2002 Winter Olympics

The "Olympic Experience" in Salt Lake City, Utah...

This was my first experience with the Olympic Games and the spirit of goodwill and sportsmanship will last with me forever. It was an awesome experience that is difficult, if not impossible, to put into words. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to attend any Olympic event.

The city did a beautiful job of decorating for the festivities. The large banners draped from downtown buildings were created from photographic images by John Huet. The dynamic, dramatic style of the photographs well suited the modern Winter Olympic Games.

Snowbasin & The Women's Alpine Combined

We rode the convenient Mountain Venue Express busses from downtown Salt Lake City to the event locations. The busses left early in the morning, but we enjoyed arriving ahead of the crowds and it allowed me to take some pre-dawn photographs.

This is Snowbasin where many of the alpine skiing events took place.

We attended the Women's Alpine Combined event which featured two Slalom runs and one Downhill run. The athlete with the lowest combined time for all three runs gets the gold. 

The crowd for this event was huge - over 28,000. At the time it was the largest attendance to a women's alpine skiing event in North America.

Both the Slalom and Downhill courses were plotted with a high degree of difficulty. Sections of the Slalom course were especially steep. The skiing was excellent.

Although the official medals ceremonies were generally held at the Olympic Square in the evenings, after each event medal winning competitors were recognized during a flower ceremony.

Janica Kostelic of Croatia won gold, the first for her country. Renate Gotschl of Austria won silver and Martina Ertl of Germany won bronze.

Soldier Hollow & The Women's Nordic Combined Pursuit

We also attended a 5K Cross Country Pursuit event at Soldier Hollow.

This was a fantastic venue. And there was even more to see than the incredible athletic competition. Many pioneer displays gave this venue the flavor of the "Old West"

"Chuck Wagon Breakfast" anyone?

Sleigh rides where very appropriate for this winter venue. The temperature hovered around 4 degrees Fahrenheit as the sun came up this morning. But it warmed up into the 20's by mid-day!

The Olympic cross country combined pursuit is actually two races. In the first, skiers start at 30 second intervals and the classic cross country style (no skating) race is all about time. Your time gives you ranking at the start of the second race. The second race (about 1.5 hours after the first) begins with the winner of the first race. Then each consecutive skier starts at an interval equal to their finish time behind the winner of the first race. The winner of the second, freestyle, race wins the gold medal.

In the first race spectators get to see individuals who have passed competitors who have started in front of them. But since the first race is mostly about time the skiers are really racing the clock. Competitors often come to the finish alone, but skiing hard.

The second race is very exciting. Many of the competitors catch the front-runners and there is often a sprint to the finish to win the gold medal.

Cross Country skiing was much more exciting than we had expected. We were definitely wrapped up by the spirit of the competition. It is too bad that many Americans don't understand the sport better.

The international flavor (and fervor) of the crowd only added to the excitement and grandeur of the true Olympic Spirit.

Olga Danilova of Russia won gold. Larissa Lazutina, also of Russia, won silver. And Beckie Scott of Canada, one of the crowd favorites, won bronze in a photo finish.