Asher Klein

History Made: Shaun White Wins Team USA's 100th Winter Games Gold Medal

In addition to winning the 100th gold for Team USA, Shaun White is the first snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals

Team USA's Shaun White, one of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games' biggest stars, won a gold medal Wednesday morning that holds additional prestige: the 100th for the United States in the Winter Olympics.

White won the men's halfpipe final, where in his third and final run he came back from second place to edge out Japan's Ayumu Hirano.

White went into the race with a chip on his shoulder -- in Sochi, he failed to medal in the event, placing fourth. But his near-perfect run finished another title White was seeking: He is the first snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals. 

In the qualifying round, White put up a commanding 98.5 score, the highest of the night. And White will go into the halfpipe final with a chip on his shoulder after placing fourth in Sochi. 

[NATL] These US Athletes Won Medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics

Chloe Kim's soaring performance in the halfpipe Tuesday morning in Pyeongchang earned the U.S. its 99th gold medal, setting fellow snowboarder White up to seize the 100th.

Skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on the 100th gold medal for Team USA, having been thwarted twice by dangerous winds that have been postponing her events.

She looks to defend her slalom gold medal from Sochi, and her chance of standing atop the podium is strong -- she is the youngest-ever Olympic slalom champion and the first woman to win three consecutive slalom world titles in 78 years. She is a heavy favorite in the slalom and the giant slalom. 

White's 100th gold continues an American tradition that stretches back to the first medal ever won at a Winter Olympics by any country, a feat accomplished by a man from Lake Placid, New York, who shocked the rest of the world, according to a history of the feat posted on the Olympics' website.

In 1924, Charles Jewtraw was 24 and a two-time U.S. speedskating champion when he arrived at the first Winter Games in Chamonix, a resort in the French Alps. (Initially just a week of winter sports put on by the International Olympic Committee, the event would be retroactively deemed the first Olympic Winter Games.)

Photos of Jewtraw from the time show a lean man with a mop of dark hair who wore tights and a turtleneck when he raced.

A Finn named Clas Thunberg was the man to beat in the first event, the 500 meters, according to the Olympics' account, and Thunberg indeed would win three other speedskating events that year.

But Jewtraw "drew gasps from the spectators" when he zoomed away to start his heat. He burned up the oval in just 44.00 seconds, beating two Norwegians and Thunberg, who wound up in a tie for third.

Jewtraw didn't place in his two other races at Chamonix and he didn't compete in another Olympics. But he was inducted into the National Speedskating Hall of Fame in 1963.

"Humility and gentlemanly conduct were also Jewtraw trademarks," the Lake Placid Hall of Fame notes.

Today, his gold medal is in the Smithsonian's collection.

The 100 gold medals that the U.S. have won so far are a fraction of those won in Olympic history. Team USA is traditionally more dominant in the Summer Games — Norway has more winter gold medals than the U.S. — and there are more events in the summer as well.

100 Gold Medals for Team USA

# Date Name Sport Class Event
1 Jan 26, 1924 Charley Jewtraw Speedskating Men 500m
2* Feb 17, 1928 Jennison Heaton Skeleton Men Skeleton
3* Feb 17, 1928 Team Bobsledding Men Four
4 Feb 4, 1932 Jack Shea Speedskating Men 500m
5 Feb 4, 1932 Irving Jaffee Speedskating Men 5,000m
6 Feb 5, 1932 Jack Shea Speedskating Men 1,500m
7 Feb 8, 1932 Irving Jaffee Speedskating Men 10,000m
8 Feb 9, 1932 Curtis Stevens / Hubert Stevens Bobsledding Men Two
9 Feb 15, 1932 Team Bobsledding Men Four
10 Feb 15, 1936 Ivan Brown / Al Washbond Bobsledding Men Two
11 Feb 5, 1948 Gretchen Fraser Alpine Skiing Women Slalom
12 Feb 5, 1948 Dick Button Figure Skating Men Singles
13 Feb 7, 1948 Team Bobsledding Men Four
14 Feb 14, 1952 Andrea Mead-Lawrence Alpine Skiing Women Giant Slalom
15 Feb 16, 1952 Ken Henry Speedskating Men 500m
16 Feb 20, 1952 Andrea Mead-Lawrence Alpine Skiing Women Slalom
17 Feb 21, 1952 Dick Button Figure Skating Men Singles
18 Feb 1, 1956 Hayes Jenkins Figure Skating Men Singles
19 Feb 2, 1956 Tenley Albright Figure Skating Women Singles
20 Feb 23, 1960 Carol Heiss Figure Skating Women Singles
21 Feb 26, 1960 David Jenkins Figure Skating Men Singles
22 Feb 28, 1960 Team Ice Hockey Men Ice Hockey
23 Feb 4, 1964 Terry McDermott Speedskating Men 500m
24 Feb 10, 1968 Peggy Fleming Figure Skating Women Singles
25 Feb 9, 1972 Dianne Holum Speedskating Women 1,500m
26 Feb 10, 1972 Anne Henning Speedskating Women 500m
27 Feb 11, 1972 Barbara Cochran Alpine Skiing Women Slalom
28 Feb 6, 1976 Sheila Young Speedskating Women 500m
29 Feb 12, 1976 Peter Mueller Speedskating Men 1,000m
30 Feb 13, 1976 Dorothy Hamill Figure Skating Women Singles
31 Feb 15, 1980 Eric Heiden Speedskating Men 500m
32 Feb 16, 1980 Eric Heiden Speedskating Men 5,000m
33 Feb 19, 1980 Eric Heiden Speedskating Men 1,000m
34 Feb 21, 1980 Eric Heiden Speedskating Men 1,500m
35 Feb 23, 1980 Eric Heiden Speedskating Men 10,000m
36 Feb 24, 1980 Team Ice Hockey Men Ice Hockey
37 Feb 13, 1984 Debbie Armstrong Alpine Skiing Women Giant Slalom
38 Feb 16, 1984 Bill Johnson Alpine Skiing Men Downhill
39 Feb 16, 1984 Scott Hamilton Figure Skating Men Singles
40 Feb 19, 1984 Phil Mahre Alpine Skiing Men Slalom
41 Feb 20, 1988 Brian Boitano Figure Skating Men Singles
42 Feb 22, 1988 Bonnie Blair Speedskating Women 500m
43 Feb 10, 1992 Bonnie Blair Speedskating Women 500m
44 Feb 13, 1992 Donna Weinbrecht Freestyle Skiing Women Moguls
45 Feb 14, 1992 Bonnie Blair Speedskating Women 1,000m
46 Feb 20, 1992 Cathy Turner Short-Track SSK Women 500m
47 Feb 21, 1992 Kristi Yamaguchi Figure Skating Women Singles
48 Feb 13, 1994 Tommy Moe Alpine Skiing Men Downhill
49 Feb 15, 1994 Diann Roffe-Steinrotter Alpine Skiing Women Super G
50 Feb 18, 1994 Dan Jansen Speedskating Men 1,000m
51 Feb 19, 1994 Bonnie Blair Speedskating Women 500m
52 Feb 23, 1994 Bonnie Blair Speedskating Women 1,000m
53 Feb 24, 1994 Cathy Turner Short-Track SSK Women 500m
54 Feb 11, 1998 Jonny Moseley Freestyle Skiing Men Moguls
55 Feb 11, 1998 Picabo Street Alpine Skiing Women Super G
56 Feb 17, 1998 Team Ice Hockey Women Ice Hockey
57 Feb 18, 1998 Nikki Stone Freestyle Skiing Women Aerials
58 Feb 18, 1998 Eric Bergoust Freestyle Skiing Men Aerials
59 Feb 20, 1998 Tara Lipinski Figure Skating Women Singles
60 Feb 10, 2002 Kelly Clark Snowboarding Women Halfpipe
61 Feb 11, 2002 Ross Powers Snowboarding Men Halfpipe
62 Feb 12, 2002 Casey FitzRandolph Speedskating Men 500m
63 Feb 17, 2002 Chris Witty Speedskating Women 1,000m
64 Feb 19, 2002 Derek Parra Speedskating Men 1,500m
65 Feb 19, 2002 Jill Bakken Bobsledding Women Two
66 Feb 20, 2002 Tristan Gale Skeleton Women Skeleton
67 Feb 20, 2002 Jim Shea Jr. Skeleton Men Skeleton
68 Feb 20, 2002 Apolo Anton Ohno Short-Track SSK Men 1,500m
69 Feb 21, 2002 Sarah Hughes Figure Skating Women Singles
70 Feb 11, 2006 Chad Hedrick Speedskating Men 5,000m
71 Feb 12, 2006 Shaun White Snowboarding Men Halfpipe
72 Feb 13, 2006 Hannah Teter Snowboarding Women Halfpipe
73 Feb 13, 2006 Joey Cheek Speedskating Men 500m
74 Feb 14, 2006 Ted Ligety Alpine Skiing Men Combined
75 Feb 16, 2006 Seth Wescott Snowboarding Men Boardercross
76 Feb 18, 2006 Shani Davis Speedskating Men 1,000m
77 Feb 24, 2006 Julia Mancuso Alpine Skiing Women Giant Slalom
78 Feb 25, 2006 Apolo Anton Ohno Short-Track SSK Men 500m
79 Feb 13, 2010 Hannah Kearney Freestyle Skiing Women Moguls
80 Feb 15, 2010 Seth Wescott Snowboarding Men Boardercross
81 Feb 17, 2010 Lindsey Vonn Alpine Skiing Women Downhill
82 Feb 17, 2010 Shani Davis Speedskating Men 1,000m
83 Feb 17, 2010 Shaun White Snowboarding Men Halfpipe
84 Feb 18, 2010 Evan Lysacek Figure Skating Men Singles
85 Feb 21, 2010 Bode Miller Alpine Skiing Men Combined
86 Feb 25, 2010 Bill Demong Nordic Combined Men Individual, Large
87 Feb 27, 2010 Team Bobsledding Men Four
88 Feb 8, 2014 Sage Kotsenburg Snowboarding Men Slopestyle
89 Feb 9, 2014 Jamie Anderson Snowboarding Women Slopestyle
90 Feb 12, 2014 Kaitlyn Farrington Snowboarding Women Halfpipe
91 Feb 13, 2014 Joss Christensen Freestyle Skiing Men Slopestyle
92 Feb 17, 2014 Meryl Davis / Charlie White Figure Skating Mixed Ice Dancing
93 Feb 18, 2014 David Wise Freestyle Skiing Men Halfpipe
94 Feb 19, 2014 Ted Ligety Alpine Skiing Men Giant Slalom
95 Feb 20, 2014 Maddie Bowman Freestyle Skiing Women Halfpipe
96 Feb 21, 2014 Mikaela Shiffrin Alpine Skiing Women Slalom
97 Feb 11, 2018 Red Gerard Snowboarding Men Slopestyle
98 Feb 12, 2018 Jamie Anderson Snowboarding Women Slopestyle
99 Feb 13, 2018 Chloe Kim Snowboarding Women Halfpipe
100 Feb 13, 2018 Shaun White Snowboarding Men Halfpipe

* Exact order of the 2nd and 3rd gold medals is uncertain.
Source: olympics.org

Contact Us