Fiji at the 2002 Winter Olympics Fiji at the 2002 Winter Olympics Fiji sent a delegation to compete at the 2002 Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States from February 8–24, 2002. This was the nation's third appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of a single athlete, alpine skier Laurence Thoms. He competed in both the slalom, where he failed to complete his first run, and in the giant slalom, in which he finished 55th out of the 57 skiers who successfully completed both of their runs. Thoms gained media attention for representing a tropical nation at the Winter Olympics. Fiji
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