Team USA wins first gold in Beijing

Nearly a week into the Winter Games, the United States has won nine medals: one bronze, five silver, and three gold. After 16 years of trying, Lindsey Jacobellis finally claimed Team USA’s first gold medal on Wednesday in the women’s snowboard cross event. Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim followed with golds in men’s figure skating and the snowboard halfpipe. 

Any other notable wins? On Tuesday, Colby Stevenson took home a silver medal for men’s freeski big air, a stunt jumping event, after crashing on his first attempt and then perfecting difficult maneuvers on his next two runs. Stevenson was not expected to continue competition after a 2016 car accident nearly killed him, requiring multiple surgeries and a titanium plate on his skull. The women’s figure skating team received silver, just behind the Russian team, but the International Olympics Committee has delayed the awards ceremony while it investigates a positive result on a drug test by one of the Russian skaters.

Dig deeper: Read Anna Timmis’ report in Muse on activists calling for Olympic boycotts over China’s human rights abuses.