The United States has sent athletes to compete at every Winter Games since their inception in 1924 at Chamonix, France.
The Americans won four medals at those Games, with speed skater Charles Jewtraw earning the honor of being the country’s first gold medalist with a victory in the 500 meters.
The U.S. has the distinction of being the only nation to win at least one gold medal at each Winter Games.
The U.S. first hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 at Lake Placid, New York. The American team thrilled the home fans by capturing a competition-best 12 medals, with a half-dozen golds.
The Winter Olympic Games have been held 21 times as of the 2010 Vancouver Games. The U.S. has welcomed the world’s best winter athletes for the Games a total of four times: 1932, 1960, 1980, and 2002.
In 2010, the U.S. won an all-time best 37 medals to finish atop the overall medal standings.
The following list includes brief information on the men and women that I regard as the best for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics:
Bonnie Blair: One of the greatest women’s speed skaters of all time, Blair sped her way to six Olympic medals in sprint events, with five podium finishes for golds.
Dick Button: Button revolutionized men’s figure skating by becoming the first skater to perform various jumps and combinations in competition. He won back-to-back Olympic titles between the 1948 and 1952 Games.
Gretchen Fraser: Fraser was one of the early greats in women’s alpine skiing. Her Olympic career was curtailed by World War II. She was finally able to compete at the 1948 St. Moritz Games and captured two medals-including gold in the Slalom-earning her the honor of being the first American with Olympic gold in the sport.
Eric Heiden: An incredibly dominant athlete as a speed skater from the late 1970s through the 1980 Lake Placid Games, Heiden bested all comers in his five events. Displaying remarkable speed and endurance, he was victorious at all distances from 500 to 10,000 meters.
Carol Heiss: Heiss won five consecutive world titles in ladies’ figure skating from 1956-1960. Credited with bringing more athletic performances to the women’s sport, Heiss won Olympic silver in 1956, and improved upon that finish with gold four years later at the Squaw Valley Games.
Dianne Holum: A top performer from her teen years, Holum won four speed skating medals between the 1968 and 1972 Games. Her best finish was gold in the 1500 meters at the Sapporo Games.
Irving Jaffee: Jaffee was a star speed skater from the second half of the 1920s through the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Jaffee was most successful at longer distances, taking golds in the 5000 and 10,000 meters in 1932. He joined teammate Jack Shea, who won the 500 and 1500 meters, in leading the U.S. to a sweep of the speed skating titles at the Lake Placid Games.
Andrea Mead-Lawrence: Competing at the 1952 Oslo Games, Mead-Lawrence showed her skills as a slalom skier and won a pair of golds-the first American to achieve the feat in alpine skiing.
Bode Miller: The most successful men’s alpine skier for the U.S., Miller won overall World Cup titles in 2005 and 2008. At the Olympics, he has secured five podium finishes, and finally got a long-coveted gold with the Super Combined title at the Vancouver Games.
Apolo Ohno: The most decorated Winter Olympian for the U.S., Ohno was one of the stars of short-track speed skating in the decade from 2001-2010. He has 21 World Championships medals to his credit, including eight golds. At the Olympics, Ohno impressed at the three Games spanning 2002-2010, winning eight medals-two of them gold.
Picabo Street: Street was a popular skiing star in the 1990s. She overcame numerous injuries to win two Olympic medals: silver in the Downhill in 1994, and gold in the Super G four years later at the Nagano Games. Street’s successor at the top of the sport for the U.S., Lindsey Vonn, will be deserving of her own spot on this list with a strong showing at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Shaun White: Perhaps the most famous competitive snowboarder, White helped popularize his sport along the way to it earning Olympic status. He captured the Halfpipe golds in 2006 and 2010.
Patrick Hattman covered the London Games for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. He is already looking forward to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
