newer disciplines like snowboarding and curling and newfound competitiveness in classic realms like bobsledding and speed skating.

In Milan Cortina, the United States managed 33 medals, good for second overall and the most ever for the country at a Games outside North America. When you’re out-medaling Germany and the Netherlands at winter sports, you’re doing something right.

But it’s not just how many you win — it’s how you win. And the U.S. had some truly wild and miraculous triumphs, from a figure skater who had been retired just two years go to a cross-country skier who raced with…