2002 Winter Olympics

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XIX Olympic Winter Games
XIX Olympic Winter Games

The emblem represents a snow crystal,
with the Olympic rings and "SALT LAKE 2002" below.
The colors; yellow, orange and blue;
represent the Utah landscape.
Host city Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Motto Light The Fire Within
Nations participating 77
Athletes participating 2,399 (1,513 men, 886 women)
Events 78 in 7 sports
Opening ceremony February 8
Closing ceremony February 24
Officially opened by President George W. Bush
Athlete's Oath Jim Shea
Judge's Oath Allen Church
Olympic Torch Members of the 1980 USA
men's ice hockey team, led by
team captain Mike Eruzione
Stadium Rice-Eccles Stadium

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The motto chosen was Light The Fire Within

Salt Lake City 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. Torino would later be the most populated area to host the Winter Olympics four years later.[1]. It was also the most ecologically varied area to hold the Winter Olympics; a large hot and arid desert lies just to the west of Salt Lake City.

Contents

Bids

Main article: 2002 Winter Olympics bids

Other candidate cities were: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Sion, Valais, Switzerland; and Östersund, Sweden. Salt Lake City was selected as host city on June 16, 1995, at the 104th IOC Session in Budapest, Hungary. 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 information below comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.

2002 Winter Olympics Bidding Results
City NOC Name Round 1
Salt Lake City, Utah  United States 54
Östersund  Sweden 14
Sion  Switzerland 14
Quebec City, Quebec  Canada 7

Highlights

Olympic flame at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremonies
  • The opening ceremonies included Grammy Award-winning artist LeAnn Rimes singing "Light the Fire Within," the official song of the 2002 Olympics.
  • John Williams composed "Call of the Champions," his third official theme for an Olympiad, and his first for a Winter Olympiad. It was performed by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the official motto of the Olympic Games "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger). The premiere of the work at the opening ceremonies also corresponded with John Williams' 70th birthday. The work is featured on the CD American Journey.
  • 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.[2][3]
  • These were the first Games to be held under IOC president Jacques Rogge.
  • 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 was 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.
Detail of the 2002 Winter Games Olympic Torch
  • There was a Canadian dollar underneath the ice in support of the Canadian men's team, supposedly placed there at the request of Wayne Gretzky, who knew the man responsible for ice upkeep.

Controversies

  • Prior to these Olympic Winter Games, a number of IOC members were forced to resign after it was uncovered that they had 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.
Further information: 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal
Further information: 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal
  • 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.
  • While there was a lot of international sympathy for the US in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, there were complaints that the Games were being conducted in a too patriotic or jingoistic way. In particular, President Bush was criticized for breaches of protocol, most of all for departing from the Olympic charter by extending the declaration to open the Games when he said, “On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation”, before adding the traditional formula, “I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City”.[4]

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).

Aerial Survelance and radar control was provided by the marines of Marine Air Control Squadron 2 det C, from Cherry Point NC.

When he spoke during the opening ceremonies, Jacques Rogge, presiding over his first olympics as IOC president, told the athletes of the United States, 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."[5] [6]

Medals awarded

Salt Lake City 2002 bronze medals
Delta's Boeing 777-200 in livery commemorating the Games

Venues

NOTE: Because of the no-commercialisation policy of the Olympics, the Delta Center was labeled as the "Salt Lake Ice Center," causing some confusion for visitors.

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Norway 13 5 7 25
2 Germany 12 16 8 36
3 United States (host nation) 10 13 11 34
4 Canada 7 3 7 17
5 Russia 5 4 4 13
6 France 4 5 2 11
7 Italy 4 4 5 13
8 Finland 4 2 1 7
9 Netherlands 3 5 0 8
10 Austria 3 4 10 17
Further information: 2002 Winter Olympics medal table

Participating nations

78 National Olympic Committees sent athletes to the Salt Lake City games.

Cameroon, Hong Kong (China), Nepal, Tajikistan, and Thailand participated in their 1st Winter Olympic games.

Participating nations

References

  1. ^ Salt Lake population figures by the United States Census
  2. ^ Opening Ceremony - Salt Lake City 2002
  3. ^ Salt Lake City 2002 Opening Ceremony Beginning
  4. ^ "Chariots of ire: is US jingoism tarnishing the Olympic ideal?". The Guardian (2002-02-15). Retrieved on 2008-09-02.
  5. ^ Salt Lake City 2002 OC - Rogge's First OG Speech Ever
  6. ^ http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_286.pdf

See also

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2002 Winter Olympics


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