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Mikaela Shiffrin, Shaun White And More Remember The Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 One Year Later

By Allie Dosmann | Feb. 26, 2019, 4:43 p.m. (ET)

About one year ago, Americans took to the ice and snow for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Over the last two weeks, those athletes remembered the experiences that generated memories to last a lifetime. Here are some of the social media posts that best stood out from the anniversary of the record-breaking, medal-winning and tear-jerking moments lived and remembered by Team USA athletes.

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Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin showed us the reactions she had when she topped the podium, and honestly, the roller coaster of emotions is pretty relatable to how all Americans felt watching the Games.

Chris Mazdzer made history as the first American man to win a medal in singles luge. Four-time Olympian Erin Hamlin also took the ice for her final Olympic competition. While a year has passed since these milestone moments for the historic athletes, they remember the feeling like it was yesterday.

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One year ago to the day, I was given the moment that I had prepared for my entire life. Run 4 of a 4 race competition where if I gave everything, didn’t play it safe and took a huge risk I could achieve what I once viewed as impossible. I was fortunate to have the most supportive and influential people in my life there in Korea telling me that no matter what happens they will always be there for me. This support and love that I have from my family, girlfriend and friends is something far more powerful than I will ever understand. It has allowed me to do things far greater than what I could have ever achieved by myself. I am certainly not going to succeed at everything that I do in my life, but no matter what happens I have you and that’s what matters the most. Thank you for allowing me to take one of the greatest risks of my life for the chance to do something amazing!

A post shared by Chris Mazdzer (@mazdzer) on

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We have to get used to the idea that at the most important crossroads in our life there are no signs -E. Hemingway —— Not only do we share initials, but our mindset on winging it seems to be one in the same. The year since this photo was taken has flown by. It was filled with excitement, total unknowns, new routines [or the fact I just don’t have one for once] and adventures totally out of my comfort zone. Taking those last race runs in #PyeongChang closed a HUGE chapter & while I didn’t fully realize what the task of starting the next one would be, I’m excited to keep venturing onward & have learned it is OK to take the long way✌🏼 •📷: @gettysport #nosignsnoproblem #embracethejourney #retirement

A post shared by Erin Hamlin (@erinhamlin) on

Jamie Anderson, Shaun White and David Wise look back on PyeongChang and while the only color that comes to mind is gold, they still remember the stories, the emotions and the hard work it took to get them there.

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One year ago today I surprised even myself by landing the best run of my life on my third and final run of the Winter Olympic Games. My previous two runs had ended prematurely with a ski coming off, and I had a cumulative score of 23 for both of those runs. People who know me well saw my demeanor before I dropped in and asked me how I managed so much confidence in such stressful circumstances? How could I be so sure that I was about to land a banger run? . Here’s the truth: I had no idea if I could land that run or not. The way my day was going, I half expected some other rogue catastrophe on my third run. I did know that we had cranked those bindings all the way down, so the skis weren’t coming off. I also knew that my teammate Alex had already landed two amazing runs, so Freeskiing was well represented at the Olympics. I knew that this one run through the halfpipe wouldn’t determine my success or failure. My wife had proven to me by standing by me in the difficult times that I was already rich beyond measure and that no crash or shortcoming was going to change that. Then I reminded myself that I still had one chance to do what I was here to do: land all four double corks at the Olympics. I wasn’t feeling pressure, I was feeling opportunity. I truly went for broke on that last run and when I rode away from that last landing with all of my equipment I completely lost it and screamed at the top of my lungs, “that’s game over!” I wasn’t trying to put my competitors down, I was simply elated that I managed to do what I was there to do. What I meant by “that’s game over” is that no matter what the judges did with my score I had done the best I could possibly do on that day, and I was satisfied. . . To everyone who stood by me on the journey, thank you. To you who are reading this, thank you. I could not have made it without great sacrifice by others. The love and support I got from you guys along the way contributed greatly to my confidence in those intense moments, so this win belongs to all of us. Cheers. 📸 @sarahannbrunson @usfreeskiteam

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Winning a medal with your brother or sister has to be the best form of sibling bonding, right?

Mirai Nagasu not only made history at the PyeongChang Games, but she also taught us a very important lesson: never, never, never give up.

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Happy Axelversary. I set a goal for myself after numerous people reached out to me in 2014 and told me to try again. One high school friend even dropped off a random book at my parent’s restaurant in which I’d doodled that I wanted to go to the Olympics again. Others shared that I wrote in my elementary school yearbook that when I grew up I wanted to become an Olympic medalist. I look back to the person I was one year ago and think about how scared I was to do the triple axel at the Olympics. Before I took the ice, I was told that you can’t achieve greatness without being in a place of the unknown and that being afraid was okay. I was right at that place between greatness and failure and I went for it. I’m not always that person who has the ability to be BRAVE so here’s to being able to say that I did something AWESOME. CHEERS 🍾

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But the Games are not just about the medals and the milestone moments. For Vincent Zhou, Madison Hubbell, Zachary Donohue and many, many, more, making the Games represented the achievement of a lifelong dream.

On Feb. 22, 2018, the U.S. women’s ice hockey team won its second-ever Olympic gold medal in a dramatic shootout win over reigning champions Canada. The win added fuel to the rivalry between the U.S. and Canada and provided Team USA and its fans with memories they won’t soon forget.

 
 
Team Shuster made history last year by becoming the first U.S. curling team to ever compete for a gold medal – and then to ever win a gold medal.
 
   

What is the best way to sum up the Winter Games and the lessons we learned from sport? Priceless.

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