For the last two and a half weeks the world’s eyes have been glued on Sochi, Russia as some of the greatest athletes in the world have been fighting for the ultimate prize; the gold medal. The games came to a close last night and Sochi sent the athletes away with a beautiful closing ceremony. Russia goes home as the ultimate winner, with 33 total medals, with 13 being gold. Closely following Russia was the United States with 28 total.

With the Olympics, the medal count isn’t always the greatest prize to the viewer. It is sharing the moment with an athlete as they hoist up you home flag, or pump their fist in the air crossing the finish line, with them knowing they had just achieved greatness. Sochi presented many of these moments for it’s viewers and took the world’s heart and held it on a ledge. Moments like when T. J. Oshie single handily beat Russia in penalty shoots, or when Bode Miller took the Bronze in Alpine Skiing’s Super G after loosing his brother just a few short months before and couldn’t hold back the emotion in the post-interview.

These moments are what makes every olympics special to not only the United States, but to the world. A two week period where the world can forget about its problems and enjoy sports at its finest and that is just what it did.