2002 Winter Olympics Totally Explained

Everything about 2002 Winter Olympics totally explained

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games, and with the theme slogan "Light The Fire Within", were celebrated in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Other candidate cities were: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Sion, Valais, Switzerland; and Östersund, Sweden. Salt Lake City was selected as the host city on June 16, 1995 at the 104th IOC Session in Budapest. Olympic venues were scattered around Salt Lake City, as well as in the mountains at Park City, Ogden, and Provo. Athletes were housed in the Olympic Village at the University of Utah.
The 2002 Salt Lake City Games became the most populated area to have ever hosted a Winter Olympics; at the time of the Olympics its metropolitan population was 1,516,227.

Highlights

The opening ceremonies included Grammy Award winning artist, LeAnn Rimes singing "Light the Fire Within", the official song of the 2002 Olympics.

The Grammy Award winning Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed the "Star-Spangled Banner", National Anthem of the United States, for the opening ceremonies.

There were also signs of the aftermath of September 11, 2001. They included the flag that flew at Ground Zero, NYPD officer Daniel Rodriguez singing "God Bless America," and honor guards of NYPD and FDNY members.

Along with the flag that flew at the World Trade Center site, the Challenger Flag was also carried into the stadium.

The opening segment of the opening ceremony, celebrated all previous hosts of the Olympic Winter Games. (External Link

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The Olympics marked the first time an American president opened an Olympic Winter Games held in the United States.

These were the first Games to be held under IOC president Jacques Rogge.

Competition highlights included biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway, winning gold in all four men's events (10 k, 12.5 k, 20 k, 4 x 7.5 relay), nordic combined athlete Samppa Lajunen of Finland winning three gold medals, Simon Ammann of Switzerland taking the double in ski jumping, and alpine skier Janica Kostelić winning three golds and a silver (the first Winter Olympic medals ever for an athlete from Croatia).

Skeleton returned as a medal sport in the 2002 Games for the first time since 1948.

Ireland reached its best ever position and came close to winning its first winter medal when Clifton Wrottesley (Clifton Hugh Lancelot de Verdon Wrottesley, 6th Baron Wrottesley) finished fourth in the men's skeleton event.

The Women's Bobsled Event had its debut at the 2002 Games after several years of World Cup competition.

A feature of these Games has been the emergence of the so-called "extreme" sports, such as snowboarding, moguls and aerials, which appeared in previous Olympic Winter Games but have captured greater public attention in recent years.

American Sarah Hughes won the gold medal in figure skating. American and heavy favorite Michelle Kwan fell during her long program and received the bronze medal.

China won its first and second Winter Olympic gold medals, both by women's short track speed skater Yang Yang (A).

One of the most memorable stories of the event occurred at the men's short track. Australian skater Steven Bradbury, a competitor who had won a bronze in 1994 as part of a relay team but well off the pace of the medal favourites, cruised off the pace in his semifinal only to see three of his competitors crash into each other, allowing him to finish second and go through to the final. Bradbury was again well off the pace, but lightning struck again and all four other competitors crashed out in the final turn, leaving a jubilant Bradbury to take the most unlikely of gold medals, the first for Australia – or any other country of the Southern Hemisphere – in the Olympic Winter Games.

The Canadian men's ice hockey team defeated the American team 5-2 to claim the gold medal, ending 50 years without the hockey gold. The Canadian women's team also defeated the American team 3-2 after losing to them at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano.

The closing ceremonies marked the final live performance of Kiss with its complete original lineup. They performed "Rock And Roll All Nite". Other artists performing at the 2002 ceremonies were Yo Yo Ma, R. Kelly, Sting, Dianne Reeves, Harry Connick Jr., Dorothy Hamill, Dave Matthews Band, *NSYNC, Earth, Wind & Fire, Josh Groban, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Controversies

Prior to these Olympic Winter Games, a number of IOC members were forced to resign after it was uncovered that they'd accepted bribes in return for voting for Salt Lake City to hold the Games. IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogge and new CEO of the Salt Lake Games Mitt Romney then staged the Games and contended with the public opinion backlash due to the scandal.

In the first week the figure skating competition resulted in the French judge's scores being thrown out and the Canadian team of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier being awarded a second gold medal.

Athletes in short-track speed skating and cross-country skiing were disqualified for various reasons (including doping by two Russians and one Spaniard in cross-country skiing), leading Russia to file protests and threaten to withdraw from competition.

Unproven allegations of bribery were leveled against many ice skating judges, leading to the arrest (at the request of the United States) and release of known criminal Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov by Italian officials.

Security measures

These Olympic games were the first since September 11, 2001, which meant a higher level of security than ever before provided for the Games. The Office of Homeland Security (OHS) designated the Olympics a National Special Security Event (NSSE).
When he spoke during the opening ceremonies, Dr. Jacques Rogge, presiding over his first olympics as IOC president, told the athletes of the host country: "Your nation is overcoming a horrific tragedy, a tragedy that has affected the whole world. We stand united with you in the promotion of our common ideals, and hope for world peace." (External Link

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Medals awarded

Alpine skiing

Biathlon

Bobsleigh

Cross country skiing

Curling

Figure skating

Freestyle skiing

Ice hockey

Luge

Nordic combined

Short track speed skating

Skeleton

Ski jumping

Snowboarding

Speed skating

Venues

Deer Valley - Slalom, Freestyle Moguls and Aerials

Utah Olympic Park - Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton, Nordic combined and Ski jumping

Soldier Hollow - Cross-country skiing, Biathlon and Nordic combined

Rice-Eccles Stadium - the opening and the closing ceremonies

Peaks Ice Arena - Ice hockey

E Center - Ice hockey

Delta Center - Short track speed skating and Figure skating.

Park City Mountain Resort - Giant Slalom, Snowboard GS and Halfpipe

Snowbasin - Downhill, Combined Downhill and Super-G

Utah Olympic Oval - Speed skating NOTE: Because of the no-commercialisation policy of the Olympics, the Delta Center was labeled as the "Salt Lake Ice Center". That was controversial, as some visitors were unable to identify the proper venue name because of the IOC's policy.
Medal count

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total

1 align=left 5 7 25

2 align=left 16 8 36

(host nation) 10 13 11 34

4 align=left 3 7 17

5 align=left 4 4 13

6 align=left 5 2 11

7 align=left 4 5 13

8 align=left 2 1 7

9 align=left 5 0 8

10 align=left 4 10 17

Participating nations 77 National Olympic Committees sent athletes to the Salt Lake City games.

(host)

Further Information
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