Team USA at the Winter Olympics: where the medals come from (1998–2022)

Most Winter Olympics coverage stops at the medal table. This explainer goes one step deeper: which sports produced Team USA’s medals, how that mix changed from Games to Games, and where gold has been hardest to find.

We focus on the seven Winter Games from 1998 to 2022 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), using Wikipedia’s country-level “medals by sport” tables as the source.

The headline numbers

Across 1998–2022, Team USA won across — an average of .

Team USA at the Winter Olympics: Where the Medals Come From

Team USA at the Winter Olympics: where the medals come from (1998–2022)

The headline numbers

Figure 1: total medals per Winter Games

Total medals per Winter Games

Figure 2: medals by sport over time

Team USA medals by sport (1998–2022)

Figure 3: biggest medal sources (1998–2022)

Biggest medal sources (1998–2022)

Figure 4: the sport × year heatmap

Medals by sport and Games (1998–2022)

Consistent medal sports

Biggest movers (early era vs recent era)

Figure 5: biggest movers (early era vs recent era)

Change in medals per Games (recent era minus early era)

Figure 6: gold droughts by sport

Gold droughts (years since last gold)

Notes

TL;DR

Sources