2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Planning
120 of the 300 communities would host the special celebrations, which would allow large groups of people to participate in the Olympic spirit. It also allowed each community to show off local talent, its people, and history. Atlanta, New York City, and Salt Lake City were all selected as special signature cities, and they would host large relay celebrations which would be paid for, planned, and controlled by SLOC. Later plans for special commemorations of September 11, 2001, along the relay route in Washington, D.C. and New York City, would be added to the route plan. The torch and all relay marketing would be designed to closely follow the 2002 Olympic theme Light the Fire Within and the look of the games theme Land of Contrast - Fire and Ice.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Planning
In February 2000 The Coca-Cola Company and Chevrolet signed an agreement with SLOC to become the official relay sponsors, agreeing to pay two-thirds of the $25 million relay cost. The remainder of the cost would be paid for by official relay providers, such as Delta Air Lines, who flew the flame from Greece to the United States and Union Pacific, whose trains transported the flame through parts of the United States.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Planning
In February 2001 the nomination process for torchbearers was begun, and the selected persons were announced in September 2001. SLOC had decided on a theme of Inspire for the Torchbearers, and people were encouraged to nominate those who inspire others. Of the 12,012 torchbearer positions, SLOC, Coca-Cola, and Chevrolet each got to select one-third of the nominees, while a few were reserved for providers and special guests at the Opening Ceremony.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Planning
SLOC received approximately 50,000 nominations for its 3,500 positions, so applications were separated by ZIP code then sent to a local community judging panel who scored the applications and selected the torchbearers for their area. Coca-Cola and Chevrolet both received more than 120,000 applications for their positions, and both used a random selection process to choose torchbearers.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Torch
The 2002 Olympic Torch, engineered and manufactured by Coleman, is modeled after an icicle, with a slight curve to represent speed and fluidity. The Torch measures 33 inches (84 cm) long, 3 inches (7.6 cm) wide at the top, 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) at the bottom, and was designed by Axiom Design of Salt Lake City. It was created with three sections, each with its own meaning and representation.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Torch
The top section was glass, and the Olympic flame burned within the glass, echoing the 2002 Olympic theme Light the Fire Within. The glass stood for purity, winter, ice, and nature. Also inside the glass was a geometric copper structure which helped hold the flame. Copper is a very important natural element of Utah, and represented fire, warmth, Utah's History, and mirrored the orange/red colors of the theme Fire and Ice. The center section was made of silver and finished to look old and worn, while the bottom section was made of clean, highly polished silver.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Torch
The center section represented the silver mining heritage of the American West, while the bottom section represented the future and modern technology. The Torchbearer gripped the torch at the junction of both the aged and polished silver, during which their hand represented a bridge from the past to the present. The two silver sections also mirrored the blue/purple colors of the Fire and Ice theme.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Modes of transportation
The Olympic torch was carried through a variety of modes, including runners, skiers, motor vehicles, aircraft, boats, canoes and bicycle.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Modes of transportation, Aircraft
Delta Air Lines, one of the relay providers, was responsible for carrying the flame across the Atlantic Ocean from Athens, Greece to the United States. A Boeing 777, known as the Soaring Spirit, decorated in Olympic-themed livery carried the Olympic flame in a ceremonial lantern from Greece to Atlanta, Georgia during an 11-hour flight.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Modes of transportation, Railroad car
Union Pacific, another of the relay providers, used a specially designed railroad car to carry the flame across various areas of the United States (mainly rural and desert areas). Coined the "Cauldron Car", it was part of Union Pacific's "Olympic Train" which included two diesel locomotives (UP Numbers: 2001 & 2002), 13 passengers cars, and 3 service cars with the cauldron car serving as the caboose. The entire train was painted in Olympic livery, using Salt Lake's "Look of the Games" style, known as "Land of Contrast - Fire and Ice".


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Modes of transportation, Railroad car
The cauldron car contained a 2 million-BTU burner, to keep the flame burning, and was originally used during the torch relay for the 1996 Summer Olympics, and was simply redesigned and repainted for the 2002 games. The Olympic train carried the flame on four separate occasions during the 2002 torch relay, for a total of more than 3,200 miles (5,100 km) through 11 states. Following the games the cauldron car was donated to the Utah State Railroad Museum at Union Station, where it is currently on display. In anticipation of the torch relay Overland Models (model railroading) created an H0 scale model of the Olympic Train, which included the two locomotives and several of the passenger cars.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Relay elements, Modes of transportation, Railroad car
The Heber Valley Historic Railroad also played a role in the torch relay, its historic steam locomotives were joined by another from the Nevada Northern Railway Museum, and together they were known as the Olympic Steam Team. During the games all three locomotives would pull their own eight-car train loaded with spectators to the Soldier Hollow Olympic venue. The day prior to the Opening Ceremony of the games, all three locomotives were combined into one triple-headed train, and used to transport the Olympic flame from Soldier Hollow to Heber City, Utah as part of the torch relay.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Route
On November 19, 2001, the first 2002 Olympic torch was lit at the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece. Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou played the role of high priestess and lit the torch using a flame kept in a clay urn. Usually the torch is lit using a parabolic mirror and the sun's rays, but for the third games in a row, cloudy conditions prevented that from happening during the ceremony.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Route
The weekend prior to the lighting ceremony, the flame held in the clay urn had been lit using the parabolic mirror and the sun's rays in case of this situation. Following the ceremony, a two-day Greek torch relay carried the flame to the Panathenian stadium in Athens, Greece, where it burned in a cauldron for two weeks.


2002 Winter Olympics torch relay, Route
On December 3, 2001, a Greek skier, Thanassis Tsailas, lit a 2002 Olympic torch from a flame in the cauldron, which in turn was used to light a ceremonial lantern. This lantern was then flown aboard the Soaring Spirit to Atlanta, Georgia, where it arrived on the morning of December 4. The lantern was unloaded and Bonnie Blair used its flame to light a temporary cauldron to be used at the celebration in Atlanta. During this celebration, Muhammad Ali lit a 2002 Olympic torch from the flame in the temporary cauldron, which he then passed to Olympians Peggy Fleming and Bob Paul, who began the 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay.


2002 Winter Paralympics
The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Winter Paralympics, were held in Salt Lake City, United States, from March 7 to 16, 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.


2002 Winter Paralympics, Venues
In total 5 venues were used at the 2002 Winter Olympics around 4 cities and towns.


2002 Winter Paralympics, Medal table
The top 10 NPCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation (United States) is highlighted.


2002 Winter Paralympics, Participating nations
Thirty six nations participated in the 2002 Winter Paralympics. Andorra, Chile, China, Croatia, Greece and Hungary all made their debut appearances. Slovenia missed out of the 2002 Winter Games.


2002 Winter Paralympics, 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.


2002 Winter Paralympics, Symbol and mascot of the games, Mascot
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. 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.


2002 Winter Paralympics medal table
The 2002 Winter Paralympics medal table is a list of National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) ranked by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the 2002 Winter Paralympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from March 7 to March 16, 2002.


2002 Winter Paralympics medal table, Medal table
The ranking in this table is based on information provided by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and is consistent with IPC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a "nation" is an entity represented by a National Paralympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IPC country code.


2002 Winter Paralympics medal table, Medal table
To sort this table by nation, total medal count, or any other column, click on the  icon next to the column title.


2002 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election
The 2002 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in England. This election was held on the same day as other local elections.


2002 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election, Notes
• italics denote the sitting councillor • bold denotes the winning candidate


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team
The 2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season.


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Season summary
Coming off a disappointing 5–7 2001 season, the Badgers of 2002 wanted improvement. Despite amazing statistics from WR Lee Evans and RB Anthony Davis, the Badgers had issues closing out games, and an overworked defense managed lackluster efforts when the team could hardly afford  them.


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Season summary
In the spring game, Wisconsin's offense suffered a devastating blow when top receiver Lee Evans was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Evan's loss was a significant blow, but despite it, Wisconsin managed to start off the season by winning all five of their nonconference games. From there, though, things did not go Wisconsin's way; the Badgers lost their first three Big Ten games by less than 7 points.


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Season summary
Among those was a near-upset of eventual National Champion Ohio State, a 19–14 Ohio State win that was Jim Tressel's first over the Badgers (having lost 20–17 to Wisconsin the previous year). After going 0–3 to open their Big Ten slate, Wisconsin defeated Michigan State in Spartan Stadium 42–24 for their first conference win of the season. After that game, Wisconsin would lose their next 3 games against Big Ten opponents, including a 20–3 loss to Big Ten co-champion Iowa, and yet another close game against a Lloyd Carr-coached Michigan team. The loss to Michigan dropped Wisconsin to 1–6 in Big Ten play.


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Season summary
To close out the regular season, Wisconsin finally put together a complete game in a 49–31 blowout of rival Minnesota, taking back Paul Bunyan's Axe and keeping Minnesota's losing streak in Camp Randall alive. The Badgers improved to 7–6 on the season.


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Season summary
Wisconsin was awarded a berth in the Alamo Bowl, having gotten the required 6 wins in the regular season, and faced Colorado, a Big Twelve opponent that had won the Big Twelve North outright and lost the Big Twelve Championship Game 29–7 to Oklahoma. At 9-4, Colorado entered the game ranked 14th in the nation, and hoping for a ten-win season. But Wisconsin managed to keep up with Colorado, and won the game 31–28 in overtime for their 8th win of the season, knocking Colorado to 9–5 on the year.


2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Season summary
For Wisconsin, Freshman WR Jonathan Orr put together a good season in the absence of Lee Evans, catching 47 passes for 842 yards, with 8 receiving touchdowns. RB Anthony Davis ran for 1,555 yards on 300 carries, with 13 touchdowns. QB Brooks Bollinger, in his senior season, completed 131 passes on 245 attempts for 1,758 yards and 14 touchdowns, with just 4 interceptions.


2002 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
The 2002 Wisconsin gubernatorial election  was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican Governor of Wisconsin Scott McCallum, who had assumed office upon the resignation of Tommy Thompson, ran for his first full term in office. McCallum won his party's nomination by defeating two minor candidates, and Attorney General of Wisconsin Jim Doyle won the Democratic primary with a little more than a third of the vote in a highly competitive primary election. In the general election, the presence of Ed Thompson, former Governor Tommy Thompson's younger brother, the Mayor of Tomah, and the Libertarian Party nominee, held both McCallum and Doyle to under fifty percent of the vote, enabling Doyle to win with 45% of the vote, defeating McCallum.


2002 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Democratic primary
The primary election for the Democratic nomination was closely contested by three competitive candidates. The race was ultimately won by Jim Doyle with around 38% of the vote.


2002 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Republican primary
McCallum, as the incumbent governor, did not face significant opposition in the primary. He was nominated with 86% of the primary vote.


2002 Wismilak International
The 2002 Wismilak International was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Bali, Indonesia that was part of the Tier III category of the  2002 WTA Tour. It was the eighth edition of the tournament and was held from 23 September through 29 September 2002. Unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova won the singles title and earned $35,000 first-prize money.


2002 Wismilak International, Finals, Doubles
Cara Black /  Virginia Ruano Pascual defeated  Svetlana Kuznetsova /  Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, 6–2, 6–3


2002 Wizard Home Loans Cup
The 2002 Wizard Home Loans Cup was the Australian Football League competition played in its entirety before the Australian Football League's 2002 Premiership Season began. The AFL National Cup is also sometimes referred to as the pre-season cup because it is played in its entirety before the Premiership Season begins. Teams were split into 4 groups, each comprising 4 teams. Each team would play the other three teams in its group once, with the winners of the four groups advancing to the semi finals. Port Adelaide won their second pre-season cup defeating Richmond in the final.


2002 Woking Borough Council election
The 2002 Woking Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Woking Borough Council in Surrey, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. Overall turnout in the election was 33.28%, down from 34.32% in 2000.


2002 Wokingham District Council election
The 2002 Wokingham District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Wokingham Unitary Council in Berkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.


2002 Wokingham District Council election, Election result
The results saw the Conservatives win a majority on the council, after having had the same number of seats as the Liberal Democrats for the previous 2 elections. The Conservatives won 14 of the 20 seats which were up for election, including one uncontested seat in Wokingham Without. They made 4 gains from the Liberal Democrats in the wards of Coronation, Finchampstead North and Little Hungerford to finish the election with 30 seats as compared to 22 for the Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, Labour won their first seat on the council since 1994 after making a gain in Bulmershe ward from the Liberal Democrats. Overall turnout was 32.8%.


2002 Wokingham District Council election, Election result
The Conservatives said they were delighted with the results which they put down to their campaign on issues including green fields, crime and transport, and to the Liberal Democrats being out of touch with local residents. They said that now they had control of the council they would take action on crime and traffic congestion and review the number of new houses planned. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy described the results in Wokingham as predictable and a "slight set-back", which he put down to them defending seats from when the Conservatives were performing much less strongly nationally.


2002 Wolverhampton City Council election
Wolverhampton City Council elections were held on 2 May 2002.


2002 Wolverhampton City Council election
The Labour Party kept overall control of the Council following the election.


2002 Women's Australian Hockey League
The 2002 Women's Australian Hockey League was the 10th edition women's field hockey tournament. The tournament was held in various cities across Australia, and was contested from 2 March through to 14 April 2003.


2002 Women's Australian Hockey League
NSWIS Arrows won the tournament for the seventh time after defeating QLD Scorchers 4–2 in the final. Canberra Strikers finished in third place after defeating Adelaide Suns 3–2 in the third and fourth place playoff.


2002 Women's Australian Hockey League, Competition format
The 2002 Women's Australian Hockey League consisted of a single round robin format, followed by classification matches.


2002 Women's Australian Hockey League, Competition format
Teams from all 8 states and territories competed against one another throughout the pool stage. At the conclusion of the pool stage, the top four ranked teams progressed to the semi-finals, while the bottom four teams continued to the classification stage.


2002 Women's Australian Hockey League, Competition format
The first four rounds of the pool stage comprised two-legged fixtures between states. As a result, matches in rounds five to seven of the pool stage were worth double points, due to the single-leg format.


2002 Women's Australian Hockey League, Competition format, Point allocation
Every match in the 2003 AHL needed an outright result. In the event of a draw, golden goal extra time was played out, and if the result was still a draw a penalty shoot-out was contested, with the winner receiving a bonus point.


2002 Women's British Open
The 2002 Women's British Open was held 8–11 August at the Ailsa Course at Turnberry Golf Club in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It was the 26th edition of the Women's British Open, and the second as a major championship on the LPGA Tour. ESPN, ABC Sports and BBC Sport televised the event in the United States and United Kingdom.


2002 Women's British Open
Karrie Webb won the sixth of her seven major titles, two strokes ahead of runners-up Michelle Ellis and Paula Martí. Three strokes back after 54 holes, Webb shot a final round 66 (−6) to capture her fifth different major for a career "Super Slam." It was her third victory at the Women's British Open, with previous titles in 1995 and 1997.


2002 Women's British Open
Defending champion Se-Ri Pak finished six strokes back, in a tie for eleventh place.


2002 Women's British Open Squash Championship
The 2002 Women's British Open Squash Championships was held at the Lambs Squash Club, London (qualifying) and the National Squash Centre in Manchester from 8–15 April 2002. The event was won by Sarah Fitzgerald who defeated Tania Bailey in the final.


2002 Women's County Championship
The 2002 Women's County One-Day Championship was the 6th cricket Women's County Championship season. It took place in July and saw 21 county teams compete in a series of divisions. Yorkshire Women won the County Championship as winners of the top division, achieving their fifth Championship title in six seasons.


2002 Women's County Championship, Competition format
Teams played matches within a series of divisions with the winners of the top division being crowned County Champions. Matches were played using a one day format with 50 overs per side.


2002 Women's County Championship, Competition format
The championship works on a points system with positions within the divisions being based on the total points. Points were awarded as follows:


2002 Women's County Championship, Competition format
Win: 12 points. Tie:  6 points. Loss : Bonus points. No Result: 11 points. Abandoned: 11 points.


2002 Women's County Championship, Competition format
Up to five batting and five bowling points per side were also available.


2002 Women's County Championship, Teams
The 2002 Championship consisted of three divisions of six teams apiece, with teams playing each other once. The Emerging Counties competition was also competed in 2002: a tier below the County Championship, consisting of three teams, playing each other once.


2002 Women's Hockey Champions Challenge
The 2002 Women's Hockey Champions Challenge was the inaugural edition of the field hockey championship for women. It was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from February 9–17, 2002.


2002 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy
The 2002 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy was the 10th edition of the Hockey Champions Trophy for women. It was held from 24 August to 1 September 2002 in Macau, China, being this the first time that the annual six-nation tournament was staged in that country.


2002 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy
China won the tournament for the first time after defeating Argentina 3–1 in the final on penalty strokes after a 2–2 draw.


2002 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy, Teams
The participating teams were determined by International Hockey Federation (FIH):


2002 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy, Umpires
Below are the 9 umpires appointed by the International Hockey Federation:


2002 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy, Statistics, Goalscorers
There were 49 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 2.72 goals per match.


2002 Women's Hockey International Challenge
The 2002 Women's Hockey International Challenge was a women's field hockey tournament, consisting of a series of test matches. It was held in Perth and Sydney, from 13 to 23 June 2002.


2002 Women's Hockey International Challenge
South Korea won the tournament after defeating Australia 1–0 in the final. Japan finished in third place after defeating the Australian Institute of Sport 3–1 in the third place playoff.


2002 Women's Hockey International Challenge, Competition format
The tournament featured the national teams of Australia, Japan and South Korea, as well as a team from the Australian Institute of Sport. The teams competed in a double round-robin format, with each team playing each other twice. Three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss.


2002 Women's Hockey International Challenge, Statistics, Final standings
As per statistical convention in field hockey, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.


2002 Women's Hockey International Challenge, Statistics, Goalscorers
There were 40 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 2.86 goals per match.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup
The 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup was the 10th edition of the Women's Hockey World Cup field hockey tournament. It was held from 24 November to 8 December 2002 in Perth, Western Australia.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup
Argentina won the tournament for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 4–3 in the final on penalty strokes after a 1–1 draw. China won the third place match by defeating defending champions Australia 2–0 to claim their first ever World Cup medal.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup
For this tournament, the participating nations were increased from the standard 12 (as in the 6 previous editions) to 16.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, Qualification
Each of the continental champions from five federations and the host nation received an automatic berth. The European federation received one extra quota based upon the FIH World Rankings. Spain and China qualified as 4th and 5th team in final ranking at the 2000 Summer Olympics, completing the final line-up alongside the six nations from the Qualifier.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, Qualification
After the United States could not attend the Qualifying Tournament due to the disruption of airline schedules after the September 11 attacks, the FIH organized a series of test-matches between that team and India (Seventh placed team in Qualifying Tournament) to ensure they had a chance to participate at the World Cup. The winner of the test-match series would qualify.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, Umpires
Below are the 18 umpires appointed by the International Hockey Federation:


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, Statistics, Final standings
As per statistical convention in field hockey, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, Statistics, Goalscorers
There were 247 goals scored in 72 matches, for an average of 3.43 goals per match.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifying Playoff
The 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifying Playoff was an international hockey competition contested by India and the United States. The tournament was held in Cannock from 22 to 25 June 2002.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifying Playoff
The United States won the tournament, with one win and two draws, qualifying for the 2002 FIH World Cup.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifying Playoff, History
In September 2001, the United States had qualified to compete in the Intercontinental Cup in Abbeville and Amiens. Following the September 11 attacks however, the team were forced to withdraw due to the disruption of airline schedules. Subsequently, the FIH announced that the seventh placed team at the Intercontinental Cup would face the United States in a qualifying playoff.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifying Playoff, History
India qualified for the playoff series as seventh placed team at the Intercontinental Cup, following Lithuania's withdrawal.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifying Playoff, Statistics, Goalscorers
There were 8 goals scored in 3 matches, for an average of 2.67 goals per match.


2002 Women's Hockey World Cup squads
This article lists the confirmed squads for the 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup tournament held in Perth, Australia, between November 24 and December 8, 2002.


2002 Women's Junior European Volleyball Championship
The 2002 Women's Junior European Volleyball Championship was the 18th edition of the competition, with the main phase (contested between 12 teams) held in Croatia from 17 to 25 August 2002.


2002 Women's National Invitation Tournament
The 2002 Women's National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2002 Women's NCAA Tournament. It was the fifth edition of the postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament.


2002 Women's National Invitation Tournament
The final four of the tournament paired Houston against Virginia Tech and Michigan State against Oregon. Houston upended Virginia Tech 77–72, while Oregon beat Michigan State 65–54.


2002 Women's National Invitation Tournament
The final pitted Houston and Oregon against each other. In a close game, Oregon pulled out the victory for their first WNIT Championship, 54–52. Oregon had previously won the NWIT title in 1989.


2002 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup
The 2002 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup was the first edition of the annual Women's Volleyball Tournament, played by seven countries from Wednesday June 26 to Sunday June 30, 2002 in Tijuana, Mexico. The intercontinental event served as a qualifier for the 2003 FIVB World Grand Prix.


2002 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup Squads
This article shows all participating team squads at the 2002 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup, held from June 26–30, 2002 in Tijuana, Mexico.


2002 Women's Pro Softball League season
The 2002 Women's Pro Softball League season was a year after the WPSL suspended play in 2001 and before it rebranded, toured, and resumed competitive play as National Pro Fastpitch in 2003 and 2004. From 1997 to 2002, the league operated under the names Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL).


2002 Women's Pro Softball League season
In December 2001 WPSL announced that Commissioner/CEO John D. Carroll was stepping down to be replaced by Richard A. Levine as the WPSL President and CEO. Levine had been a WPSL executive vice president and had experience marketing the 1994 FIFA World Cup and as the first general manager of MLS' Colorado Rapids.


2002 Women's Pro Softball League season
Initially, WPSL intended to reorganize the league's ownership structure and resume play in 2003 with 6 to 10 teams. By August 2002, tryouts for the new teams, originally planned for December 2002, were postponed to December 2003. WPSL announced a 2003 Fastpitch Festival Tour as a marketing and promotional tool to bring exposure and local support to the league in advance of the 2004 relaunch.


2002 Women's Pro Softball League season
The only games played by WPSL in 2003 were a double header, as part of the 2002 National Softball Association (NSA) Fastpitch World Series activities, featuring WPSL All-Stars playing Tennessee All-Stars on July 20 at Jim Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, TN. The WPSL All-Stars won both games by scores of 13-1 and 7-1.


2002 Women's Pro Softball League season
On November 21, WPSL announced its new name:  National Pro Fastpitch (NPF).


2002 Women's Pro Softball League season, Roster
The roster of the 2002 WPSL All-Star softball team is listed below:


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup
The 2002 Women's Rugby World Cup was the second World Cup fully sanctioned by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB). The tournament was held in Barcelona, Spain. The format was the same as the previous tournament and again 16 nations competed.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup
For the first time a pre-tournament qualification match took place to decide Asia's second representative but other than that all competitors took part by invitation. 14 of the 16 teams taking part were the same as in 1998 but two lowest ranked European teams (Sweden and Russia) were replaced by teams from Asia (Japan) and Oceania (Samoa).


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup, Competition format
The format was the same as the previous tournament and again 16 nations competed. The teams were divided into four pools of four teams each, according to each team's seeding.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup, Competition format
For the first set of matches the highest seeded team played the lowest seeded team while the two mid-seeded teams played each other. After the first round of matches the positions in each pool were recalculated with the winners of the first matches in first and second places, and the losers in third and fourth places. In the second set of matches, the top two teams and the bottom two teams from each pool played each other. The final pool standings were calculated from the results of these matches to give the final four positions in each pool.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup, Competition format
The four top teams in each of the pools went forward to contest the World Cup title. The second placed teams from each pool play for 5th position (the Plate), the third place teams for 9th (the Bowl), and the fourth placed teams for 13th (the Shield). The four teams in each of these groups are reseeded to decide who plays who at this stage of the tournament.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup, Competition format
The two winning teams from each of these 'semi-finals' then faced each other in the 'final', whilst the losing teams played each other.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup, World Cup Tournament
Although not strictly speaking a knock-out as – in theory – a team losing a game on Day 1 could still qualify dependent on results on Day 2, in practice this was a complex tournament that is best understood by means of the following graphics. Note that this should not be taken to imply that the draw for any round of games was predetermined – each successive round was drawn using seedings and rankings based on previous matches:


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup, World Cup Tournament, Ranking matches 13–16
Teams defeated in the first round of the ranking matches for 9–16


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads
This article lists the official squads for the 2002 Women's Rugby World Cup in Barcelona, Spain.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Australia
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Canada
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, England
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, France
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Germany
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Ireland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Italy
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Japan
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Kazakhstan
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Netherlands
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, New Zealand
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Samoa
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Scotland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Spain
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, United States
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, Wales
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2002 Women's Six Nations Championship
The 2002 Women's Six Nations Championship was the first series of the rugby union Women's Six Nations Championship and was won by France, who achieved the Grand Slam.


2002 Women's Softball World Championship
The 2002 ISF Women's World Championship for softball was held July 26-August 4, 2002 in Saskatoon, Canada. The United States, which went undefeated for the tournament, won a fifth straight world championship with a 1-0 victory over Japan. The first four teams qualified for the 2004 Olympics.


2002 Women's Tri-Series
The 2002 Women's Tri-Series was a Women's One Day International (WODI) cricket tournament that was held in England in July 2002. It was a tri-nation series between England, India and New Zealand. It was part of India's tour of England and Ireland, and followed New Zealand's tour of Ireland and the Netherlands.


2002 Women's Tri-Series
New Zealand progressed to the final after winning the group with three wins from four matches, joined by England, who finished second. The final was won by New Zealand by 63 runs, therefore winning the tournament.


2002 Women's U.S. Cup
The eighth Women's U.S. Cup tournament held in 2002, were joined by four teams: Australia, Italy, Russia and USA. This was the last Women's U.S. Cup.


2002 Women's United Soccer Association season
The 2002 Women's United Soccer Association season was the second season for WUSA, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on April 13 and ended on August 11. The playoffs began on August 17, with the championship match between played on August 24 between the Carolina Courage and the Washington Freedom.


2002 Women's United Soccer Association season, Changes from 2001
Prior to the season the Bay Area CyberRays, the champions in the previous season, changed their name to the San Jose CyberRays


2002 Women's United Soccer Association season, Changes from 2001
The WUSA All-Star game was played for the first time after the completion of the 2002 season, with the South squad defeating the North 6-1 in front of 14,208 spectators at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon. Rookie Abby Wambach of the Washington Freedom was awarded the game MVP after scoring twice.


2002 Women's World Amateur Boxing Championships
The 2002 Women's World Amateur Boxing Championships was an international women's boxing competition hosted by Turkey from October 21 to 27 2002 in Antalya. It was the 2nd championship, which debuted 2001 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States.


2002 Women's World Open Squash Championship
The 2002 Women's World Open Squash Championship was the women's edition of the 2002 World Open, which serves as the individual world championship for squash players. The event took place in Doha in Qatar from 26 October until 2 November 2002. Sarah Fitzgerald won a record fifth World Open title, defeating Natalie Pohrer in the final.


2002 Women's World Open Squash Championship, Draw and results, Notes
Natalie Pohrer was formerly Natalie Grainger. Annelize Naudé switched nationality from South Africa to the Netherlands.


2002 Women's World Team Squash Championships
The 2002 Women's McWil CourtwallWorld Team Squash Championships were held in Odense, Denmark and took place from October 13 until October 20, 2002.


2002 Worcester City Council election
The 2002 Worcester City Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Worcester District Council in Worcestershire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.


2002 Worcester City Council election, Campaign
Before the election no party had a majority, but the Conservatives provided the leader of the council after gaining 5 seats in the 2000 election. Both the Conservatives and Labour had 15 seats, along with 5 independents and 1 Liberal Democrat. The election saw 12 seats being contested with Labour defending 7, the Conservatives 3 and the Liberal Democrats and independents 1 each. Labour only contested 11 of the seats after their candidate in Claines ward was dropped by the party over a letter he wrote to the local paper.


2002 Worcester City Council election, Election result
The results saw Worcester remain a hung council but with the Conservatives becoming clearly the largest party. They gained 3 seats from Labour in All Saints, St Clement and St Martin wards.


2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships
The 2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands, on 15, 16 and 17 March 2002.


2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships
The German Anni Friesinger and the Dutch Jochem Uytdehaage became the world champions.


2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships, Men championships
NQ = Not qualified for the 10000 m (only the best 12 are qualified)DQ = disqualified


2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships, Women championships, Allround results
NQ = Not qualified for the 5000 m (only the best 12 are qualified)DQ = disqualified


2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships, Rules
All 24 participating skaters are allowed to skate the first three distances; 12 skaters may take part on the fourth distance. These 12 skaters are determined by taking the standings on the longest of the first three distances, as well as the samalog standings after three distances, and comparing these lists as follows:


2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 36th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2002 at Főnix Hall.


2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The team and all-around events were not contested at the 2002 Worlds. The format was similar to that of the 1992 Worlds, with medals being awarded for the individual WAG and MAG apparatus. There were three rounds of competition: the preliminary round open to everyone; the semi-finals open to the top sixteen qualifiers; and the finals for the top eight gymnasts.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests
During the World Bank Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics in Oslo, Norway in 2002 large globalization-critical protests were held. A coalition of many organizations organized an alternative conference and a demonstration with more than 10 000 participants, thus making it the largest mass mobilisation in Norway in recent history. Before the protests, there was much concern about violence and riots, but the actual protest was almost entirely peaceful with a few minor incidents.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, The conference
The World Bank has held its Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) since 1988. The June 24–26, 2002 conference focused on poverty and on implementing the commitments made of the Monterrey Consensus from March the same year. The conference was held in the hills above Oslo, in a hotel at Holmenkollen. It was originally planned to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, but was moved to Oslo so as not to interfere with the 2002 Swedish general election.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Purpose and organization of the protests
The protests were organized by Oslo 2002, an umbrella organization for about 50 participating organizations including labor unions, political parties, environmental organizations, church organizations and ATTAC from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. While each participant had its own reasons, here were the Oslo 2002 network mottos:


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Purpose and organization of the protests
The network claimed that the World Bank is an undemocratic institution used by rich nations to control poor countries. Einar Braathen and Reidun Heiene of ATTAC Norway and the Oslo 2002 network also criticized the bank for believing too much in market-based solutions.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Prelude
In the weeks leading up to the conference and protests there was much concern about possible violence. The protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001 were marred with vandalism and violent clashes between police and masked protesters. The previous year's World Bank conference in Barcelona had to be cancelled and held online instead.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Prelude
Many protesters were expected from other countries, especially neighboring Sweden and Denmark, but also some other parts of Europe. Extra border patrols were put in place between Sweden and Norway, a border that is normally uncontrolled. There were lists of at least 500 persons who would not be allowed to enter the country. An 18-year-old Swedish man was arrested in Oslo and later deported to Sweden. Another nine were apprehended at the Svinesund border crossing, but later released. A bus with 27 Danish citizens was stopped and their passports were copied by the police. Representatives for the protest organizers said the police should not arrest people who had committed no crime using anti-terrorist laws because it would label all protesters as criminals.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Prelude
Some downtown merchants were afraid of vandalism. Vehicles were not allowed to stop in downtown Oslo for five days, buses and trains were stopped during the march and garbage cans were removed from the streets.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Prelude
900 Norwegian police officers trained before the conference at a temporary training ground on the closed Fornebu airport. 20 courtrooms with judges were kept ready to handle urgent cases. A special holding facility was also constructed. The police primarily feared that unofficial protests after the large march would become violent, especially the anarchist Blitz movement. Another worry was provocation from counter-demonstrations by neo-nazi and extreme right-wing groups.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Prelude
The organizers, Oslo 2002, said they did not expect violence and they have been assured by the police there would be no provocations. Masks were not allowed in the demonstration.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Protest march
The protest march on June 24 started at 18.30 from Oslo Central Station and proceeded around central Oslo. Over 10,000 people participated in the march that was described by news writers as peaceful, colorful and carnival-like. At 19.45 the first marchers came back to Jernbanetorget along Karl Johans Street. On the square there were speeches on the theme "Vår verden er ikke til salgs - stopp Verdensbanken" (Our world is not for sale - stop the World Bank).


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Protest march
The police kept a low profile but waited nearby. After the demonstration reached the end, at least ten stones were thrown towards a McDonald's restaurant, but without consequence. The throwers were soon stopped by older participants.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Protest march
Later in the evening was an unorganized after party in a central city park, which was also peaceful except for a quarrel between youths, apparently over a personal conflict rather than for political reasons.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Alternative conference
An alternative conference called Open Forum (Åpent Forum) was held on Sunday 23 June. It focused on the negative effects of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The conference was opened by Kenneth Kaunda, former president of Zambia. He said the World Bank's move away from structural adjustment programmes toward poverty reduction represents little more than window dressing and called for "a second liberation from global financial strangulation of mankind spearheaded by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation."


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Alternative conference
The Open Forum aimed to share experiences by various social organizations, national and international NGOs, Jubilee South, the Norwegian Cancel the Debt Coalition (SLUG), ATTAC; peace- and human rights organisations, anti-globalisation initiatives and World Bank critics like SAPRIN. They criticized the World Bank for being undemocratic and becoming too powerful, at the cost of the United Nations. According to the organizers, the fundamentally undemocratic development hurt the poorest people in the world. They refuted the banks claims of reform saying it did not learn from its mistakes.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Alternative conference
Attac also organized a debate evening at University of Oslo where some World Bank representatives and critics met and discussed.


2002 World Bank Oslo protests, Aftermath
A police representative was happy that the protest was calm and that everybody could enjoy the nice summer day in Oslo and protest at the same time. Gustav Fridolin of the Swedish Green Party who participated in the protest commented that the Norwegian police had learned from the mistakes of the Swedish police in Gothenburg the year before. In his closing speech of the ABCDE conference David Hulme from Manchester University called (somewhat jokingly) for a "strategy for reduced arrogance". Several speakers had called for a reform of the World Bank where the fight against world poverty is taken seriously.


2002 World Championship in Mahjong
The 2002 World Championship in Mahjong was held at the Hotel Grand Place in Tokyo, Japan from October 23 to 27 in 2002. The title for this competition was "The Festival for Culture and Sport in Mah Jong".


2002 World Championship in Mahjong
The competition ran under corporation of Ningbo City Mahjong Sport Association and Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee (JMOC). JMOC was formed with 4 Japanese organizations including Japan Mahjong Federation, All-Japan Mahjong Society, Japan Health Mahjong Association, Mahjong Museum.


2002 World Championship in Mahjong, Competition
This championship is not certified as the official first worldwide championship in Mah jong because it had been held before World Mahjong Organization was formed in 2006.


2002 World Championship in Mahjong, Competition
Although it was offered from China at first and it was going to be held in Ningbo which is known as the origin of Mah jong, the location was moved to Japan because a large event was going to be held there.


2002 World Championship in Mahjong, Competition
For this reason, the competition was held at the Hotel Grand Palace in Iidabashi, Tokyo. 100 competitors with 25 teams from 8 nations: China, Japan, USA, Taiwan, Russia, Sweden, Netherlands took part in this competition. JMOC held primarily tournaments in Tokyo and Osaka.


2002 World Championship in Mahjong, Participating countries
100 competitors with 25 teams from 8 countries participated. Although Shinnicni Tokuda who did not apply for this competition and he was Japanese, he played as Kenneth Tokuda for USA team because a vacancy occurred.


2002 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering
The 2002 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering (French: Championnats du Monde de Ski de Montagne 2002) was the first World Championship of Ski Mountaineering sanctioned by the International Council for Ski Mountaineering Competitions (ISMC), held at Serre Chevalier in the former French province Dauphiné from January 24 to January 27, 2002. In due to the heavy snowfall all events were postponed one day


2002 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering
The event was supported by the Fédération française de la montagne et de l’escalade (FFME). The 230 participants were from 22 nations and from three continents. Compared to the 1975  Trofeo Mezzalama, which was also held as "World Championship of Ski Mountaineering" with the classes "Civilians", "Soldiers" and "Mountain guides", the ICSM competition was only for members of the civilian national squads. Participants from countries without a squad could register with the help of the national mountain organizations.


2002 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering, Equipment
The start line scene set the stage, with all the techno-light skis of the Europeans


2002 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering, Equipment
contrasted with a pair of ‘fat’ skis and then a pair of ‘tele’ skis representing TeamCanada. Our race suits were Gore-Tex, not Lycra, and we had no logos. By thegraciousness of some other countries being slower than us, we did not place last. Thebest line we heard was from the Polish team, whom we passed on the downhill at highspeed saying, “You guys can sure ski down hill fast.” Which meant that we were very


2002 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering, Equipment
The weight of the ultra-light skis of the European top teams was only about including binding. These teams also had the mentioned race suits as well as long and light Nordic skiing poles.


2002 World Club Challenge
The 2002 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 1 February 2002, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Newcastle Knights.


2002 World Club Challenge, Background, Bradford Bulls
The 2001 Super League Grand Final was held on Saturday 13 October 2001, at Old Trafford, Manchester, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors.


2002 World Club Challenge, Background, Newcastle Knights
The 2001 NRL grand final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2001 NRL season. It was contested by the Newcastle Knights (who had finished the regular season in 3rd place), and the Parramatta Eels (who had finished the regular season in 1st place), after both sides eliminated the rest of the top eight during the finals. The attendance of 90,414 was the third highest ever seen at a rugby league match in Australia.


2002 World Darts Trophy
The 2002 World Darts Trophy was the first edition of the World Darts Trophy, a professional darts tournament held at the De Vechtsebanen in Utrecht, the Netherlands, run by the British Darts Organisation and the World Darts Federation.


2002 World Darts Trophy
The final of the first men's event was between Tony David and Tony O'Shea, with Tony David beating Tony O'Shea in straight sets, 6–0. The BDO World Champion Mervyn King was eliminated in the second round also in straight sets by Tony David. In the final of the first women's event, Mieke de Boer defeated Crissy Howat, 3–1 in sets. Trina Gulliver, the BDO World Champion, was earlier beaten in the women's event by Anne Kirk in the quarter finals.


2002 World Fencing Championships
The 2002 World Fencing Championships were held in Lisbon, Portugal. The event took place from August 18 to August 23, 2002.


2002 World Fencing Championships, Overview
Lisbon obtained the right to organize the championships over Bari, Italy. The event was first to take place from August 12 to August 18, but was reported a week later at the request of the main sponsor and of the television stations, which feared poor audience figures.


2002 World Fencing Championships, Overview
84 countries–a record at the time–took part in the championships. The competition saw the clear domination of Russia, who came away with nine medals, including six golds. Stanislav Pozdniakov and Svetlana Boyko obtained a double gold haul respectively in men's sabre and women's foil. Boiko shared the podium with teammate Yekaterina Yusheva, who in quarter-finals had put an end to Valentina Vezzali's streak of gold medals in 1999, 2000, and 2001.


2002 World Fencing Championships, Overview
Pavel Kolobkov earned a gold medal in men's épée, eight years after his last major title and with a very limited preparation: he was then working as a fencing coach in Boston and rarely took part in Fencing World Cup events. Russia also prevailed in women's team sabre, overcoming Hungary in the final. Ironically, these two countries were the most adamant against the introduction of women's sabre at the Olympics.


2002 World Fencing Championships, Overview
The Lisbon championships proved however a disappointment for France, whose medals tally dropped from ten at Nîmes 2001 to five. The French preparation for the championships had been affected by a personal conflict between Philippe Omnès, director of fencing of the French federation, and Christian Bauer, national coach for sabre, as well as the positive drugs test of Laura Flessel-Colovic a few days before the competition. France boasted only one gold medal in men's team épée, won against Russia.


2002 World Fencing Championships, Overview
The remaining medals were relatively spread out between other nations. Romania claimed three bronze medals: one in women's team foil, Laura Badea's first medal after her return from maternity leave, one in men's sabre for Olympic champion Mihai Covaliu and one in women's épée for 17-year-old Ana Maria Brânză. The main surprise however was the growing power of Asian fencing: Korea's Hyun Hee defeated successively favourites Laura Flessel and Imke Duplitzer to earn the gold in women's épée, while China's Tan Xue claimed the title after seeing of previous incumbents Anne-Lise Touya and Elena Jemayeva.


2002 World Field Archery Championships
The 2002 World Field Archery Championships were held in Canberra, Australia.


2002 World Figure Skating Championships
The 2002 World Figure Skating Championships were held at the M-Wave Arena in Nagano, Japan from March 16 to 24, sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.


2002 World Figure Skating Championships, Competition notes
It was the first ISU competition after the much publicized 2002 Olympic judging controversy. Neither pairs gold medalists chose to attend. Both went pro soon after.


2002 World Figure Skating Championships, Competition notes
2002 Worlds was the first time Israel had ever won a medal at Worlds.


2002 World Figure Skating Championships, Competition notes
Due to the large number of participants, the men's and ladies' qualifying groups were split into groups A and B.


2002 World Figure Skating Championships, Competition notes
The first compulsory dance was the Golden Waltz. The second was the Quickstep.


2002 World Grand Prix (darts)
The 2002 Paddy Power World Grand Prix was the fifth staging of the World Grand Prix darts tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was held at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland, between 22–27 October 2002.


2002 World Grand Prix (darts)
Defending champion Alan Warriner lost in the first round to Ritchie Buckle. Phil Taylor defeated John Part 7–3 in the final to win his fourth Grand Prix title.


2002 World Indoor Bowls Championship
The 2002 Potters Holidays World Indoor Bowls Championship  was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 08-26 January 2002. In the singles Tony Allcock completed a shock victory. Unseeded and unfancied the Englishman’s win equalled the record of three title wins by David Bryant and Richard Corsie. In the pairs Hugh Duff & Paul Foster defeated Greg Harlow & Graham Robertson in the final.


2002 World Indoor Bowls Championship
The women's singles competition took place in Belfast from April 18–20. The title was won by Carol Ashby.


2002 World Indoor Bowls Championship, Notes
A new scoring format was introduced; a game would now consist of two sets of nine ends. If the two sets resulted in draw (one set each) then a deciding set of just three ends would be played to determine the winner.


2002 World Interuniversity Games
The 2002 World Interuniversity Games were the fourth edition of the Games (organised by IFIUS), and were held in Barcelona, Spain.


2002 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship
The 2002 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship was held at Tijuca Tênis Clube, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


2002 World Junior Baseball Championship
The 2002 World Junior AAA Championship was held in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Games were held at Amedée Roy Stadium in Sherbrooke and Julien Morin Stadium in Coaticook.


2002 World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships
The 2002 ICF World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships were the 9th edition of the ICF World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships. The event took place in Nowy Sącz, Poland from 9 to 11 August 2002 under the auspices of the International Canoe Federation (ICF).


2002 World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships
Team Czech Republic was stripped of the bronze medal that they had won in the C2 team event due to a positive doping test of one its members. Slovakia was promoted to third place in the amended results.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Kingston, Jamaica from July 16 to July 21, 2002.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics, Participation
According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1069 athletes from 159 countries participated in the event. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres
The men's 10,000 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at the National Stadium in Independence Park, on 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 14 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres walk
The men's 10,000 metres walk event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 17 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres walk, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 30 athletes from 21 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 100 metres
The men's 100 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 100 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 69 athletes from 53 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 110 metres hurdles
The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19, 20 and 21 July. 106.7cm (3'6) (senior implement) hurdles were used.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 110 metres hurdles, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 29 athletes from 23 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 1500 metres
The men's 1500 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 1500 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 32 athletes from 26 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 200 metres
The men's 200 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 200 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 47 athletes from 39 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase
The men's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 18 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 29 athletes from 23 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay
The men's 4x100 metres relay event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 20 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 57 athletes from 14 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
The men's 4x400 metres relay event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 20 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 63 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres
The men's 400 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16, 17 and 18 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 40 athletes from 31 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres hurdles
The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres hurdles, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 36 athletes from 27 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 5000 metres
The men's 5000 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 5000 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 17 athletes from 12 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres
The men's 800 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 34 athletes from 26 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's decathlon
The men's decathlon event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 17 July. Junior implements (valid until 2005) were used, i.e. 106.7cm (3'6) (senior implement) hurdles, as well as 6kg shot and 1.75kg discus.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's decathlon, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw
The men's discus throw event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 17 and 18 July. A 1.75 kg (junior implement) discus was used.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 34 athletes from 28 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's hammer throw
The men's hammer throw event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 17 July. A 6 kg (junior implement) hammer was used.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's hammer throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 18 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's high jump
The men's high jump event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 17 and 18 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's high jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 37 athletes from 25 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's javelin throw
The men's javelin throw event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's javelin throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 29 athletes from 25 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's long jump
The men's long jump event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 17 and 18 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's long jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 33 athletes from 26 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's pole vault
The men's pole vault event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's pole vault, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 22 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's shot put
The men's shot put event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 July. A 6kg (junior implement) shot was used.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's shot put, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 24 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's triple jump
The men's triple jump event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's triple jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 23 athletes from 20 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 10,000 metres walk
The women's 10,000 metres walk event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 18 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 10,000 metres walk, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 18 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres
The women's 100 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 27 athletes from 21 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres hurdles
The women's 100 metres hurdles event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres hurdles, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 19 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 1500 metres
The women's 1500 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 1500 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 21 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres
The women's 200 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 35 athletes from 26 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 3000 metres
The women's 3000 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 3000 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay
The women's 4x100 metres relay event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 20 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 51 athletes from 12 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay
The women's 4x400 metres relay event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 20 and 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 40 athletes from 9 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres
The women's 400 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16, 17 and 18 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 27 athletes from 18 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles
The women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 17 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 19 athletes from 12 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 5000 metres
The women's 5000 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 21 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 5000 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 22 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres
The women's 800 metres event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 17 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 19 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's discus throw
The women's discus throw event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's discus throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 16 athletes from 13 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's hammer throw
The women's hammer throw event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's hammer throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 31 athletes from 24 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's heptathlon
The women's heptathlon event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's heptathlon, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 16 athletes from 11 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump
The women's high jump event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 13 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's javelin throw
The women's javelin throw event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's javelin throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 20 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's long jump
The women's long jump event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's long jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 25 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's pole vault
The women's pole vault event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 18 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's pole vault, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 23 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's shot put
The women's shot put event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's shot put, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 19 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's triple jump
The women's triple jump event at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at National Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's triple jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 21 athletes from 18 countries participated in the event.


2002 World Junior Curling Championships
The 2002 World Junior Curling Championships were held at the Kelowna Curling Club in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada March 23–31.


2002 World Junior Figure Skating Championships
The 2002 World Junior Figure Skating Championships was held from March 3 to 10 at the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre in Hamar, Norway. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Due to the large number of participants, the men's and ladies' qualifying groups were split into groups A and B. The first compulsory dance was the Viennese Waltz and the second was the Quickstep.


2002 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, Results, Men
Daisuke Takahashi was the first Japanese male skater to win the ISU World Junior Championships. CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


2002 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, Results, Men
Kevin van der Perren was the first Belgian skater ever to take a medal (silver) at an ISU World Junior Championships. CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 2002 IIHF World U20 Championship, commonly referred as the 2002 World Junior Hockey Championships (2002 WJHC), was the 26th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. The tournament was held in Pardubice and Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, from December 25, 2001 – January 4, 2002.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
Russia won the gold medal with a 5–4 come-from-behind victory over Canada in the championship game, while Finland won the bronze medal with a 5–1 victory over Switzerland.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Top Division, Relegation round
France was relegated to Division I for the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Division I
The following teams took part in the Division I tournament. This group played in Kapfenberg and Zeltweg, Austria between December 9 and December 15, 2001.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Division I, Final round
Germany was promoted to the Top Division for the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Due to a restructuring of the tournament, no team was relegated from Division I, which in the 2003 tournament consisted of 12 teams in 2 groups.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Division II
The following teams took part in the Division II tournament. This group played in Zagreb, Croatia between December 30, 2001 and January 3, 2002.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Division II, Final round, 1st place game
Japan,  Denmark,  Latvia, and  Croatia were promoted to Division I for the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Due to a restructuring of the tournament, no team was relegated from Division II, which in the 2003 tournament consisted of 12 teams in 2 groups.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Division III
The following teams took part in the Division III tournament. This group played in Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between January 5 and January 9, 2002.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Division III, Final round, 1st place game
Due to a restructuring of the tournament, all teams were promoted to Division II for the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, which consisted of 12 teams in 2 groups.


2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters
Below are the rosters for teams competing in the 2002 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.


2002 World Karate Championships
The 2002 World Karate Championships are the 16th edition of the World Karate Championships, and were held in Madrid, Spain from November 21 to November 24, 2002.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship
The 2002 World Lacrosse Championship were held between 7–15 July 2002. The event was the ninth international men's lacrosse championship, and took place in Perth, Western Australia under the auspices of the International Lacrosse Federation. This was the second time that the tournament was held in Perth, following the 1990 tournament. Fifteen teams competed in the event in three divisions.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship
The United States successfully defended their title for the sixth consecutive time, defeating Canada 18–15 in the final. Australia beat the Iroquois team 12–11 for third place.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship, Pool Play
For the pool play phase of the tournament, the teams were divided into three divisions – five in the top Blue Division, six in the Red Division, and four in the Green Division. The top three finishers in the Blue Division advanced directly to the semifinals, while the fourth place team played the winner of the Red Division for the final semifinal spot. Green Division participants were not eligible to win the championship.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship, Championship Round
Blue Division fourth-place finisher Iroquois Nationals and Red Division winner Japan played a 1-game playoff to determine who would be the fourth and final semifinalist in the championship bracket.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship, Championship Round
Tournament MVP Doug Shanahan dominated face-offs to give the USA a distinct advantage and an early lead. However, Canada came back to get to 7-6 on a Paul Gait goal in the second quarter and then finished strong before halftime to lead 9-7. The US team pulled ahead in the third quarter by three goals. Canada rallied again to tie the score before the US answered with three of their own to preserve a 18-15 victory.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship, Consolation Round, 9th-12th Place
Although Ireland won the Green Division, runner-up South Korea progressed to the 9th-12th place bracket because Ireland was not yet a member of the International Lacrosse Federation.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship, Awards
Best and Fairest Player: Doug Shanahan, United States. Best Goalkeeper: Trevor Tierney, United States. Best Defender: Ryan McClay, United States. Best Midfielder: Doug Shanahan, United States. Best Attackman: John Grant Jr., Canada.


2002 World Lacrosse Championship, Awards
All-World Team: John Grant Jr., A, Canada; Darren Lowe, A, United States; Neal Powless, A, Iroquois; Peter Inge, M, Australia; Gavin Prout, M, Canada; Doug Shanahan, M, United States; Ryan McClay, D, United States; Ryan Mollett, D, United States; Steve Toll, D, Canada; Trevor Tierney, G, United States.


2002 World Ladies Snooker Championship
The 2002 World Ladies Snooker Championship was a women's snooker tournament. It was the 2002 edition of the World Women's Snooker Championship, first held in 1976.


2002 World Ladies Snooker Championship
The tournament was won by Kelly Fisher, who retained the title by defeating Lisa Quick 4–1 in the final. This was Fisher's fourth world title. The rounds before the semi-final were played at Jesters snooker club, Swindon, and the semi-finals and final were played at the Crucible Theatre.


2002 World Masters Non-Stadia Athletics Championships
The sixth World Masters Non-Stadia Athletics Championships were held in Riccione, Italy, from May 24-26, 2002. The World Masters Athletics Championships serve the division of the sport of athletics for people over 35 years of age, referred to as masters athletics.


2002 World Matchplay
The 2002 Stan James World Matchplay was a professional darts tournament held from 28 July to 3 August 2002 at the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens of Blackpool. It was the ninth staging of the competition since the 1994 edition and the 18th of 35 Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments in the 2002 season. The tournament was broadcast on Sky Sports and was sponsored by the betting company Stan James.


2002 World Matchplay
The tournament's defending champion Phil Taylor defeated John Part by 18 legs to 16 in the final, winning his third consecutive World Matchplay title and his fifth overall since his first in the 1995 event. He defeated qualifier Shayne Burgess in round one, Kevin Painter in round two Chris Mason in the quarter-finals and John Lowe in the semi-finals en route to the final. Taylor made a nine-dart finish in the fifth leg of his quarter-final match against Mason, the first time the achievement had been broadcast live in the United Kingdom. Keith Deller achieved the competition's highest checkout, a 170, in his second-round match against Alan Warriner.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Background
Tommy Cox, the tournament director and co-founder of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), conceived the idea of staging a darts tournament in the North West England seaside resort of Blackpool in the early 1990s. The World Matchplay was first held in 1994 and is the second most prestigious competition in the PDC in terms of prize money behind the World Championship. The 2002 tournament was held between 28 July to 3 August in Blackpool, England, and was the 18th of 35 PDC-sanctioned events that year. It was the ninth edition of the tournament and featured a 32-player main draw that was played at the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Background
A total of 28 players automatically qualified for the main draw according to their final position from 1 to 28 in the PDC rankings with 16 seeds. The tournament's defending champion Phil Taylor was seeded first and Alan Warriner was the second seed. The remaining four places were decided by a two-stage play-off tournament contested by members of the Professional Dart Players Association at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales, on 20 July. Shayne Burgess, Mark Holden, Mark Walsh and Paul Whitworth were the four players who progressed from qualifying to the main draw.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Background
The maximum number of legs played in a match increased from 19 in the first round to 25 in the second and 31 and 33 in the quarter and semi-finals respectively, leading up to the final which was played as best-of-35 legs. Sponsored by the betting company Stan James, it had a total prize fund of £75,500, and the host broadcaster was Sky Sports.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
The draw for the first round of the championship was conducted on Sky Sports News by Cox and Sid Waddell on 19 June. The first round of the competition, in which 32 players participated, took place from 28 to 30 July. Steve Brown defeated the ninth seed Dennis Smith 10–7. Brown led 5–3 with a 137 checkout before Smith took the next two legs to tie at 5–5. Brown then reestablished a two-leg lead and won the match on the double 20 outer ring.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
Kevin Painter, the 16th seed, averaged 53.85 points per dart to win 10–4 over former world champion Dennis Priestley. Taylor achieved a three-dart average of 100.74 and a checkout of 161 in whitewashing qualifier Burgess 10–0; he attempted to complete a nine-dart finish in leg seven before he missed the triple 20 inner ring on his seventh throw.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
A 64 checkout gave Holden the opening leg of his match against the Las Vegas Desert Classic runner-up Ronnie Baxter, who won ten legs in a row to win by 10–1 with finishes of 121 and 70. Fourth seed Denis Ovens was untroubled in a game with Whitworth and made a checkout of 121 in leg five en route to a 10–4 win. 12th seed Jamie Harvey emerged a 10–5 winner over Andy Jenkins as both missed their targets.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
Harvey said afterwards he required a victory at the tournament due to him being drawn to play Taylor in the previous two years. John Lowe made a three-dart average of 90.93, a checkout ratio of 30.31 and a checkout of 114 to defeat Alex Roy 10–2. A 52 finish and a 89.60 three-dart average allowed Chris Mason to win 10–1 over Richie Burnett, the 2001 World Matchplay runner-up. Mason failed to achieve a nine-dart finish because he missed the triple 19 inner ring at his eighth throw. Second seed Warriner won 11–9 over Les Fitton. Both players took the game to 9–9 and Warriner won by two legs over Fitton on a tie-break.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
Number 20 seed Keith Deller, who had lost in the first round of the previous three World Matchplays, came from 4–1 and 6–3 behind the two-time tournament winner Rod Harrington for a 10–8 victory with finishes of 116, 32 and 76 after the latter had a series of bounce outs that affected his flow. Another tie-break was required in a match between Bob Anderson and seed eight Peter Manley in which the former won 18–16; both competitors compiled high scores with checkouts of 111 and 116.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
World number eight Colin Lloyd came from 4–7 behind Mick Manning to claim six legs in succession and win 10–7, saying afterwards, "I started thinking am I going to hit the double? And saying to myself 'keep going the way you are and the doubles will come'" Dave Askew won 10–4 over Peter Evison. Both players tied at 2–2 before Askew took a 4–3 lead. Askew won the following six legs and Evison the thirteenth. Askew took victory on the double eight outer ring and had an average finish of 93.29.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 1
John Part, the Ireland Open Class champion, had a three-dart average of 84.92 in whitewashing the error-prone Walsh 10–0. Part said he felt slightly awkward for Walsh not performing and that "it ended more or less like a practice match." Cliff Lazarenko averaged 98.67 in defeating Steve Beaton 10–8. The match saw Lazarenko lead 5–1 before Beaton responded to bring it to 8–9; the former finished on the double 16 outer ring to win. The final first round match was played between the world number six Roland Scholten and Paul Williams. Scholten compiled high scores as the game went to 4–4 and later 8–8 before winning two more legs for a 10–8 victory on the double 20 outer ring.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 2
The second round consisted of best-of-25 legs between 30 and 31 July. Taylor was the first player to progress to the quarter-finals with a 13–6 victory over Painter. He led Painter 3–2 and later 6–4. before checkouts of 68, 127 and 167 gave him the win; he missed compiling a 170 checkout. Mason won 13–6 over Brown; he had an average of 97 in the first six legs, which he won. Brown subsequently returned to contention before Mason won the match. The next second-round match saw Baxter beat Harvey 13–7.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 2
Baxter threw accurately enough to claim the opening three legs until Harvey mounted a short comeback. Harvey had a three-dart average of 85 before he was unable to complete a 140 checkout and Baxter returned to a three-leg lead at 7–3. Harvey took a further four legs in the match before Baxter claimed victory. Lowe beat Ovens 14–12. The game was closely contested until the 14th leg, when Ovens hit the double one ring to go 8–6 in front. It went to 10–11 and then 11–11 before Lowe took the win.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 2
Lloyd earned a 13–5 victory against Scholten. Both players shared the first two legs before Lloyd claimed seven sets in a row to lead Scholten 9–2. Scholten then lowered his deficit to 9–3 until Lloyd had finishes in the double five and fifteen outer rings to earn a spot in the quarter-final. Deller emerged from 5–2 behind Warriner to level the score at 6–6 and then 7–7.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Round 2
As Warriner drew clear, Deller made the tournament's highest checkout of 170 in the 18th leg and then finished in the double one, five and sixteen rings to win by 13–11; Deller's form allowed him to hit 13 out of 30 targets. Anderson defeated Askew 13–9 after he overcame a late match challenge from his opponent. He led 8–2 when Askew took 7 of the next 11 legs before Anderson won the match by hitting the double 20 outer ring in the 22nd leg. The last second-round match was contested by Part and Lazarenko. Both players shared the first 18 legs with neither taking a clear advantage. At 9–9, Part clinched the 19th leg and made a checkout of 117 to lead 11–9. He then won two more legs for a 13–11 victory.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
The four quarter-finals entailed best-of-31 legs on 1 August. Lloyd defeated Deller 16–6 in the first match. Level at 2–2 after checkouts of 138 and 60, Lloyd won two legs in a row before Deller took leg seven after Lloyd was unable to complete a checkout of 130. Lloyd then won four consecutive legs, and responded each time Deller won a leg to claim a 16–6 victory and a berth in the semi-final. Part beat Anderson 16–5 for the second semi-final spot. He won 11 legs in succession and 15 of the last 16 to set up a semi-final meeting with Lloyd.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
Taylor made the first nine-dart finish (two maximums and completing a 141 checkout by hitting the triple 20 and 19 inner rings and the double 12 outer ring) to be broadcast live in the United Kingdom in the fifth leg of his 16–7 victory over Mason and won £100,000 for doing so. He had a three-dart average of 112.17 with checkouts of 120, 126, 167, 87 and 106 for victory. Of the achievement, Taylor said: "I was a bit tearful at the end but I had to dig in....


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
Once I'd done the nine-darter it was a bit off-putting to then win the match. When everyone's waving betting slips at you, it takes you a few legs to think that this fella could knock me out of the competition if I'm not careful." Lowe took the last semi-final berth with a 16–13 win over Baxter. The players split the first two legs before Baxter won the third. Lowe then won three legs in a row until Baxter tied at 5–5. The score went to 8–7 and then 11–11 until Lowe claimed another three legs to be within two of victory. Baxter claimed two more legs until Lowe took two in succession to win.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
Both of the semi-finals were contested as best-of-33 legs on 2 August. Part was the first player to reach the final when he defeated Lloyd 17–12. Lloyd won the first two legs with a checkout of 76 and a finish on the double 14 outer ring. Part used Lloyd's inability to convert his throws to claim the next four legs. The game was closely contested with neither player going more than two legs ahead after 18 legs. After a short interval, Part moved into a 15–10 lead and won a 16th leg with a checkout of 122.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
Lloyd delayed victory by claiming the 27th leg and the 28th saw Part win the match by finishing on the double eight outer ring. Part said after the match that he had not produced his best performance of the competition, "I didn't have my best game on hand, but it was a great fight. Colin and I gave it our best."


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
The other semi-final was between Lowe and Taylor. The players split the opening two legs before Taylor won two in a row from checkouts of 106 and 64. Both players had an equal amount of competitiveness and came back several times during the match with checkouts over 100 until Taylor won 17–15 by completing a checkout on the double 16 outer ring in the 32nd leg. Taylor praised Lowe's play and commented on the final: "I can relax now and enjoy it. John's got to play well against me.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
Every time I've played him I've given him a good hiding but tomorrow's a different story. John wants to beat me badly and it's going to be a good final." Mel Webb of The Times wrote that the match had seen Taylor taken further than he had been in a major darts competition since his semi-final tie with Eric Bristow at the 1997 WDC World Darts Championship went to nine sets.


2002 World Matchplay, Tournament summary, Final
The final between Taylor and Part on 3 August was played to the best-of-35 legs. The pair shared the first two legs before Taylor took legs three and four and added the fifth after the two had missed chances to secure it earlier on. Part replied by compiling checkouts of 72 and 81 to remain in close contention, and took the lead by winning leg eleven. From the 12th to 18th legs, both players levelled the scoreline until Taylor ended the deadlock.