The 61 best photos of the Winter Olympics

The reasons the Olympics enthrall viewers – the atmosphere, the joy of winning, the agony of defeat, the spectacle of sport – are the same reasons they produce some of the best photos.

The Winter Olympics have now come to a close, but for over two weeks photographers captured stunning images from the games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Though there’s too many great photos to count, we used Getty to compile some of our favorites.

Take a look below.

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Figure skating is an exhausting sport, both physically and emotionally.

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But when you get a gold medal, it’s all worth it.

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Lydia Lassila of Australia floats upside down, as freestyle skiers do.

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Wojciech Marusarz of Poland was captured at just the right moment while jumping during the nordic combined.

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Biathlon requires focus and stillness.

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Sometimes you even have to battle the elements.

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Dramatic angles show how daunting the snowboard slopestyle is.

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Winning the slopestyle can be rewarding, as it was for Red Gerard.

Read more: 17-year-old Red Gerard wins the US’s first gold medal of the Winter Olympics

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Team Shuster was all smiles after their upset win over Canada sent them to the gold medal game.

Read more: The US hockey and curling teams made history late Wednesday night, and conquered Canada in the process

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Jocelyne Lamoureux scored the game-winning goal of the gold medal match for the United States in a shootout against Canada. She's calls the maneuver the "Oops I did it again."

Read more: This is the hilarious name USA women's hockey hero Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson gave to her gold medal-winning penalty shot

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Jocelyne Larocque of Canada showed that it might be better to win bronze than silver.

Read more: The women's hockey final is a perfect example of why bronze is often better than silver at the Olympics

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That said, sometimes silver is plenty nice — the German hockey team was thrilled with their second place finish, having beaten Canada in the semifinals for one of the biggest upset wins of the Winter Games.

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Just look how happy Canadian Cody Goloubef was after the team took bronze.

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The North Korean cheer squad had been one of the great spectacles of the Olympics.

Read more: All eyes are on the fierce and creepy chants of the North Korean cheer squad at the Winter Olympics (and they'll go to prison if they do anything wrong)

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Pita Taufatofua is back — and he's still shirtless!

Read more: The Tongan flag bearer is back for the Winter Olympics - and he went shirtless at the Opening ceremonies again

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Fredrik Lindstroem of Sweden picked up his country's flag from a spectator before winning gold in the men's biathlon relay.

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There were plenty of his fellow Swedes there to celebrate with him.

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Marit Bjoergen of Norway is overcome with emotion after winning one of the final races of the 2018 Winter Games.

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Hockey can be chaotic.

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The big air competition is aptly named.

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And nothing feels better than landing cleanly and finding out you won gold.

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The luge is one of the loneliest sports.

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Yet Johannes Ludwig of Germany showed how rewarding the luge is after winning bronze.

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When you're winning gold like Mikaela Shiffrin, it's easy to smile.

Read more: Mikaela Shiffrin wins her first gold of the Winter Olympics - and she's got more to come

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Italy's Dominik Windisch let it all out after taking home a bronze medal in the mixed biathlon event.

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Maddie Bowman of the U.S. reacts to a crash in the freestyle skiing halfpipe.

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Have you heard it's cold in Pyeongchang?

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The conditions have made events like the biathlon even more difficult.

Read more: The windy conditions at Pyeongchang are wreaking havoc on the Olympics

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Matthias Plachta was hyped to score a goal for Germany in their semifinal matchup against Canada.

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And the team could hardly believe it when they held on for the win, sending Germany to the gold medal game.

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It's a long way down for alpine skiers, but it's a beautiful ride.

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Austria's Anna Gasser takes in a view of wind turbines during the big air qualification.

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Falling hurts, as Japan's Sho Endo learned.

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Crashes are a common sight in speed skating.

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And they can be intense...

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Snowboard cross can also get quite crowded as athletes race to the bottom.

Read more: Austrian Markus Schairer breaks neck during snowboard cross event in horrifying crash at Winter Olympics

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Pure emotion from Mirai Nagasu after becoming the first American woman to land a triple axel at the Olympics.

Read more: 24-year-old US figure skater goes nuts after nailing a trick no other American woman has ever landed in the Olympics

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Curling is a game of skill and concentration — and it's not that easy.

Read more: Olympic curlers are pushing back on the most commonly held belief about their sport - that it's easy

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Canadian and German bobsledders react to tying for a gold medal.

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The 15km biathlon came down to an incredible photo finish.

Read more: The exhausting 15km biathlon came down to a split-second and a photo finish, resulting in some great images

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And both men collapsed afterward.

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The final sprint of a cross-country race is one of the most grueling stretches you'll find at the Winter Olympics.

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Many racers wind up collapsing just after crossing the finish line.

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But when you win the gold medal, you wind up getting your energy back pretty quickly.

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The joint Korean hockey team is organized.

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A sense of what ski jumpers see as they launch into the air.

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We could look at ski jumping photos all day.

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Canada's Elizabeth Hosking climbs the halfpipe.

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Barrett Martineau of Canada rides ferociously down the track on his sled.

Read more: Skeleton sliders have a habit of sporting some intense helmets - here are the best ones from Pyeongchang 2018

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Olympic Athletes from Russia leave the ice scattered with equipment after celebrating their game-winning goal.

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How do they do this?!

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You have to appreciate the theatrics of the free dance.

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Photographers sometimes catch figure skaters at odd angles.

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Adam Rippon spins so fast that only his flashy costume sticks out.

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Ester Ledecka wasn't sure how to react when she won a surprise gold in the super-G.

Read more: Czech snowboarder Ester Ledecka borrowed Mikaela Shiffrin's skis and pulled off an unbelievable upset to win Super-G gold by 0.01 second

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Snowboarders get serious air.

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Poland's Maciej Kurowski gets dangerously close to the wall in the luge.

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The Netherlands women's short track team took home a surprise bronze medal in a race in which they didn't compete after a wild finish.

Read more: Bizarre scene unfolds in women's short track relay when 2 disqualifications give silver medal to third-place team and bronze to team that wasn't even on the ice

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There's nothing like winning.

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But everyone appreciates good sportsmanship.

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This is what the Olympics are all about...

Read more: Several cross-country skiers waited at the finish line to congratulate the guy who came in last

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Now, check out photos from the very first Winter Olympics...

Incredible photos of the small French commune that held the first Winter Olympics >