Tokyo, Japan - Team USA experienced numerous shining moments on the biggest stages and lesser-known ones alike during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

Even though the games were locked out to fans and families of the athletes, there were still plenty of memorable moments in an unprecedented event.

Allyson Felix’s inspiring and historic return in the 4x100-meter final will undoubtedly stand out over time, as will Simone Biles' emphasis on mental health. There was also continued basketball supremacy, plenty of podiums from the pool, legends made on the mat.

With 626 athletes in total competing under the US flag, only a fraction made it on primetime TV. Most of them are names we’ve never heard of, competing in events that we didn’t know were Olympic sports or were possibly seen for the first time.

Regardless, each athlete performed on the biggest international stage in sports, with plenty of success to spare.

It took a few tries in both events, but Team USA earned memorable gold medals in volleyball. On the sand, The A-team of Olympic veteran April Ross and newcomer Alix Kleinman captured gold over a heavily favored Brazilian tandem in dominant straight sets. Away from the outdoors, the American women’s team experienced redemption by finally defeating Brazil’s powerhouse, also in straight sets, for the indoor volleyball team’s first-ever gold medal.

Katie Nageotte shocked the pole-vaulting community by lifting herself to her first career gold medal. The 30-year-old Ohio native cleared 4.90 meters on her second attempt to place first and is now only the third woman in US Olympic history to win gold in the pole vault.

Sydney McLaughlin started off her promising Olympic future by shattering her own record in the 400-meter hurdles final on the way to her first Olympic gold, and helping Allyson Felix make history in the relay event. Her track teammate Athing Mu easily ran for her first gold in the 800-meter race and joined McLaughlin and Felix on the gold-winning relay team.

In a family affair, men’s basketball player JaVale McGee role in defeating France in the final last week made him part of the first mother-son duo in US Olympic history to have won gold medals – Pamela McGee was part of the victorious women's team at the 1984 LA Games.

And on the golf course, Americans took individual golds with Xander Schauffele winning his first gold medal in the men’s tournament, while Nelly Korda was tops among the women for her first-career gold medal.

Eddy Alvarez, who assisted women’s Olympic basketball legend Sue Bird in opening ceremony flag-bearing duties, earned a silver medal as part of the men’s baseball team. Their female counterparts in softball also finished with silver. Despite both teams losing to Japan, their efforts are definitely worthy of respect in both sports’ return to Olympic play after a 13-year absence.

American women’s shot putter Raven Saunders won silver in her event but has become an American hero for far more than winning a medal, as she proudly demonstrated her support for any and every oppressed person.

The daughter of Rock legend Bruce Springsteen, Jessica Springsteen earned herself a respectable silver medal as part of the US equestrian team, in her first Olympic appearance.

American boxers Keyshawn Davis and Richard Torrez, Jr. both came in second in their respective bouts. The gold-medal drought in men’s boxing will have to continue on, at least for another few years, until the Games resume in Paris for the 2024 Games.

Kate Nye got the US women’s weightlifting team their first silver medal in two decades, while Kayle Browning clinched the silver medal in the women’s trap shooting event.

Jagger Eaton won a bronze medal with his skateboard, in the first-ever men’s street final, and Ariel Torres won the first-ever medal for the US in men’s Karate Kata.

Andrew Capobianco and Michael Hixon dove their way into a silver medal in synchronized three-meter springboard diving, while Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell also earned silvers off of the ten-meter platform.

Looking ahead to the upcoming Paris Games in 2024, Team USA has a lot to look forward to. On the last day of competitions in Tokyo, the United States not only finished with the most overall medals – 113 – but also bested China's 38 golds by one. This was all thanks to the historic golden first, achieved by the US women’s indoor volleyball team’s victory over Brazil.

And as Sunday’s closing ceremonies put an end to an obviously different but still entertaining Olympic Games, attention already turned to France and the Paris Summer Games, just three years away.

There’s no telling if athletes will have to experience anything quite like Tokyo, but one thing is certain: a new wave of Olympic heroes will emerge, favorite faces will return, and more names will enter history as legends for all the newcomers to chase.