The 2002 Winter Olympics was held in the USA. These were the nineteenth games in which 77 countries took part. Eighteen of them received top honors. In the unofficial team standings, Norway took first place. This event is also interesting in that China and Australia won the first gold medals for all the time they participated in the winter games.
Training
Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah. This is a very developed center with a population of about 1 million people. It occupies a favorable transport and geographical position. Before the start of the games, construction work was carried out in it. A special system for light rail transport was created, and highways were modernized. The emblem of the games was a drawing in the form of a bright snowflake. Symbolically, the image meant the natural contrasts of the state, the diversity of its culture, as well as the courage of the athletes participating in the competitions. The mascot of the games was three animals: a hare, a bear and a coyote, which meant speed, height and strength. The official poster depicts a flag that flutters over the snowy peaks that are located in the state. For the first time, representatives of several Asian countries came to the games: Hong Kong, Nepal, Cameroon. Another interesting fact is that the Ukrainian team numbered twice as many participants as during its debut.
Innovations
The 2002 Olympics was remembered by the audience for having made some changes. The organizers returned the skeleton to the program, in which both men and women took part. The latter got the opportunity to compete in bobsled. Racing was added to biathlon, and sprint in biathlon. In addition, a new distance appeared in the short track - 1500 meters. Another innovation is the fact that for the first time for each sport its own design of medals was developed.
Problems
The 2002 Olympics was accompanied by a series of scandals. It all started with the choice of venue for the games. The American city was immediately chosen, in the first round of voting by an international commission. After Salt Lake City became the capital of the games, some IOC participants 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 stripped of their titles and gold medals. But the most unusual incident occurred during the performance of sports couples on ice when the 2002 Olympics took place. Figure skating was remembered for a long time due to an unusual incident related to determining the winner. Gold was won by Russian athletes, but the Canadian couple filed a complaint, after which the results were reviewed and the jury awarded them first place.
Other victories of Russians on ice
The 2002 Olympics was marked by several other important events for domestic skaters. In women's single skating, the controversial victory was won by the American athlete S. Hughes, bypassing I. Slutskaya with just one vote. 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 free program. The second place went to E. Plushenko. 2002 (Olympics) the year became a landmark for him in his career, since it was at this time that he established himself as the future king of ice. His brilliant performance left no doubt as to who would be the next champion. Indeed, in 2008 he was already the first in the competition and the absolute leader in the box office.
skiing
Quite interesting victories in the races I remember the Olympics-2002. Biathlon became a landmark event thanks to the participation of the famous Norwegian athlete U. Bjorndalen, who won three starts at once, as well as the relay. In addition to him, one should mention the outstanding achievements of the Croatian athlete J. Kostelic, who won three gold and one silver medal, despite the recent operation. The participation of Russians in this kind of sport was marked by serious problems: domestic athletes who took the gold, after some time were accused of doping and deprived of their awards.
Bronze
The Olympics-2002 turned out to be not entirely successful for the Russians in game forms. Hockey is one of the most developed sports in our country. The performance of the players, however, was not easy. Especially for the competition, a star team was assembled, however, despite this, at first the Russians tied with the Americans, then lost to the Finns and eventually took only third place, although the expectations, of course, were very high. Canadians became champions, and Belarus took fourth place, which was a real achievement for this country.
Interesting Facts
The 2002 Winter Olympics were remembered for several noteworthy events. One of them is the victory of the Australian athlete in the race. Then the competition leaders clashed with each other twice, 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 bobsled. At the same event, Germany took a record number of awards, although it could not beat 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 the Russians
At the beginning of the competition, the domestic skier in a difficult and persistent fight lost the Italian gold in the race. However, the championship was won by a Russian figure skating sports pair. In the individual race, the Russian skier took bronze. After a while, the female couple took second and third places, losing 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 skiing team was disqualified, and according to experts' forecasts, it was she who had to take gold medals. The same fate befell the jumpers from ski jumps and double-breasted. But the Russian skier won the silver medal in the marathon, but after a while he got the gold, because the winner found illegal drugs in his blood.
Ice Record
But the most memorable victory is the achievement of A. Yagudin. He brilliantly performed a short program, the performance of which is still considered the reference. His performance received the highest marks from the judges. All awarded him a victory, in addition, he was the first to receive the maximum mark for artistry. Yagudin became the first athlete to perform two quadruple jumps during the performance, one of which was included in the cascade. For the athlete himself, this was the peak of his career.
Speed Skating and Bobsleigh
In this sport, which is one of the most leading, our country, unfortunately, has not taken a single medal. But the fact is interesting that at almost all distances world records were set. 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 turned out to have fewer silver and bronze medals. In bobsleigh, the achievements of Germany should be noted. The German two for the fourth time took first place. This country also dominated the fours. Troika was closed by Americans and Swiss.
Skeleton and sleigh and other species
This sport was first presented at these games after 1948. Then the women took part in these competitions. The American team came first, the British and Canadians closed the top three. Our country took one gold medal and took fourth place. Germany was also the leader in luge. At the games, several sets of awards were played among men (double and single sleds) and women (single sleds).
In ski jumping the first place was taken by the Swiss and Germans. Also, the prizes were occupied by Polish, Finnish, Slovenian athletes. In snowboarding, Americans won all three sets of awards in the men's category. This was the first time since 1956, when US representatives got the entire podium.
Value
The games of 2002 were important, if only because they were the first competitions in the new millennium. However, unfortunately, this event was overshadowed by scandals, disputes and doping issues. Our country came to the capital of games in a strong composition, however, 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 wonderful moment. First of all, these are the magnificent performances of A. Yagudin and E. Plushenko in men's skating and I. Slutskaya in women's. In addition, the gold of biathlete O. Pyleva pleasantly pleased domestic spectators and acquired a double price after the scandal surrounding our skiers. In a number of sports, more was expected from domestic athletes (for example, in hockey). Nevertheless, the performance of the Russian team was worthy. As for the strongest countries, their positions in the unofficial team classification turned out to be quite expected (first of all, it concerns Norway, in which winter sports are well developed ). So, the 2002 Olympics, the results of which, in principle, were logical, despite all the contradictions, as a whole left a pleasant impression on the audience.