Speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's 5000 metres en route to finishing second, only started competing in long track skating a year before the Games, although she and her sisters had proven almost unbeatable in marathon skating, which is performed in groups. Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition. Speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's 5000 metres The Women's 5000 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Claudia Pechstein secures her third gold medal in the
Winter Olympic Games than 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games. Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events. The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds. Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze. For the first time, Canada won a gold medal at an Olympic Games