2002 Winter Paralympics

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Olympic games The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from 7 to 16 March 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the American continent. These were the first Paralympic Winter Games for Andorra, Chile, China, Croatia, Greece, and Hungary. Ragnhild Myklebust of Norway won five gold medals in skiing and biathlon, becoming the most successful Winter Paralympic athlete of all time with 22 medals, 17 of them gold.<ref>"Possibilité de médaille d’or : Vancouver 2010 annonce la recherche d’un concepteur pour les médailles olympiques et paralympiques" Template:Webarchive, official website of the 2010 Vancouver Games, 13 December 2007</ref>

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on 7 March 2002 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, with more than 40,000 spectators. Muffy Davis and Chris Waddell jointly lit the Paralympic cauldron.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony with more than 25.000 tickets sold was held on 16 March 2002 at the Olympic Medals Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City.Template:Fact

Sports

The games consisted of four disciplines in three sports, with 92 medal events in total.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Template:GamesSport
• Template:GamesSport
• File:Cross-country skiing - Paralympic pictogram.svgTemplate:GamesSport
• File:Ice sledge hockey - Paralympic pictogram.svgTemplate:GamesSport

Venues

In total 5 venues were used at the 2002 Winter Olympics around 4 cities and towns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Salt Lake City

• Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium – opening ceremonies
• 2002 Olympic Medals Plaza – closing ceremonies

Weber County, Utah

• Snowbasin: Alpine skiing

Wasatch County, Utah

• Soldier Hollow: Biathlon and Cross-Country

West Valley City, Utah

• E Center: Ice sledge hockey

Medal table

Template:Main The top 10 NPCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation (United States) is highlighted.

Participating National Paralympics Committees

36 nations qualified athletes for the games. Six countries:Andorra, Chile, China, Croatia, Greece and Hungary all made their debut appearances. Slovenia was the only nation who did not send a delegation after having participated in the previous games.

Symbol and mascot of the games

Paralympic Emblem

The logo of the Salt Lake 2002 Paralympic Winter Games is made up of three distinct marks. The sphere on the top represents the head of the Paralympic athlete and also symbolizes the global unity of the Paralympic Movement. Two broad fluid lines represent the athlete in motion. The three taegeuks beneath the athlete reproduce the green, red and blue marks on the Paralympic Flag.

File:Salt Lake 2002 Paralympic Mascot.svg

Otto
2002 Paralympic Mascot

Mascot

Template:Main The mascot for the Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City 2002 was Otto the otter. Indigenous peoples of the Americas consider otters to be fast swimmers, though in some stories a bit of a show-off.<ref>Erdoes, Richard and Ortiz, Alfonso. American Indian Myths and Legends. p. 312</ref> After being nearly wiped out by pollution and over-trapping the river otter has been reintroduced to Utah and can be seen along the banks of the Green River and near Flaming Gorge. The otter was chosen as the official mascot of the Salt Lake 2002 Paralympic Winter Games because he embodies vitality and agility, and represents the spirit of every Paralympian.<ref name="DN_names_announced">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="UEN_reach">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="UEN_reach_Para">Template:Cite book</ref>

See also

• 2002 Winter Olympics
• 2007 Winter Deaflympics

External links

• Official site
• International Paralympic Committee
• Paralympics at SVT's open archive (including the 2002 event) Template:In lang