Only a few days into the Games, Sochi has the US favored in such events as alpine skiing, bobsled and even the traditionally euro-dominated sport of cross-country.

However, snowboarding’s slopestyle was the event that garnered the most attention from viewers. Officials and competitors alike were surprised at the level of publicity the event received.

Head coach Mike Jankowski attributes his home country’s aptitude in snow sports to the overall mindset that sport is a part of life in the US. From the time of youth, competitors are brought up in a world of physical activities, be it soccer, baseball, football, or track. Being brought up with an atmosphere of competitive sports really gives players a leg up against those who had to break into an event through opposition from family, tradition, or social constructions of their homeland.

Americans have dominated snowboarding medal events in the Olympics since their debut in 1998. The team took 21 medals in all, that’s a third of the total 66, along with 9 of the 22 available golds. During the 2010 Games team USA won 37 medals in Vancouver, the most of any country. Of their total count, 15 were awarded for snowboarding, freestyle skiing and short-track speedskating events.

Biathlon, Skiing, Curling and Crosscountry qualifier and medal events are going on now with the overall medal count showing Canada in 1^st with a total medal count of 5 as 2g-2s-1b, Norway in 2^nd with 2g-1s-4b medals, the Netherlands in 3^rd with 2g-1s-1b, and the US coming in at 4^th place with 2g-0s-3b.