San Marino at the 2002 Winter Olympics San Marino at the 2002 Winter Olympics San Marino sent a delegation to compete at the 2002 Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States from 8–24 February 2002. This was the nation's sixth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of a single athlete, alpine skier Gian Matteo Giordani. In his race, the giant slalom, he finished in last place of those who finished the course at 57th. San Marino first entered Olympic competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The nation did not enter a Winter Olympic Games until Innsbruck in 1976. Excepting the
Ice hockey at the Olympic Games Ice hockey at the Olympic Games Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union