Cyprus at the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1980. At the time of the Salt Lake City Olympics, no Cypriot athlete had ever won a medal. They would win their first medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. This was their seventh appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The 2002 Winter Olympics were held from 8–24 February 2002; a total of 2,399 athletes representing 77 National Olympic Committees took part. The only athlete sent by Cyprus to Salt Lake City was an alpine skier, Theodoros Christodoulou. He was the flag bearer for both the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. Theodoros Christodoulou was 24 years old at the
Winter Olympic Games alternating even-numbered years. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games and it was the second time the Games were held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts. The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding. Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was controversially won by Oksana Baiul who became Ukraine's first Olympic