Date: 8-24 February 2002
NOCs (Nations): 77
Athletes: 2,399 (886 women, 1,513 men)
Sports: 7
Events: 78
Volunteers: 22,000
Media: 8,730 (2,661 written press, 6,069 broadcasters)
The Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games saw the expansion of the
Olympic programme to 78 events, including the return of skeleton
and the introduction of women's bobsleigh. Athletes from a record
18 nations earned gold medals. Canadian teams won both the men's
and women's ice hockey tournaments. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen earned
gold medals in all four biathlon events and Samppa Lajunen in all
three Nordic combined competitions. Alpine skier Janica Kostelic
won three gold medals and one silver. Simon Ammann scored
unexpected victories in both individual ski jump events.
Speedskater Claudia Pechstein earned her third straight gold medal
in the 5,000m race and also won at 3,000m. By taking the silver
medal in singles luge, Georg Hackl became the first person in
Olympic history to earn a medal in the same individual event five
times in a row. Short track speedskater Yang Yang (A) became the
first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Games.
Competing in the women’s bobsleigh, Vonetta Flowers became the
first black athlete to earn winter gold, while ice hockey player
Jarome Iginla followed as the first black male winner.
A total of 72 athletes participated in the 19th Olympic Winter
Games held in Salt Lake City, the United States, collecting two
golds, two silvers and four bronzes to place 13th in the Olympic
medal tally. On February 16, 2002 Yang Yang (A) triumphed in the
women's 500m short-track speedskating, bringing China its first
gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Seven days later, she added one
more gold for her team in the 1000m short-track speedskating finals
to become China’s first woman athlete to win two short-track
individual events at one Olympics.
(COC Website?? July 8, 2004)