More Olympic coverage and a look at some of the Games’ top past performances

From blades to boards, here are some American athletes to watch this Olympics

CHLOE KIM | HALFPIPE

The 17-year-old from Torrance, Calif., is making her Olympics debut in the home country of her parents. Kim was so good at age 13, she might have won the Sochi Olympics had she been old enough. But with the Olympics not allowing anyone in under 15, she did not make the cut.

What separates her from the pack on the halfpipe is her ability to do back-to-back 1080-degree jumps. She first pulled that off at a contest in 2016.

CURLING | MEN’S AND WOMEN’S

Curling is played in teams on ice with a 42-pound stone and a broom. Despite its inclusion in the first Winter Games in 1924, curling wasn’t sanctioned as a medal sport for nearly three-quarters of a century, until 1988, the first year women competed in it.

The game is centuries old and steeped in tradition. The 1565 Bruegel landscape “Hunters in the Snow” depicts what appears to be Flemish folk curling. The Scots have been playing since the 16th century.

Most stones used worldwide originate from Ailsa Craig, a volcanic, puffin-inhabited speck of an island off Scotland’s western coast.

American women have never medaled. The American men have medaled only once, in 2006. Despite this, the sport is gaining popularity.

NATHAN CHEN | MEN’S FIGURE SKATING

Nathan Chen and his five-quad free skate could be the biggest story of these games. Chen has raised the jumping bar so high with his collection of quads that if he skates cleanly, his technical marks are good enough to join the likes of Dick Button, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano and Evan Lysacek as Olympic gold medalist from the U.S.

Chen likely is the only gold medal candidate for the U.S., though his nation also has a chance to win a medal in the team competition after taking bronze in Sochi.