Venues of the 2002 Winter Olympics through broadcasts from the stadium. The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Paralympics was also held in the stadium on March 7, 2002. The Salt Lake Olympic Square was located in downtown Salt Lake City, and was a four-block area open only to pedestrians during the 2002 games. The Olympic Square was home to two other venues, the Olympic Medals Plaza and the Salt Lake Ice Center. It also included the Olympic Superstore, which sold officially licensed products. The square also housed the Sponsor Showcases and featured live music, food, drink, and other activities including the Olympic Celebration Series concerts.
Ice hockey at the Olympic Games included. The IIHF considers the 1920 tournament to be the first Ice Hockey World Championship. From then on, the two events occurred concurrently, and every Olympic tournament until 1968 is counted as the World Championship. The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes, so the players of the National Hockey League (NHL) and other professional leagues were not allowed to play. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Chapter 1, article 6, of the 2007 edition of the Olympic Charter defines winter sports as "sports which are practised on snow or ice". Ice hockey