2002 Winter Olympics

Host city selection

Salt Lake City was chosen over Québec City, Canada, Sion, Switzerland, and Östersund, Sweden, on June 16, 1995, at the 104th IOC Session in Budapest, Hungary. Salt Lake City had previously come in second during the bids for the 1998 Winter Olympics, awarded to Nagano, Japan, and had offered to be the provisional host of the 1976 Winter Olympics when the original host, Denver, Colorado, withdrew. The 1976 Winter Olympics were ultimately awarded to Innsbruck, Austria.

Competitive venues

¹Because of the no-commercialization policy of the Olympics, the Delta Center, now the Vivint Smart Home Arena, was labeled as the "Salt Lake Ice Center", causing some confusion for visitors.

Cost and cost overrun

The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics at USD 2.5 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 24% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Salt Lake City 2002 compares with costs of USD 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13% for Vancouver 2010, and costs of USD 21.9 billion and a cost overrun of 289% for Sochi 2014, the latter being the most costly Olympics to date. Average cost for Winter Games since 1960 is USD 3.1 billion, average cost overrun is 142%.

Participating nations

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

Sports

There were 78 events contested in 7 sports (15 disciplines).

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport are held. The number in each box represents the number of finals that were contested on that day.

Medal table

  Host country (United States)

To sort this table by nation, total medal count, or any other column, click on the icon next to the column title.

Records

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

Highlights

Opening ceremony

Prior to the ceremony, the turf inside the stadium was removed and a giant, abstract shaped ice rink, designed by Seven Nielsen, was installed, covering a large part of the stadium floor. Performers would later perform on ice skates, rather than shoes.

An American flag rescued from the World Trade Center Site on September 11 was carried into the stadium by an honor guard of American athletes and was carried in by firefighters and police officers. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, clad in white sweaters, performed The Star Spangled Banner, the US national anthem, as the flag was raised. The parade of the 2,300 athletes was led by the Child of Light and began traditionally with Greece and ending with the host nation, the United States of America. As the artistic section kicked off, the five native Utah Native American tribes arrived together on horseback and performed several traditional "Welcome" stomp dances. The Dixie Chicks also performed.

The beauty of the Utah landscape was showcased as huge puppets of native Utah animals, including a 15-foot-long bison and the American bald eagle (the national bird and animal of the U.S.), entered the stadium, as well as dancing pioneer settlers as two trains came together on, symbolizing the US railroad industry which was beneficial to Utah's economy beginning in the 1860s, as well as economically linking the Western U.S. and the Eastern U.S. At the end of their performance, the performers unfurled a giant quilt that covered the entire stadium floor with the 2002 Winter Olympics logo in the center. Two figure skaters, Olympians Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton performed on the oversized ice rink as "Light the Fire Within", the 2002 Winter Olympic's theme song was sung by LeAnn Rimes.

After speeches by Jacques Rogge, President over the IOC and Mitt Romney, the CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the Olympic flame, which had traveled 13,500 miles (21,700 km) was carried into the stadium by gold medalists Dorothy Hamill and Dick Button. They passed the flame to other pairs U.S. Olympic heroes, who either ran or skated their short relay. Gold medalists in Nagano 1998 Picabo Street and Cammi Granato carried the flame up the steps to the towering cauldron where they were met by Mike Eruzione, captain of the miracle on ice hockey team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1980. Eruzione summoned the other members of the team, who together lit the Olympic cauldron. The Opening Ceremony would win seven Emmy Awards.

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 an overtly patriotic manner. President Bush received some criticism for departing from the Olympic charter by extending the declaration to open the Games, saying "On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation" before the traditional formula, "I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City". In addition, the President opened the Games standing among the US athletes, while previous heads of state opened the Games from an official box. NBC's Bob Costas applauded the move during the network's coverage of the Opening Ceremony.

The official box was occupied by the President's Olympic delegation:

Olympic Emblem

The 2002 Olympic emblem is a snowflake, 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.

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.

Mascots

The mascots represent three of the indigenous animals of the Western United States, 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.

Olympic Torch and relay

The 2002 Olympic Torch is modeled after an icicle, with a slight curve to represent speed and fluidity. The Torch measures 33 inches (84 cm) long, 3 inches (7.6 cm) wide at the top, 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) at the bottom, and was designed by Axiom Design of Salt Lake City. It was created with three sections, each with its own meaning and representation.

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. The torch covered 13,500 miles (21,700 km), passed through 300 communities, and was carried by 12,012 Torchbearers.

Olympic Cauldron

The Olympic 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 12 feet (3.7 m) high, and the flame within burns at 900 °F (482.2 °C). Together with its support the cauldron stands 117 feet (36 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. The cauldron was designed by WET Design of Los Angeles, 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. 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.

Public Transportation

Public transportation has expanded greatly due to hosting the Olympics. The biggest project that has been completed is TRAX (light rail) which is used by many locals to this day. Other expansions include widened freeways and roadways throughout the city. TRAX also includes a line that has now extended to the airport making transit easier for tourists and visitors. One article from the Salt Lake Tribune states that 37% of locals use the trax to commute daily while 25% of travelers within the city use this service. This is a direct result of holding the games in Salt Lake City and just one of the many positive economic effects on the city.

Ski Industry and Winter Sport

The 2002 Winter Olympics brought a massive amount of success to the Utah skiing industry. Since hosting the Winter Games, Utah has seen a 42% increase in skier and snowboarder visits as of 2010-11. This increase resulted in direct expenditures from skiers and snowboarders growing 67% from $704 million in 2002–2003 to $1.2 billion in 2010–2011.

In preparation for the Winter Games 14 venues were constructed or expanded. The Utah Olympic Park was one of the venues constructed for the games. The Olympic Park has proven to be one of the most successful venues to date because it has been maintained in top competition form. Due to the routine maintenance of the park Utah has been able to host a large number of winter competitions since 2002. Some of these events include, more than 60 World Cup events, as well as seven world championships, including the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup and various other sporting events. Hosting these various events has resulted in approximately $1 billion being pushed into the economy. During 2013–2014 Utah held 16 various winter sport competitions bringing $27.3 million to the economy of the Utah. After holding the games, Utah became home to two National Governing Bodies of Sport. The United States Ski and Snowboard Association is headquartered in Park City, Utah and the US Olympic Speedskating team is based out of the Utah Olympic Oval.

University of Utah Expansion

The University of Utah was one of the hosts of the 2002 Winter Olympics, the planning committee approached the University of Utah and asked them to build several student dormitories which would serve as athletes' accommodation during the games. It was agreed that the University would pay approximately $98 million out of the total required amount of $110 million in order to complete the construction. Students of the university have benefited as almost 3,500 of them would be housed here after the games. This was a great economic benefit to the university since the amount of money used to complete such dormitories could take long to be afforded. Apart from that, the University was also asked to expand Rice Eccles Stadium to accommodate 50,000 people up from 32,000. The University would then be refunded almost $59 million and be given an extra $40 million for its maintenance. It is worth noting that the U.S. team involved in the 2010 winter games lived in the University of Utah's housing to use the stadium because of its facilities.

The 2002 Olympic Games also benefited the university economically since the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park was elevated by the renovations that took place. Ice rinks were very scarce in Utah, but due to the Olympic Games, they became plentiful and offered several entertainment and training opportunities for hockey players and figure skaters. The Cauldron Park located at the University of Utah which was built with $6.5 million in profits and had the following features: a visitors’ center which had a theater that showed a thrilling movie about the Olympic Games of 2002 and a "park" which had a dazzling pool and a V-shaped stone wall with the names of all the medalists of the 2002 Olympic Games. Besides, the park had 17 plates which hung on the fence of the stadium celebrating the highlights of each day of the Olympics. All these features acted as tourist attraction that boosted the economic development of the university. It is indicated that the approximate value of media exposure through print during the Games was equated to $22.9 million. Mainly, this was a huge economic benefit to the university as more and more people got to know about the educational establishment, and this also boosted enrollment and future development.

Immigration

Holger Preuss in his book The Economics of Staging the Olympics: A Comparison of the Games 1972–2008 argues that "The export of the ‘Olympic Games’ service results in an inflow of funds to the host city, causing additional production which, in its turn, leads to employment and income effects." According to the study "2002 Olympic Winter Games, Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Impacts," the estimated creation of new job years of employment was 35,424, and additional earnings of $1,544,203,000. It was noted that the increase of Olympic related job started in 1996 and continued till 2003. These effects can be estimated on the ground of historical relationship between job and corresponding population growth. A lot of people migrated into the future place of the Olympic Games for expanding and favorable employment opportunities that the Olympics ensured. Although many of the higher paying jobs created by the Games were occupied by residents, many of the vacated jobs were filled by immigrants who relocated for the better employment opportunities.

Basically, the immigration rate was even larger because the employees immigrated with their families. The additional people paid diverse taxes and fees from their income that created additional revenue on the state and local levels. It is necessary to stress that there was some out-migration after the end of the Games and it is possible to illustrate by seeing the population effect of broadcasters. Before the Games, several hundred highly qualified, professional employees relocated to Salt Lake City to arrange the television broadcasting of the Games, but after it, they removed equipment and left for another project.

Employment

Olympic related jobs in Utah started in 1996 with slight job opportunities of less than 100. However, from the job measurement conducted from 1996 to 2002, steady attainment of job opportunities established and a maximum level was noted in 2001 where there were 12,500 job opportunities attained yearly, and approximately 25,070 jobs created in 2002. Therefore, from 1996 to 2002 the sum of employment equated to 35,000 jobs which lasted a year. February 2002, it is when the highest employment opportunities were created compared to other years. There were around 25,070 job opportunities created compared to 35,000 created from 1996–2001.

It is hard to tell the extent the Olympics impacted the unemployment rates in Utah, due mostly to the impact of the early 2000s recession. In 1996 the unemployment rate in Utah was approximately 3.4% while the US national average was 5.4% and by the end of 2001 while the national average had risen to 5.7% Utah was around 4.8%. There was a high percentage of visitors which raised the number of tourists for the games whose consumption and demand prompted the establishment of job opportunities to meet the demands. This caused Utah's unemployment rate to climb during the Olympics and following the Olympics these jobs were no longer needed and Utah saw its unemployment rates climb above the national average for the first time in years.

Utah Alcohol Laws

The alcohol laws of Utah are known for being some of the most restrictive alcohol laws in the country however having the Olympic Games in Salt Lake helped state officials ease up on a few different laws concerning alcohol in the state of Utah which has helped the nightlife grow and helped more bars and restaurants increase revenues by simply improving the accessibility of alcohol to customers.

During the Olympics, alcohol regulations were not changed to accommodate those coming in from outside of Utah to watch and take part of the games. Officials from the Olympics as well as visitors complained about the unreasonable laws. Shortly after in 2003 the tide began to turn and some of the restrictive laws were altered. The charge to join a "private club" or what is essentially a bar with a membership fee was lowered from five dollars to four dollars. Additionally, they allowed existing members or "sponsors" seven guests instead of five. The maximum amount of alcohol permitted with any one drink from a bar increased from 2 to 2.75 ounces. Beer licenses were also expanded to allow restaurants to serve wine as well with their beer license. Finally, people were now allowed to have more than one drink with them at their table.

This loosening of laws lowered the bar for entry into a bar in Salt Lake City. Changing demographics, due in large part to the Olympics, disrupted the number of people looking to drink as more non-Mormons began to settle in Utah. Travelers have also increased due to the Olympics and account for a share of the increase in liquor sales since the games. According to The Salt Lake Tribune: sales at Utah's 125 liquor outlets shows a 153 percent increase in liquor sales since 2002, from $156.2 million to $396 million. Even adjusted for inflation, sales have nearly doubled, and per capita spending on alcohol has grown by more than 50 percent.

Bribery to bring the games to Salt Lake City

In 1998, several IOC members were forced to resign after it was uncovered that they had accepted bribes from Salt Lake Bid Committee co-heads Tom Welch and Dave Johnson in return for voting for Salt Lake City to hold the Games. In response to the scandal and a financial shortfall for the games, Mitt Romney, then CEO of the private equity firm Bain Capital (and future presidential candidate), was hired as the new President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, leaving him and IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogge to contend with the public outcry and financial mess. Romney, Kem C. Gardner, a Utah commercial real estate developer, and Don Stirling, the Olympics' local marketing chief, raised "millions of dollars from Mormon families with pioneer roots: the Eccles family, whose forebears were important industrialists and bankers" to help rescue the games, according to a later report. An additional $410 million was received from the federal government.

Disqualifications for doping

The 2002 games were the first Winter Olympics held after formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency; as a result there were a large number of athletes disqualified following the new testing.

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 the competition.

Judging controversies

In the first week of the Games, a controversy in the pairs' figure skating competition culminated 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. Allegations of bribery were leveled against many ice-skating judges, leading to the arrest of known criminal Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov in Italy (at the request of the United States). He was released by the Italian officials.

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 U.S. Marines of Marine Air Control Squadron 2, Detachment C, from Cherry Point, North Carolina.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI and NSA arranged with Qwest Communications to use intercept equipment for a period of less than six months around the time of the 2002 Winter Olympics. The agencies monitored the content of all email and text communications in the Salt Lake City area.

When he spoke during the opening ceremonies, Jacques Rogge, presiding over his first Olympics as the IOC president, told the athletes of the United States:

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.