Salt Lake 2002 Paralympics - Opening Ceremony

Copyright (c) Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002

Weeks on after playing hosts to the Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City set stage to the 8th edition of the Paralympic Winter Games, which is held from 7 to 16 March 2002. These were the second Games in succession that were being held away from Europe - considered the heartland of snow sports, as the Winter Paralympics went to the Americas for the very first time.

Salt Lake City, capital of the state of Utah, won the hosting rights for the Paralympics in 1995, and combining both the Olympics and the Paralympics, the organizers used the same venues as well as the athletes' village. Thus, it was an opportunity for both sets of athletes to use these world-class facilities to showcase their best performance.

The Games attracted 416 athletes from 36 NPCs, taking part at 92 events in 4 sports. Though the overall number of participants was less than the 1998 edition, the number of countries taking part in the Para Games was more than in Nagano four years earlier, and in fact, this edition had sought Winter Paralympic debuts for Andorra, Chile, China, Croatia, Greece, and Hungary.

Perhaps, these 2002 Para Games were a chance for the United States to make the most of home advantage. They lead the overall count with 43 medals of any color, but in terms of gold medals, they placed second with 10, finishing behind Germany which had 17 golds. Among the top individual performers, Ragnhild Myklebust of Norway won five golds in skiing and biathlon, and Myklebust's feat in Utah made her the most decorated all-time Winter Paralympic athlete with 22 medals, 17 of them gold.