At the beginning of every Olympics, it feels like the Games will last forever - bringing us hours of top-flight athletic competition day after day after day.
At the end of every Olympics - when the TV networks show their final montages and the massive Teddy Ruxpins douse the Olympic flame - we wonder how it all flew by so quickly.
Here we find ourselves, then, with the Sochi Winter Olympics now behind us and the countdown on to Rio 2016. But first, of the more than three dozen records identified by Guinness World Records as being set over the last two weeks, let's look back at the pick of our Top 10 favourites.
10.) FIRST UNDEFEATED OLYMPIC FEMALE CURLING TEAM
Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer, and Dawn McEwen comprised a female Team Canada that made curling history, methodically marching to gold with nary a blemish on their resume: 11-0 and the second Canadian female team to ever win gold in the event.
9.) MOST WINTER OLYMPICS APPEARANCES BY AN ATHLETE
When Albert Demchenko (Russia) won silver in the men's singles luge and, one day later, Noriaki Kasai (Japan) placed eighth in men's normal hill ski jumping, the duo each set the bar for the most Winter Games appearances with seven apiece.
8.) OLDEST GOAL SCORER IN AN OLYMPICS HOCKEY GAME
Demchenko and Kasai weren't the only duelling elder statesmen at Sochi. On the hockey rink, Jaromir Jagr scored a goal for the Czech Republic on the eve of his 42nd birthday, making him the oldest goal scorer in Olympics history. Not to be outdone, though, Finland's Teemu Selanne showed youth is wasted on the young with a four-goal tournament and two-goal performance in the bronze medal game, at age 43 years 234 days.
7.) MOST CAREER OLYMPICS SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING MEDALS
A change in name did not mean a change in result for Russia's Viktor Ahn, formerly Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea. Racing for his new national flag, Ahn won three golds and a bronze in short track. That gave him eight career medals in the sport, matching the record held by Apolo Ohno (USA). It did, however, also give him six career golds, the most ever for a short track skater.
6.) HIGHEST SCORES IN ICE DANCING
Meryl Davis and Charlie White left Sochi as America's new golden couple. The pairs ice dancers won the nation's first-ever gold in the event, breaking the records for highest score in the short dance (78.89), free dance (116.63), and combined program (195.52) along the way.
5.) MOST OVERALL MEDAL SWEEPS AT A WINTER OLYMPICS
A neat stat that reflected the sheer domination on display everywhere you looked in Sochi. Eight different times, we saw one country sweep all three medals in a single event: the Netherlands did it four times (in four different speed skating events, no surprise), while France took men's ski cross, Norway the women's 30km freestyle, Russia the men's 50km freestyle, and USA the men's slopestyle. The previous high was five medals sweeps at Innsbruck 1964.
4.) MOST CONSECUTIVE INDIVIDUAL EVENT MEDALS WON
With his bronze in the men's luge singles, Armin "Il Cannibale" Zoeggeler (Italy) has now won a medal in every men's singles luge even since Lillehammer 1994. The six medals is the longest individual winning streak at the Olympics.
3.) HIGHEST SCORES IN FIGURE SKATING SHORT PROGRAMS
Figure skating is the crown jewel of any Winter Olympics, and this year's event didn't fail to deliver. Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) nailed a 101.45 in the men's short program, which also was the first time anyone had ever passed 100. And Russian pair Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov broke the pairs short program high score with an 84.17. Unsurprisingly, both performances led to eventual gold.
2.) MOST OLYMPICS MEDALS WON BY A NATION IN A SINGLE SPORT
The Adler Arena should've just dyed its ice orange. That's how dominant the Netherlands was in speed skating, taking 23 of the total 36 medals up for grabs, fuelled by the four sweeps we mentioned above. When rivals start saying things like "It's only interesting for the Dutch," you know a country has reached a unique - and record-breaking - level of mastery.
1.) MOST CAREER INDIVIDUAL MEDALS WON AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS
Our top spot, though, goes to a pair of individuals. For all the great teamwork and national pride that come out during any Olympics, it often boils down to the individual; the person who has spent countless hours and made unquantifiable sacrifices for a quadrennial moment in the sun. And so we salute Norwegians Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Marit Bjoergen. The former captured two biathlon golds, making him the most decorated Winter Olympian ever with 13 medals. And the latter took three golds in cross-country skiing, tying her for the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever at 10 total medals (six of those gold, more than her fellow record holders Stafania Belmondo and Raisa Smetanina).
So many great memories to take from Sochi, and we didn't even touch on Bob Costas' ocular adventures, Don Cherry's suits, or the parties at the Heineken House.
Have a favourite record we didn't mention here? Let us know in the comments. And see you in Rio!
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