Fiji at the 2002 Winter Olympics first entered the Olympic competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The nation did not enter a Winter Olympic Games until Calgary in 1988. Fiji also participated in the 1994 Winter Olympics, making the Salt Lake City Games the nation's third Winter Olympics appearance. The 2002 Fijian delegation consisted of a single alpine skier, Laurence Thoms. He was also the Fijian flagbearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. , this was the most recent time Fiji has participated in a Winter Games. At a New Year's Eve party in 1998, a group of Fijians had discussed how
Winter Olympic Games before the opening ceremonies. Taiwan returned to Olympic competition at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo as Chinese Taipei. The country agreed to compete under a flag bearing the emblem of their National Olympic Committee and to play the anthem of their National Olympic Committee should one of their athletes win a gold medal. The agreement remains in place to this day. The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those ... which are practised on snow or ice." Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme; which include short track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle