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, Provo, Kearns and West Valley City. 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[1]. It will be true until 2010, when Vancouver will be become the most populated area to have ever hosted a winter olympiad.

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.

• During the opening ceremonies, just before the parade of nations, there was a segment honoring all Olympic Winter Games. [1]

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

• These were the first Games under the presidency of Jacques Rogge.

• Competition highlights included biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen, winning gold in all four men's events (10 k, 12.5 k, 20 k, 4 x 7.5 relay), 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.

• 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 receives 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, Sting, Dianne Reeves, Harry Connick Jr., Dorothy Hamill and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Controversies

• Prior to these Olympic Winter Games, a number of IOC members were forced to resign after it was uncovered that they had accepted inappropriately valuable gifts 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

• 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.

Further information: 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal

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

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).