2002 Winter Olympics

XIX Olympic Winter Games
Host city	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Motto	Light The Fire Within
Nations	78
Athletes	2,399 (1,513 men, 886 women)
Events	78 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
Opening	February 8
Closing	February 24
Opened by	President George W. Bush
Cauldron	Members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, led by team captain Mike Eruzione
Stadium	Rice–Eccles Stadium
Winter
Summer

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States from February 8 to 24, 2002. There were about 2,400 athletes from 77 nations. 78 events were contested. Utah was the fifth state in the United States to host the Olympic Games.

78 National Olympic Committees sent athletes to the Salt Lake City games. Cameroon, Hong Kong (China), Nepal, Tajikistan, and Thailand competed in their first Winter Olympic games.

Highlights

The Olympic Flame was lit by the members of the gold medal-winning US Hockey Team of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.
These Olympics were the first time a United States president opened an Olympic Winter Games.
These were the first Games to be held under IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Janica Kostelić won three golds and a silver which were the first Winter Olympic medals ever for Croatia It was the first three-gold performance by a female.
Skeleton returned as a medal sport in the 2002 Games for the first time since 1948.
2002 was the first time with the Women's Bobsled Event.
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 was at the men's short track. Australian skater Steven Bradbury was behind in the semi-final. The winning skaters crashed into each other, letting him finish second and go through to the final. Bradbury was again behind in the final. Again all four other skaters crashed out in the final turn. He won the gold medal.This was the first gold for Australia—or any other country of the Southern Hemisphere—in the Olympic Winter Games.
Australia won their second gold medal when Alisa Camplin won in Women's Aerials. This was the first ever Winter Games gold won by a woman from the Southern Hemisphere.
The Canadian men's ice hockey team defeated the American team 5–2 to claim the gold medal. This ended 50 years without the hockey gold. The Canadian women's team also defeated the American team 3–2.

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v t e Olympic Games
Participating nations IOC NOCs Country codes Pierre de Coubertin medal
Summer Games	1896 Athens 1900 Paris 1904 St. Louis 1908 London 1912 Stockholm 1916^† 1920 Antwerp 1924 Paris 1928 Amsterdam 1932 Los Angeles 1936 Berlin 1940^‡ 1944^‡ 1948 London 1952 Helsinki 1956 Melbourne 1960 Rome 1964 Tokyo 1968 Mexico City 1972 Munich 1976 Montreal 1980 Moscow 1984 Los Angeles 1988 Seoul 1992 Barcelona 1996 Atlanta 2000 Sydney 2004 Athens 2008 Beijing 2012 London 2016 Rio de Janeiro 2020 Tokyo^§ 2024 Paris 2028 Los Angeles 2032 Brisbane
Winter Games	1924 Chamonix 1928 St. Moritz 1932 Lake Placid 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1940^‡ 1944^‡ 1948 St. Moritz 1952 Oslo 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo 1960 Squaw Valley 1964 Innsbruck 1968 Grenoble 1972 Sapporo 1976 Innsbruck 1980 Lake Placid 1984 Sarajevo 1988 Calgary 1992 Albertville 1994 Lillehammer 1998 Nagano 2002 Salt Lake City 2006 Turin 2010 Vancouver 2014 Sochi 2018 Pyeongchang 2022 Beijing 2026 Milan Cortina 2030 French Alps 2034 Salt Lake City-Utah
^†Cancelled due to World War I ^‡Cancelled due to World War II ^§Postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic Ancient Olympic Games 1906 Intercalated Games Paralympic Games Youth Olympic Games