They spoke with their feet: Chloe Kim springing off the walls of the halfpipe, Lindsey Vonn stomping in the start house at the top of the downhill run before she knifed forward, Jessie Diggins flinging her left ski across the finish line of the cross-country track and through the barbed wire of history. And finally, the Lamoureux sisters, who charged the net as nimbly as ice dancers in hockey pads and ended 20 years of frustration.
"I took a few inside edges, went in slow and then came in hot," Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said of the Deke Heard 'Round the World, which defeated Canada in the women's gold-medal hockey shootout after her twin sister, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, scored the equalizer that altered the course of the game. Her words, imbued with an endearing, matter-of-fact inflection, also serve as a metaphor for the way the U.S. women rescued their nation's sagging medal count.
It was just one of many storylines from these Winter Games that will reverberate for years to come: The controlled chaos of the short-track speedskating competition. The Unified women's ice hockey team bringing North and South Korea together. The shocking result in men's luge. A men's cross-country skier who made an impact no matter what place he stood in the overall standings.
Here are those stories to remember from Pyeongchang:
U.S. women's hockey ends drought
For 80 minutes, the U.S. women's hockey team had given it everything it had, crawling back from a 2-1 deficit to push its rival, Canada, to the absolute brink. A shootout was all that remained, with a gold medal and four years of hard work on the line. In the sixth round, Jocelyne Lamoureux would twist Canada goalie Shannon Szabados into a pretzel and poke the puck into the back of the net to give the U.S. the advantage. Seconds later, at the other end, 20-year-old goalie Maddie Rooney, playing in her first major international tournament, stopped a shot from Meghan Agosta, and the celebration was underway. It had been 20 years since the U.S. women had won Olympic hockey gold -- 20 years of watching their rivals stand atop the medal stand.
Foudy: Team USA showed what's possible when women are unified and empowered
Wyshynski: This is 20-year-old Maddie Rooney, USA's goaltender who made 'next time' into 'this time'
Lindsey Vonn's finale
ESPN's Julie Foudy speaks with U.S. Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen about the highs and lows of his first Winter Games.
The Olympics have always presented their own unique tests for American skier Lindsey Vonn. First, there was the 2006 Torino Olympics, where Vonn crashed violently in downhill training and had to be airlifted off the course. The next day, barely able to walk, she finished sixth overall in the downhill. That determination would set the tone for future Games to come.
Injuries hampered her performance at the 2010 Vancouver Games, where she still medaled twice, and a torn ACL kept her out of Sochi four years later. The Pyeongchang Olympics were supposed to be a redemption tour of sorts, as Vonn again battled back from multiple injuries over the past year and secured bronze in her signature event, the downhill. If Pyeongchang is indeed her last Games, here is a look at final Olympics.
Drehs: Lindsey Vonn finishes third in the downhill, and it's the end of the snow as we know it
Hamilton: No miracle on snow for Lindsey Vonn -- and no tears either
Hamilton: No miracle on snow for Lindsey Vonn -- and no tears either
A time for firsts
A look at the athletes and countries that made or broke history in Pyeongchang:
'We're showing people that anyone can do anything': Seun Adigun, Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere are a testament that there's no such thing as impossible. The Nigerian-Americans went from zero knowledge of bobsled to the track in Pyeongchang. Oh, and landing in the record books for Africa. Read
The Kenyans who want to play ice hockey in the Winter Olympics: Meeting twice a week at an ice rink adjacent to a national park in Nairobi, the Kenya Ice Lions had an Olympic dream, and their visit to Pyeongchang fueled the fire inside. Read
Randall and Diggins dig deep to end U.S. wait for cross-country gold: Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins ended a 42-year drought for the U.S. in cross-country skiing. And not only was Wednesday's success the nation's first medal in the discipline since 1976, it was gold. Read
For Unified team, 'We know this is more than just a game': With frenzied fans and country dignitaries standing watch, the Unified women's hockey team tried to put political pressure aside as it made its Winter Olympics debut. Read
Etch it in stones, U.S. curlers make history and cap incredible run with a gold medal: The Americans went on an improbable run and beat powerhouses on their way to an Olympic gold medal in curling -- the first for Team USA. Read
Redemption songs
Question marks gone, there's gold in those mountains for Austria's Marcel Hirscher: The dominant Hirscher is the first man to win gold medals in the combined and the giant slalom at the same Olympics. Hirscher won the giant slalom by 1.27 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the Olympic event since Jean-Claude Killy won it in 1968. Read
Legend of the luge: India's Shiva Keshavan competed in his sixth Winter Olympics, headed toward the finishing line of a career whose greatness is measured in grit. Read
The journey, not a medal, is biggest reward for Goepper, Kenworthy: Four years after making history, teammates Nick Goepper and Gus Kenworthy both hit rock bottom. But after returning to the Olympic men's ski slopestyle final (where Goepper took silver), both know their success in life outweighs any medal. Read
Mexican cross country skier German Madrazo captured the hearts of his countrymen by carrying the flag across the finish line.
Mikaela Shiffrin carries air of inevitability all the way to giant slalom gold: Even one of her rivals was tipping her for victory going into the giant slalom, and Mikaela Shiffrin showed exactly why with a dominant performance that whet the appetite for an eventual downhill showdown with Lindsey Vonn. Read
Mark McMorris' journey from coma to Olympic bronze: He suffered a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen and 17 broken bones and was in a coma. Eleven months later, he found himself on an Olympic-medal stand. Read
There's now clarity to Adam Rippon's big picture, on and off the ice: Figure skater Adam Rippon is showing that it is possible to be a strong athlete, a strong teammate and a strong advocate all at the same time. Read
When they got the call -- U.S. players honor Johannson's message: Jim Johannson's message was universal: "It's great to make this call today." With the sudden death of the USA Hockey executive still on their minds, U.S. men's players remember when "JJ" reached out to tell them they were going to Pyeongchang. Read
Pyeongchang
An illusion of unity: North and South Korea agreed to march under a unified flag and combine their women's hockey teams at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. But political divisions and fears still govern the region. Read
Why dog meat became a story at these Olympics, and why, culturally, the conversation is slowly changing: The story is a predictable one: Media descend on a region for an event and myopically focus on what's odd to them. This subject, tough for Westerners, is rooted in history and tradition -- and with the country's newest generations, is changing. Read
The offbeat
The long and short of it? South Koreans love their speedskating: The South Koreans found success early in the sport and haven't looked back. The short-track speed skaters are national sports heroes and the subject of great pride. Read
Band O.A.R. can thank OAR for popularity spike: With the world shortening "Olympic Athlete from Russia" to "OAR," rock band O.A.R. saw something of a nostalgic resurgence as fans are reminded of the 2000s music group. Read
Figure skating coach Brian Orser, a master of costume changes: Brian Orser has no shortage of jackets in Pyeongchang. As a figure skating coach to Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu, Spain's Javier Fernandez and South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan, he has a jacket for every occasion -- and he's used to the quick change. Read
America's biggest 2018 exports: Planes, cars ... winter Olympians: About 37 athletes from the United States competed for other flags in Pyeongchang. For example: Charles Flaherty, from Cincinnati? He skied for Puerto Rico. Read
A couple of Nicks and a few Susans are hoping to help U.S. speedskating: The deadlines were moved up, with revolutionary fabric used and tested in wind tunnels. These suits looked to give the American skaters an edge -- and, at the very least, make them comfortable. Read
Listen up! Pita 'the Topless Tongan' has a serious message: Eye-catching at not one, but two Olympic opening ceremonies with his shirtless flag-bearing, Tonga's Pita Taufatofua swapped the warmth of Rio for the cold of Pyeongchang with one thing in mind: to be an inspiration to Polynesia. Read
The unnerving heartbeat of Pyeongchang: When friends, family and fans waited for athletes' results in the spectator area, the tension was punctuated by the "boom, boom" of a heartbeat -- but it wasn't theirs. Read
Figure skating
The Winter Games are the biggest story in South Korea, but K-Pop music is everywhere here. Intrigued with the catchy song-and-dance performances, we put our bodies to the test as we spent an afternoon trying to master tricky step routines.
The state of figure skating is strong -- except in the United States: The U.S. walks away from Pyeongchang with one of the lowest medal hauls in its figure skating history: two bronze medals, one in the team event and another in ice dance, for Maia and Alex Shibutani. Read
For Nathan Chen, this is not how it was supposed to go: After a horrible short-program performance, Chen was closer to last place in the standings than he was to a gold medal in men's figure skating. Read
Rivals, friends, record-breakers: Virtue and Moir pushed to new heights: Canadian pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won a record third Olympic gold medal, and they were pushed every step of the way by their training partners, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France. Read
Controversy
Russian athlete fails doping test at Olympics: The Russian delegation at the Pyeongchang Olympics announced that one of its athletes, curler Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, failed a drug test. Read
Russian bobsledder admits to doping at Games: A Russian bobsledder who tested positive for a banned substance at the Pyeongchang Olympics admitted to doping and was disqualified from the Games. Read
Shaun White apologizes, calls behavior regrettable: Shaun White called his behavior regrettable, while the lawyer representing Lena Zawaideh said, "No woman wants to be called a 'gossip' or a liar by the harasser." Read
Snowboarding
Chloe Kim fulfills her golden destiny -- from 'baby girl' to full-fledged dragon: The 17-year-old Korean-American -- too young to compete in Sochi four years ago -- claimed halfpipe gold in near-perfect fashion. It marked a day when a metaphorical version of Korean mythology played out in real life on the Olympic stage. Read
Shaun White captures gold with monster third run: Last October, Shaun White ended up in the hospital with 62 stitches in his face after attempting to learn the cab double cork 1440. On Wednesday, he captured a third career Olympic gold and sparked wild celebrations. Read
Anderson's secret weapons tame conditions and the field to retain slopestyle gold: On a day that tested snowboarders, and having narrowly avoided another delay of the running of the women's slopestyle event, Jamie Anderson showed all her experience to outsmart the competition and retain her Olympic title. Read
It's gold in snowboard slopestyle for Red (Gerard), White and Blue: At 17, Gerard became the first Winter Olympics gold medalist born in the 2000s -- and the third-youngest Winter Games gold medalist in history. Read