Every four years, all of the world’s greatest athletes gather in one city to compete against other nations to try and win the highest medal possible.

The 22nd Winter Olympics has recently passed, with America making a successful visit.

With the games in Sochi, Russia, just ending with Sunday’s closing ceremonies, here’s a look back at some of the highlights.

The games’ opening ceremonies were on Feb. 7, although some events such as figure skating, snowboarding, and skiing were held on the eve before.

There were a total of 98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines for these games, and 88 participating countries. According to dnaindia.com, this was the most expensive Olympics yet, costing close to $50.6 billion.

Prior to this year’s games, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing held the record for most expensive Olympics, costing around $44 billion.

Also, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver used to hold the record for largest number of participants at around 2,600.

But the 2014 Winter games surpassed both of these records, with 2,800 participants.

Host-country Russia earned 33 medals, including the mostgold with 13, while the United States finished second in th total medal county with 28.

Norway was predicted to win the most gold medals because their dominance in endurance skiing sports, but it finished second with 11.

Sochi was chosen as the host city for the Winter Olympics in 2007, but not everyone was very happy about this decision. People were concerned about their safety because of ongoing terrorism in Russia.

Mysterious messages were received by the United States and five European countries containing terrorist threats pior to the start of the Winter Olympics.

In addition to terrorism, there were many other interesting events happening in Russia prior to these games.

President Obama made a statement regarding his stance on gay rights by sending three openly gay athletes,

Brian Boitano, Caitlin Cahow, and Billie Jean King, who couldn’t attend due to her mother’s illness, to lead the U.S. delegation. There had been much discussion about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay views.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia face legal and social challenges in Russia.

Although same-sex sexual activity between adults in private was decriminalized in 1993, there are still currently no laws prohibiting discrimination against the gay community.

Canines were also having life threatening issues because of these games. The New York Times reported that a pest removal company was hired by the Russian government to kill all stray dogs on the streets of Russia before the opening ceremony.

But not all of the news leading up to the games was negative.

Since 1998, women ski jumpers have been petitioning to join the games and have been brutally rejected every year until these games.

The Americans were predicted to have success in long track speed skating. Veteran Shani Davis failed to win a medal, citing the suit was the cause of his failure.

Short track speed skaters, J.R. Celski, Eddy Alvarez, Chris Creveling, and Jordan Malone led the U.S. to silver in the team relay.

Two-time Olympic halfpipe champion, Shaun White, had a disappointing fourth place finish this year. In addition, alpine skier Bode Miller concluded his Olympics career with a bronze in the men’s Super- G.

Female bobsledder Lolo Jones made headlines by becoming one of few athletes to participate in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. She failed to medal.  But Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the ice dance gold medal, the first Olympic title in the event for the United States.

San Jose native Polina Edmunds finished in seventh in the ladie’s short program. Americans Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner finished in fourth and sixth, respectively.

The men’s hockey team, led by San Jose Sharks star Joe Pavelski failed to medal after a disappointing 5-0 loss to Finland in the bronze medal game.

The women’s ice hockey team fell short of gold in the team’s 3-2 loss to Canada in the finals.

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympis will be remembered for its numerous controversies heading into it, leading many fans anticipating the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.