The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in the USA. These were the nineteenth games in which 77 countries took part. Eighteen of them received awards of the highest value. In the unofficial team standings, Norway took first place. This event is also interesting because China and Australia won their first gold medals during their 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 start of the games, construction work was carried out in it. A special light rail system was created, and highways were upgraded. 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 competition. Three animals served as the mascot of the games: a hare, a bear and a coyote, which meant speed, height and strength. On official poster depicts a flag that flutters over 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 2002 Olympics was remembered by the audience for the fact that some changes were made to 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 bobsleigh. Racing was added to biathlon and sprint was added to biathlon. In addition, a new distance has appeared in the short track - 1500 meters. Another innovation is the fact that, for the first time, each sport has its own medal design.
Problems
The 2002 Olympics were accompanied by a whole 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 the international commission. After Salt Lake City became the host of the games, some IOC members were suspected of having received rewards for their decision. In addition, the competition was accompanied by doping scandals, as a result of which some athletes were deprived of their titles and gold medals. But the most unusual incident occurred during the performance of sports couples on ice during the 2002 Olympics. Figure skating remembered for a long time because of the unusual incident associated with the determination of the winner. Gold won Russian athletes, however, 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 more important events for Russian figure skaters. In solitary women's skating an American athlete S. Hughes won a controversial victory, beating her by just one vote. But in men's skating, the first and second places were, of course, for the Russians. A. Yagudin won gold by scoring a record number of points for his free program. The second place went to E. Plushenko. 2002 (Olympics) was a landmark year for him in his career, since it was at this time that he established himself as the future ice king. 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 at the box office.
skiing
The 2002 Olympics are remembered for quite interesting race victories. Biathlon has become a landmark event thanks to the participation of the famous Norwegian athlete U. Bjoerndalen, who won three starts at once, as well as a relay race. In addition to him, it is worth mentioning the outstanding achievements of the Croatian athlete J. Kostelic, who took three gold medals and one despite a recent operation. The participation of Russians in this sport was marked by serious problems: domestic athletes who took gold were accused of doping after some time and deprived of their awards.
Bronze
Not entirely successful for the Russians in game types turned out to be the 2002 Olympics. Hockey is one of the most developed sports in our country. The performance of the players, however, was not easy. A star team was assembled especially for the competition, however, despite this, at first the Russians tied with the Americans, then lost to the Finns and eventually took only third place, although expectations, of course, were very high. Canadians became champions, and Belarus got the fourth place, which was a real achievement for this country.
The 2002 Winter Olympics was remembered for several notable events. One of them is the victory of an Australian athlete in the race. Then the leaders of the competitions faced each other twice, which allowed Stephen Bradbury to take 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 they could not overtake 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 hard and stubborn struggle lost gold to the Italian in the race. However, the Russian figure skating pair was able to win the championship. In the individual race Russian skier took bronze. After some time, the women's pair took second and third places, losing only to the Norwegian skier. The following days also brought our country medals in skiing and racing. However, it was not without setbacks: the women's national team skiing was disqualified, and according to experts, it was she who should have taken gold medals. The same fate befell the ski jumpers and Nordics. On the other hand, the Russian skier became the silver medalist in the marathon race, but after a while he received gold, because illegal drugs were found in the winner's blood.
Record on ice
But the most memorable victory is the achievement of A. Yagudin. He brilliantly performed short program, the performance of which is still considered the standard. His performance received the highest marks from the judges. Everyone awarded him the victory, besides, he was the first to receive the maximum mark for artistry. Yagudin became the first athlete to complete two quadruple jump, 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 leading ones, our country, unfortunately, did not win a single medal. But interesting is the fact that almost all distances were set world records. In the first place in the unofficial standings in this category were the Netherlands. The German and American teams rounded out the top three, taking first place, but they had fewer silver medals and German achievements should be noted in bobsleigh. The German deuce took first place for the fourth time. This country also dominated the race of fours. Threes were closed by the Americans and the Swiss.
Skeleton and sled and other types
This sport was first introduced at these games after 1948. Then the women took part in these competitions. The American team took the first place, the British and Canadians closed the top three. Our country took one gold medal and took fourth place. Germany also led the way in luge. Several sets of awards among men (double and single sledges) and women (single sledges) were played at the games.
In ski jumping, the first place was taken by the Swiss and the Germans. Also prize-winning places were occupied by Polish, Finnish, Slovenian athletes. In snowboarding, the Americans won all three sets of awards in male category. This was the first time since 1956 that US representatives had taken the entire podium.
Meaning
The 2002 Games 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 arrived in the capital of the games with a strong team, but several failures led to the fact that the team lost a number of awards. Nevertheless, more than one wonderful moment remained in the memory of the fans. First of all, these are magnificent performances by A. Yagudin and E. Plushenko in men's skating and I. Slutskaya in women's skating. In addition, the biathlete's gold 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 standings turned out to be quite expected (first of all, this concerns Norway, which is well developed in So, the 2002 Olympics, the results of which, in principle, were logical, despite all the contradictions, on the whole left pleasant experience for the audience.
Opening a new page of our album... 2002... As it was a long time ago, and at the same time - so recently...
The 2002 Olympic Games were held in northern Utah (USA), near the Great Salt Lake - in the city of Salt lake city. As the capital of the "white" Olympiad, this city was chosen during the 104th session of the IOC in Budapest, and already during the first stage of voting. The games were attended by 2399 athletes from 77 countries. Norway took the lead in the team standings.
The 2002 Olympic Games were marred by numerous scandals. Some athletes were stripped of their medals for using illegal drugs. IN figure skating an event occurred that had no precedent in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. I think all fans of this sport remember it well. The Canadian couple Sale/Peletier got the second gold medals. As a result, both Russians Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, who took first place, and Canadians were awarded gold medals.
Well, now in order.
Having brilliantly skated the short program, the Russian skaters took the first line.
The situation on the ice escalated to the limit during the warm-up before the final performance of the strongest couples. Figure skater from the Canadian duo high speed collided with Anton Sikharulidze and fell. multi-thousandth Ice Palace gasped. Millions of viewers froze at the screens. "It's amazing how she crashed into me!" Anton recalls. "At first I didn't understand anything." On the replay, it was clear that Sikharulidze was trying to avoid a collision, but only managed to push his partner away from danger, and he himself was in the way of Sale. Luckily, there were minor bruises.
Elena and Anton were the first on the ice after the collision.
After the announcement of the ratings, it remained only to wait for the performance of the main competitors.
The Russian national team "got" the first gold thanks to Berezhnaya / Sikharulidze, who in a desperate struggle "run in" the rivals. The fate of the first place was decided by one vote in favor of Russia. Everything is honest. However, the Canadians said they were under pressure on the arbitrators and challenged their decision. The world, closely following the course of events at the Olympics, froze in anticipation. No one really stood up for the Russian couple, and after a week of hesitation, Olympic officials decided to give the Canadians a second set of gold medals. This has never happened before in the history of gaming. Having caught up with our pair, Sale / Peletier, in fact, “liberated” second place and silver, which remained vacant.
Aleksey Yagudin became the Olympic champion in men's single skating.
Alexey's victory in Salt Lake City is his peak sports career, one of the brightest victories in the history of figure skating. The brilliantly performed short program "Winter" is still considered a reference in terms of choreography and the creation of an artistic image on ice.
Execution free program"The Man in the Iron Mask" brings Yagudin a kind of Olympic records - he is awarded the victory by all nine judges; he becomes the first Olympic champion to complete two jumps in four turns in the program, one of which is in the cascade, and the first winner of the Olympics in the category "male single skating", which received four "6.0" marks from the judges for artistry.
In the brightest men's duel "of all times and peoples" in 2002 - I believe by right - Yagudin won.
In the discipline "dancing on ice" Olympic champions become Marina Anisina/Gwendal Peizera.
In this international duet, the partner, who undoubtedly played the role of the first violin, was the bearer of the best traditions Russian school figure skating.
The silver medalists of Salt Lake City are our wonderful couple Irina Lobacheva / Ilya Averbukh, who lost by one vote to the French duet. Their free dance, dedicated to the events of September 11, 2001, will forever remain in my memory...
Olympic champion 2002 in women's singles - Irina Slutskaya. No, this is not a typo. Champion by justice, by conscience, by right. But not in fact.
Having brilliantly skated the short program, Irina remained only second, although she should have won with a huge advantage over everyone.
The first judge was Michelle Kwan.
Third - Sasha Cohen, fourth - Sarah Hughes. Any figure skater from the top four did not lose her chances, if she won the free program, to win the entire Olympic tournament.
Strongest workout. States' top hope Michelle Kwan falls off a triple flip. Next - Ira.
And again, only one vote deprives Slutskaya of victory. In terms of technique, she is the first, but the artistry of the feminine, radiant Ira is lower than that of 15-year-old Sarah Hughes. Although in a month at the World Championship Irina's artistry will "recover" and for the same program she will receive 6.0 marks.
America needed a heroine that day. And Sarah Hughes was "made" into it.
Olympic Games 2002 in Salt Lake City became twice gold and three times silver for our skaters. In four years, the balance will shift in favor of gold. But this is a completely different story - a new page of our album...
In "Stars" winter olympics"- Salt Lake City-2002. It was there that an unprecedented incident occurred in figure skating, when two pairs rose to the highest step of the podium at once - champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, whom the judges unconditionally put in first place, and the Canadian duet, with a scandal filed an appeal and challenged the jury's assessments.
In biathlon, our girls had no equal!
"It was my first victory, and it immediately appeared on Olympic Games. And then I was just stunned with happiness. I jumped there and was so pleased, just not to tears. I only cried at a press conference, because they handed me the phone, and my mother called from Krasnoyarsk, ”recalls biathlete Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva, two-time Olympic champion 2002 and 2010.
“Excitement - in any case, it should always be present. Who can fight it like that. Many nights they don’t sleep, they even suffer, whoever has something. I went out to my winning number, without dropping my hands, of course, but with such a feeling - I wish this Olympics would have ended sooner, because I didn’t succeed in the races I was counting on. it's hot outside, and the snow is knee-deep, the snow is so damp in general, the skis get stuck in. I already went out - if only I could walk, realizing that I didn’t have so much strength, and I shouldn’t go into penalty loops. I just I worked for shooting," says the athlete.
“Coaches always teach that you don’t need to set yourself up in advance. You need to set yourself up for work. You know how to train, you know how to run, you know how to shoot - and do what you can. once interferes psychologically. And when you do not wait, only then it turns out, "Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva is sure.
For Elena Berezhnaya, the 2002 Olympic champion in figure skating, the Salt Lake City Olympics began with trouble: “We arrived at the Olympic Games. I unsuccessfully went to the solarium, and there I burned out. That is, it was impossible to touch me, not to touch ... God forbid to make some kind of joint element. I understood that I was letting the whole team down, this is the Olympic Games. In general, I was very ashamed, but anyway, I endured. "
"After the draw, Anton came, we got the third number, ahead of all the locomotive that is possible. All our rivals were at the back, it's more honorable, because it's much more prestigious to perform last, let's say. And Anton also said - the worst is over, now everything will be fine And in fact - these words were very reassuring, they brought such confidence that, in fact, it’s much worse, "recalls the skater.
“The moment when the award ceremony had already happened, so many emotions were experienced that there was nothing left but sarcasm. The fact that we stood on the podium twice and raised our flag twice and sang the anthem twice - that's cool "- the athlete tells about the history of the double award.
“I really envy the guys, because they will perform in our country. This hum of the stands, when the country in which the participation is taking place, is sick, this is a very strong feeling, like an earthquake,” says Elena Berezhnaya.
Salt Lake City (USA)
The Olympics in the Mormon state of Utah went down in history as the most scandalous of all time. This was largely due to the change of power in the IOC. The 2002 Winter Games were the first for the new head of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge, who in a number of episodes could not cope with the pressure of the media, and also chose the most painful option for tightening the anti-doping policy. For journalists, an endless series of scandals was a godsend, but the reputation of the IOC was greatly shaken. Olympic Movement turned out to be on the verge of a severe crisis - it would have erupted if the Russian delegation had followed the lead of the radicals who demanded that our athletes leave Salt Lake City because of the "anti-Russian conspiracy".
| W | WITH | B | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 13 | 5 | 7 | 25 |
| 2 | Germany | 12 | 16 | 8 | 36 |
| 3 | USA | 10 | 13 | 11 | 34 |
| 4 | Canada | 7 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| 5 | Russia | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 |
Venue: Salt Lake City, USA
February 8 - 24, 2002
Number of participating countries - 78
Number of athletes participating - 2399 (886 women, 1513 men)
Medal sets - 78
Team Winner - Norway
The three main characters of the Games according to "SE"
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway),
biathlon
Janica Kostelic (Croatia),
skiing
Alexey Yagudin (Russia),
figure skating
SCATTERS AND FIGURANTS
The flame of scandals began near Salt Lake City back in the late 1990s, when information about the fund became public, with the help of which the organizing committee "repaid debts" to IOC members who voted for the American application. Thus, the secret of the beautiful victory of the capital of Utah in the competition for the right to host the 2002 Olympics was revealed, in which Salt Lake City received almost twice as many votes as Sweden's Östersund, Switzerland's Sion and Canada's Quebec combined. As a result of the corruption case, 10 members of the organizing committee resigned or were suspended from work. Proceedings also touched the IOC, where new rules for working with candidate cities were adopted.
Five months before the start of the Olympics, terrorists attacked the towers of the World shopping center in New York, because of which the US authorities and the organizing committee of the 2002 Games were forced to sharply increase security measures in Salt Lake City. This added nervousness to the already difficult atmosphere around the competition. Remembering the organizational oddities of the previous Winter Olympics in the USA, many were waiting for dirty tricks this time as well. Alas, the reasons for indignation were not long in coming. The history of winning the championship title in short track speed skating by an American of Japanese origin, Apolo Ono, became indicative. His opponent Korean Kim Dong-soon was unexpectedly disqualified for crossing Ohno's trajectory. This controversial decision of the judges caused a flurry of indignation in Korea. The following year, Apolo was even forced to cancel his trip to the Korean World Cup due to death threats received from local fans.
But the main judicial incident happened in the competition of sports couples in figure skating. At first they were won by the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. But after that, the North American media staged a real hysteria, demanding to explain why the judges put the Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier only in second place. Unable to withstand the onslaught, the IOC and international union skaters went to the revision of the initial results and handed the Canadian pair a second set of gold medals. This unprecedented event, which was called "Scandal on Ice" in the American press (by analogy with the hockey "Miracle on Ice-1980"), will later become a reason for revising the entire scoring system in figure skating.
The FBI will be investigating Scandal on Ice for a few more years. Interest in the case will be fueled by the statements of the French referee Marie-Ren Le Gun, who assured that during the 2002 Olympics she was allegedly under pressure. But the investigation will stall after one of the main defendants, Russian businessman Chevalier Nusuev, is shot dead by hired killers in Moscow in 2005.
BROKEN RECORD
Russian fans offended by the "Scandal on Ice" will try to organize a rematch in the women's singles, where 16-year-old Sarah Hughes won a controversial victory over Irina Slutskaya thanks to just one judge's vote. There was no loud protest, but after the Olympics, Slutskaya will be awarded an alternative medal "For an honest victory" in her homeland, which will be cast from a kilogram of 750-carat gold. Unusual in Salt Lake City was the tournament of men-singles. 21-year-old Russian Alexei Yagudin won a difficult victory over 19-year-old compatriot Evgeni Plushenko in it. At the same time, Yagudin, in addition to the famous coach Tatyana Tarasova, was assisted by psychologist Rudolf Zagainov, who allegedly "hypnotized" Plushenko during his speech.
With a personal psychotherapist, the Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was preparing for the 2002 Olympics. Perhaps it was precisely this that helped the unique athlete first take sixth place in the 30 km cross-country ski race, then calmly win all three biathlon starts and crown his triumph with the title in the relay. Three gold and one silver medals can be considered a sporting feat. ski slopes Salt Lake City Croatian Janica Kostelic. The brave girl on the eve of the 2002 Games underwent three operations on her injured knee. Despite the colossal health problems, Janica will perform for another five years and at the 2006 Olympics she will become the most titled skier in history.
Theoretically, she could claim an eternal record in 2002 and a five-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Larisa Lazutina. But her plans were crossed out by doping scandals. First, Lazutina was removed from the relay due to an increased level of hemoglobin, and the Russian team received information about this on the eve of the start and, without having time to make a replacement, missed the race. Lazutina nevertheless secured her sixth Olympic title in the 30 km race, equaling the great Lyubov Egorova and Lydia Skoblikova. But then in the analyzes of Larisa and our other champion Olga Danilova they will find darbepoetin, both will be deprived of gold medals and disqualified. The next year, Lazutina will become a deputy and settle in the Moscow Regional Duma for more than ten years.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST RUSSIA
Not pleased at the 2002 Olympics and the performance of our hockey players. Vyacheslav Fetisov, who will soon become the head of all domestic sports, gathered almost all of our NHL stars under the banner of the Russian national team - only Sergey Zubov, Alexander Mogilny and Alexei Zhitnik refused. Even 42-year-old Igor Larionov returned to the team. But in group tournament this "dream team" tied with the Americans and lost to the Finns, and in the semifinals failed to put the squeeze on the US team. The Russians were content with the third place, which clearly did not correspond to their level. And for the first time since 1952, Canadians led by Mario Lemieux became champions. But the main hockey sensation is the fourth place of the Belarusian national team, which was only 14th at the World Championship a year earlier.
Disqualifications and sports failures greatly undermined Russia's position in the medal standings. With five gold medals, we took only fifth place - at that time the lowest in the history of the Games. The loss of leading positions against the backdrop of doping and refereeing scandals was experienced in the country very painfully - the idea of a "conspiracy against Russian sports"Although, for example, doping revelations affected not only Russians - a bronze medal in skiing was deprived of the Briton Alan Bexter, and the Spanish skier of German origin Johan Mulleg after positive doping test took away three gold awards at once. One of them, by the way, passed to our Mikhail Ivanov.
Among the main events of the 2002 Olympics, it is customary to celebrate the gold of American bobsledder Vonetta Flowers and Canadian hockey player Jerome Iginla, who became the first black champions. Winter Games. But the most unusual in Salt Lake City was the victory at a distance of 1000 meters in short track Australian Stephen Bradbury. This little-known athlete first reached the semi-finals due to the disqualification of the opponent, and then made it to the final thanks to the fact that three of his competitors collided with each other. In the final, Bradbury lagged far behind all the participants in the race. But the four leaders again dropped each other just before the finish line. Stephen calmly passed the fallen rivals and became the first winter champion from the Southern Hemisphere. This victory is recognized as one of the most comical in the history of sports.
Competition and results
The next day, at the post-event judges "meeting, Le Gun allegedly repeated these words. However, in a written statement she retracted these statements, explaining them as pressure from S. Stapleford, and also confirmed that she considers the victory of the Russian couple deserved Russian referee Marina Sanaya stated that the referee referee team, who served the competitions of couples, the American R. Pfenning, put pressure on the judges, in particular, telling them, contrary to all the rules, that they should not give Berezhnoy - Sikharulidze marks more than 5.8. . The President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Valentin Piseev, said that R. Pfenning received a penalty from the ISU for these gross mistakes. .
On February 13, a press conference was held by ISU President O. Cinquanta, journalists asked accusatory questions and behaved extremely hostilely. After that, Cinquanta (who is himself a skater and does not understand the intricacies of figure skating) reported that R. Pfenning had filed a complaint against the judges' assessments, this issue would be considered at a meeting of the ISU committee. IOC Director General J. Carrar urged the ISU to consider the issue as soon as possible.
Already on February 15, at a joint press conference of ISU President O. Cinquanta and IOC President J. Rogge, an unprecedented decision was announced for the first time in the history of figure skating: Canadians will be awarded gold medals, Russian couple gold medals were also retained, since the ISU and the IOC did not see her guilt. Le Gun's refereeing vote was annulled. The final points were also annulled. The decision to reshuffle the judges' marks and points undermined the interest of the audience and became one of the reasons for the crisis in figure skating. For the first time in history, an unprecedented repeat awards ceremony took place, in which Canadians replaced silver medals with gold ones. Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze agreed to attend the ceremony, a couple from China Shen Xue - Zhao Hongbo, who took third place, refused, considering this action a farce.