Winter Olympics 2002 in Salt Lake City: participants, prize winners

The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in the USA. This was the nineteenth in the game, in which 77 countries took part. Eighteen of them received awards of the highest dignity. In the unofficial team event, Norway took the first place. This event is also interesting because on it, China and Australia won the first gold medals for their entire participation in the winter games.

Preparation

Salt Lake City is the capital of the US state of Utah. It is a very developed center with a population of about 1 million people. It occupies an advantageous transport and geographical position. Before the games, construction work was carried out there. A special light rail system was created, motorways were modernized. Emblem of the games was a picture in the form of a bright snowflake. Symbolically, the image meant the natural contrasts of the state, the diversity of its culture, and the courage of athletes participating in the competition. The mascot of the games was served by three beasts: a hare, a bear and a coyote, which meant speed, height and strength. The official poster depicts a flag that flutters above the snowy peaks that are located in the state. Representatives of some Asian countries came to the games for the first time: Hong Kong, Nepal, Cameroon. Another interesting fact is that the Ukrainian national team had twice as many participants as during its debut.

Innovations

The Olympics-2002 was remembered by the audience for the fact that some changes were made on it. The organizers returned the skeleton to the program, in which both men and women took part. The latter got the opportunity to compete in the bobsled. In the biathlon sport were added races, and in the biathlon - sprint. In addition, in the short track there was a new distance - 1500 meters. One more innovation is the fact that for the first time for each sport the own design of medals was developed.

Problems

The Olympics-2002 was accompanied by a whole series of scandals. It all started with the choice of the venue for the games. The American city was immediately chosen, in the first round of voting of the international commission. After Salt Lake City became the capital of games, some IOC members were suspected of receiving rewards for their decision. In addition, the competition was accompanied by doping scandals, as a result of which some athletes were deprived of their ranks and gold medals. But the most unusual incident occurred during the performance of sports pairs on the ice, when the Olympics-2002 was held. Figure skating was remembered for a long time because of an unusual incident associated with determining the winner. Gold won Russian athletes, but the Canadian couple filed a complaint, after which the results were revised, and the jury awarded them the first place.

Other victories of Russians on ice

The Olympics-2002 was marked by several other important events for domestic figure skaters. In a single women's skating controversial victory was won by the American athlete S. Hughes, bypassing I. Slutskaya at the expense of one vote only. But in men's skating the first and second places were, of course, for the Russians. A. Yagudin won gold, gaining a record number of points for his arbitrary program. Second place went to E. Plushenko. 2002 (Olympiad) was a year for him to be a landmark in his career, as it was at this time that he established himself as the future king of ice. His brilliant performance left no doubt as to who will be the next champion. Indeed, in 2008 he was already the first in competitions and the absolute leader at the box office.

skiing

Quite interesting victories in the race I remember the Olympics-2002. Biathlon was a landmark event thanks to the participation of the famous Norwegian athlete U. Bjoerndalen, who won three starts at once, as well as the baton. In addition to him, mention should be made of the outstanding achievements of the Croatian athlete J. Kostelic, who took three gold and one silver medal, despite the recent surgery. The participation of Russians in this kind of sport was marked by serious problems: domestic athletes who took gold, after some time were accused of using dope and deprived of their awards.

Bronze

Not very successful for the Russians in the game types was the Olympics-2002. Hockey is one of the most developed sports in our country. The performance of the players, however, was not easy. Specifically for the competitions a star team was collected, however, despite this, at first the Russians played a draw with the Americans, then they lost to the Finns and eventually took the third place, although the expectations were, of course, very high. Champions became Canadians, and fourth place was Belarus, which was a real achievement for this country.

Interesting Facts

The Winter Olympics of 2002 were remembered by several remarkable events. One of them is the victory of the Australian athlete in the race. Then the leaders of the competitions twice collided, which allowed Stephen Bradbury to take the gold medal. Another interesting fact is the victory of black athletes from the USA and Canada in hockey and bobsleigh. At the same event Germany took a record number of awards, although it could not bypass Norway in gold. In terms of organization, it can be noted that the competitions were held in conditions of increased security measures.

Victories and difficulties of Russians

At the beginning of the competition, the domestic skier in a hard and stubborn struggle lost gold to the Italian in the race. However, the championship was won by the Russian sports couple in figure skating. In the individual race, the Russian skier took bronze. After a while the women's pair took the second and third places, second only to the Norwegian skier. The following days also brought our country medals in skiing and racing. However, there were some failures: the women's ski team was disqualified, and according to experts it was she who was supposed to take the gold medals. The same fate befell the jumpers from the springboards and doubles. But the Russian skier became a silver medalist in the marathon race, but after a while he received gold, because the winner was found in the blood of banned drugs.

Record on ice

But the most memorable victory is the achievement of A. Yagudin. He brilliantly executed a short program, the execution of which is still considered the standard program. His speech received the highest marks of judges. Everyone awarded him a victory, besides, he was the first to receive the maximum rating for artistry. Yagudin became the first athlete who performed two quadruple jumps during the performance, one of which was included in the cascade. For the athlete himself it was the peak of his career.

Speed skating and bobsled

In this sport, which is one of the most leading, our country, unfortunately, has not taken a single medal. But interesting is the fact that almost all distances have been set world records. In the first place in the unofficial standings in this category were the Netherlands. The German and American teams closed the top three, taking first places, but they had less silver and bronze medals. In the bobsleigh, it should be noted the achievements of Germany. The German deuce won the first place for the fourth time. This country also dominated and in the race fours. The Troika was closed by the Americans and the Swiss.

Skeleton and sleigh and other types

This sport was first introduced at these games after 1948. Then women took part in these competitions. In the first place was the American team, the British and Canadians closed the top three. Our country took one gold medal and took the fourth place. Germany was also the leader in sledging. The games featured several sets of awards among men (double and single sleds) and women (single sleds).

In the ski jumping from the springboard, the first place was taken by the Swiss and Germans. Also prizes were occupied by Polish, Finnish, Slovenian athletes. In the snowboard, the Americans won all three sets of awards in the men's category. This was the first time since 1956, when representatives of the United States got the whole pedestal of honor.

Value

The games of 2002 were important, if only because they were the first competitions in the new millennium. However, unfortunately, the holding of this event was overshadowed by scandals, disputes and doping problems. Our country came to the capital of games in a strong composition, but several failures led to the fact that the team lost a number of awards. Nevertheless, in the memory of the fans there was not one remarkable moment. This is primarily the magnificent performances of A. Yagudin and E. Plushenko in men's skating and I. Slutsk in the women's. In addition, the gold biathlete O. Pyleva pleasantly pleased domestic audiences and acquired a double price after the scandal around our skiers. In a number of sports from domestic athletes were expected more (for example, in hockey). Nevertheless, the performance of the Russian national team was worthy. As for the strongest countries, their positions in the unofficial team competition were quite expected (especially in Norway, where winter sports are well developed ). So, the Olympics-2002, the results of which, in principle, were logical, despite all the contradictions, as a whole left a pleasant impression for the audience.