The Salt Lake 2002 Olympics

The greatest event in sport recently took place in Salt Lake City, the USA.The thrilling opening ceremony was held on February 8, 2002 and sporting competitions were held up until the closing ceremony on February 24, 2002. We all had been waiting for winter Olympics for long four years. And we were witnesses of  the moment of world`s  friendship and peace.The Salt Lake Games were some of the most successful in history,  records were set in both the broadcasting and marketing programs. Over 2 billion viewers watch more than 13 billion viewer hours. 78 National Olympic Committees sent athletes to the Salt Lake City games. Cameroon, Hong Kong (China), Nepal, Tajikistan, and Thailand participated in their 1st Winter Olympic games.

All in all 15 sport disciplines were represented in The 2002 Salt Lake Games.Several medals records were set  and tied.

·         Norway tied the Soviet Union at the 1976 Winter Olympics  for most gold medals at a Winter Olympics, with 13.

·         Germany set a record for most total medals at a Winter Olympics, with 36.

The following records the United States set and tied:

• Most gold medals at a home Winter Olympics, with 10, tying Norway at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

• Most total medals at a home Winter Olympics, with 34.

We won`t observe all results,  just the most interesting. Lots of people are fond of figure skating, so they were first on the 2002 winter Olympics competition programm. First days were very succesfull for Russian Federation –  Alexei Yagudin won golden medal and Evgeni Plushenko the silver one in Men's Figure Skating. Ladies Figure Skating, Pairs Figure Skating, Ice Dancing were also succesful for Russia – they took two silver and one golden medals.

And of course we can`t forget about hockey! The ablolute leader is Canada – in  both Women's Men`s  Ice Hockey, they wom all golden medals in hockey.

And one more very spectacular sport – snowboarding! Congratulations to the USA – absolute champion in Men's Halfpipe. Ross Powers has Golden medal with the result -  46.1, Danny Kass was the second with the result - 42.1, Jarret  Thomas won the bronze with the result - 42.1. Also France showed excellent resaults - Doriane Vidal was the second in Women's Halfpipe, Isabelle Blanc showed good results and of course won golden medal in Women's Parallel Giant Slalom, in the same discipline Karine Ruby took silver.

Congratulations to all winners! And we look forward to the next Olympics.