Jump to content

2002 Winter Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.244.159.106 (talk) at 20:09, 23 November 2010 (→Olympic Emblem). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Salt Lake 2002" redirects here. For the video game, see Salt Lake 2002 (video game).
Olympic rings
Part of a series on
2002 Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout 165 sporting sessions. The 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Paralympic Games were both organized by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC).[1] Utah became the sixth state in the United States to host the Olympic Games, and the 2002 Winter Olympics are the most recent games to be held in the United States.

The opening ceremony was held on February 8, 2002 and sporting competitions were held up until the closing ceremony on February 24, 2002.[1] Salt Lake City became the most populous area ever to have hosted the Winter Olympics but was surpassed by Turin four years later, which itself was surpassed by Vancouver in the 2010 Winter Olympics.[2] The 2002 Olympic Winter Games were also larger than all prior Winter Games, with 10 more events than the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.[3]

The Salt Lake Games were some of the most successful in history; records were set in both the broadcasting and marketing programs. Over 2 billion viewers watch more than 13 billion viewer hours.[4] The games were also financially successful raising more money with fewer sponsors than any prior Olympic Games, which left SLOC with a surplus of $40 million at the conclusion of the games. The surplus was used to create the Utah Athletic Foundation, which maintains and operates many of the remaining Olympic venues.[4]

Bid and preparations

Main article: Bids for the 2002 Winter Olympics

Salt Lake City was chosen over Quebec City, Canada, Sion, Switzerland, and, Östersund, Sweden on June 16, 1995, at the 104th IOC Session in Budapest, Hungary.[5]

2002 Winter Olympics Bidding Result
City Nation Round 1
Salt Lake City, UT  United States 54
Östersund  Sweden 14
Sion  Switzerland 14
Quebec City, QC  Canada 7
Delta's Boeing 777-200 in livery commemorating the Games

Venues

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

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.

Sports

Medal table

File:Olympics medal Salt Lake 2002.jpg
Salt Lake City 2002 bronze medals
Main article: 2002 Winter Olympics medal table
1  Norway 13 5 7 25
2  Germany 12 16 8 36
3  United States 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

Records

Several medals records were set and/or tied. They included (bold-face indicates broken during the Vancouver Olympics):

Highlights

Olympic flame at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremonies
Detail of the 2002 Winter Games Olympic Torch

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 Mitt Romney, who was named CEO of the Salt Lake Games in response to the scandal and a financial shortfall for the games, were forced to contend with public outcry.
    Further information: 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal
  • In short track speed skating, Ohno initially finished second in the race to Kim Dong-Sung of South Korea, but was awarded gold after Kim was disqualified for cross-skating across him on the final lap. This decision by the referee, Australian James Hewish, angered many Koreans. Over 16,000 threatening emails were sent to the Olympic website, flooding its servers; it took nearly nine hours to restore the site[citation needed].
  • Athletes in cross-country skiing were disqualified for various reasons including doping by two Russians and one Spaniard, 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.

2002 Olympic Symbols

Olympic Emblem

The 2002 Olympic emblem is a penis/ dicksnowflake, which consisted of three separate sections. The yellow top section symbolizes the Olympic Flame, and represents the athletes' courage. The orange center section symbolizes the ancient weaving styles of Utah's Native Americans, and represents the region's culture. The blue/purple bottom section symbolizes a snow-capped mountain, and represents the contrast of Utah's mountain and desert areas. The orange/yellow colors above the blue/purple bottom section also gave the appearance of a sun rising from behind a mountain.

Theme colors

An official palette of colors, which ranged from cool blues to warm reds and oranges, was created for the Salt Lake 2002 games. The palette became part of the official design theme named Land of Contrast - Fire and Ice, with the blues representing the cooler, snowy, mountainous regions of Northern Utah, and the oranges and red representing the warmer, rugged, red-rock areas of Southern Utah.[10]

Pictograms

As with all Olympic games, pictograms, which easily identified the venues, sports, and services for spectators without using a written language, were specifically designed for the Salt Lake 2002 games. The pictograms for these games mimicked the designs of branding-irons found in the western United States, and used the Fire and Ice theme colors of the Salt Lake 2002 Games. The line thickness and 30-degree angles found in the pictograms mirror those found in the snowflake emblem.[10]

Powder, Copper and Coal
2002 Olympic Mascots

The mascots

Main article: Powder, Copper and Coal

The mascots represent three of Utah's indigenous animals, and are named after natural resources which have long been important to Utah's economy, survival, and culture. All three animals are major characters in the legends of local Native Americans, and each mascot wears a charm around its neck with an original Anasazi or Fremont-style petroglyph.

  • Powder - A Snowshoe Hare, represents the Native American legend when the sun was too close to the earth and was burning it. The hare ran to the top of a mountain, and shot her arrow into the sun. This caused it to drop lower in the sky, cooling the earth.
  • Copper - A Coyote, represents the Native American legend when the earth froze and turned dark, the coyote climbed to the highest mountaintop and stole a flame from the fire people. He returned and brought warmth and light to the people.
  • Coal - An American black bear, represents the Native American legend of hunters who were never able to kill the mighty bear. Today the sons of these hunters still chase the bear across the night sky, as constellations.

The Olympic Torch and relay

Main article: 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay

The 2002 Olympic Torch is modeled after an icicle, with a slight curve to represent speed and fluidity. The Torch measures Template:In to cm long, Template:In to cm wide at the top, Template:In to cm at the bottom, and was designed by Axiom Design of Salt Lake City.[11][12] It was created with three sections, each with its own meaning and representation.[11]

The torch relay was a 65 day run, from December 4, 2001 to February 8, 2002, which carried the Olympic flame through 46 of the 50 states in the United States.[13] The torch covered Template:Mi to km, passed through 300 communities, and was carried by 12,012 Torchbearers.[13]

The cauldron pictured in the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park

The Olympic Cauldron

The Cauldron was designed with the official motto Light the Fire Within and the Fire and Ice theme in mind. It was designed to look like an icicle, and was made of glass which allowed the fire to be seen burning within. The actual glass cauldron stands atop a twisting glass and steel support, is Template:Ft to m high, and the flame within burns at 900 °F (482.2 °C).[14] Together with its support the cauldron stands Template:Ft to m tall and was made of 738 individual pieces of glass. Small jets send water down the glass sides of the cauldron, both to keep the glass and metal cooled (so they would not crack or melt), and to give the effect of melting ice.[15] The cauldron was designed by WET Design of Los Angeles, California, its frame built by Arrow Dynamics of Clearfield, Utah, and its glass pieces created by Western Glass of Ogden, Utah. The cauldron's cost was 2 million dollars, and it was unveiled to the public during its original install at Rice-Eccles Stadium (2002 Olympic Stadium) on January 8, 2002.[16] Following the completion of the 2002 Winter Olympics the cauldron was installed at the permanent Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park, next the 2002 Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City.

A second Olympic cauldron burned at the Awards Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City during the games. It was known as the Hero's Cauldron and was in the backdrop of every awards ceremony. This was the first time two cauldrons were used during the same Olympic Games.

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 surveillance 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.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2002). Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (PDF). p. 35. ISBN 0-9717961-0-6. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  2. ^ Salt Lake population figures by the United States Census
  3. ^ Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2002). Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (PDF). p. 36. ISBN 0-9717961-0-6. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  4. ^ a b International Olympic Committee (2002). Marketing Matters (PDF). Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  5. ^ IOC Vote History
  6. ^ a b Canadian Press (February 27, 2010). "Canada sets Olympic gold record". CBC Sports. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  7. ^ "U.S. clinches medals mark, Canada ties gold record". Vancouver. Associated Press. 2010-02-27.
  8. ^ Abrahamson, Alan (March 1, 2010). "'Excellent and friendly Games' come to a close". NBC. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  9. ^ MacKay, Duncan (2002-02-15). "Chariots of ire: is US jingoism tarnishing the Olympic ideal?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  10. ^ a b Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2002). Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (PDF). p. 206. ISBN 0-9717961-0-6. Retrieved 20 October 2010. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ a b Salt Lake Organizing Committee. "Olympic Torch Relay". Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  12. ^ "Olympic Torch Design". KSL-TV. 21 February 2001. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  13. ^ a b Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2002). Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (PDF). p. 246. ISBN 0-9717961-0-6. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  14. ^ Lisa Riley Roche (31 January 2004). "Cauldron creation detailed in book". Deseret News. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  15. ^ Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2002). Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (PDF). p. 207. ISBN 0-9717961-0-6. Retrieved 20 October 2010. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ John Daley (8 January 2002). "Caldron Unveiled". KSL-TV. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2002 Winter Olympics.
Preceded by Winter Olympics
Salt Lake City
XIX Olympic Winter Games (2002) 		Succeeded by

Template:Link FA

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2002_Winter_Olympics&oldid=398497913"