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Did you know that a U.S. team has competed in every Winter Olympics that has been held
since its creation in 1924? The U.S. is also the only nation to earn a gold medal at every
Winter Olympic Games. The United States has hosted the Winter Olympics
four times: in 1932 and 1980 in Lake Placid, New York; in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California;
and in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The U.S. holds two important records at the Winter
Olympics. The youngest female gold medalist in a Winter Games individual contest is American
Tara Lipinski, who at 15 years old won in figure skating at the 1998 Games. And American
Vonetta Flowers was the first black athlete -- male or female -- to win a medal at any
Winter Games. She won gold in the Two-Woman Bobsled in 2002. There are 15 sports in the
Winter Olympics. The most recent sport added to the Olympics is snowboarding, which became
an Olympic competition in 1998. This year, it is making its debut at the Paralympics
Winter Games in Sochi. Snowboarding developed in the United States in the 1960s, when a
man in Michigan tied two skis together into one larger ski or "snowboard" for his daughter.
A design was later patented, and the modern snowboard era began. The sport grew in popularity
in the 1980s with the first world championship of snowboarding. Even at that time, however,
there were limited ski runs in the U.S. and around the world where snowboarders were welcome.
Snowboarders were considered by many skiiers to be young and insolent, and only interested
in showing off. But with their obvious talent and passion for sport, snowboarders in American
won over the public. Today nearly all ski areas welcome snowboarders to their slopes,
and it is one of the most popular winter sports in the U.S. Shaun White is the most famous
American snowboarder. A two-time Olympics gold medalist, the 27 year old holds the record
for the highest score in the men's halfpipe at the Winter Olympics. He has also medaled
14 times at the famous X Games, which highlights extreme sports. Snowboarding in the Paralympics
is called either adaptive snowboarding or para-snowboard. One of the American stars
in adaptive snowboarding is Amy Purdy, who is the only double amputee competing internationally
in the sport. But no matter the sport, Americans love the Olympic Games, and Team USA looks
forward to competing in Sochi this month.