2002 Winter Olympics closing ceremony 2002 Winter Olympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics took place at Rice–Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, the United States, on 24 February 2002. The flag bearers of 78 National Olympic Committees entered Rice–Eccles Stadium informally in single file, ordered by the English alphabet. Behind them marched all the athletes, with no grouping by nationality. SLOC President Mitt Romney delivered a speech, thanking everyone. IOC President Jacques Rogge delivered a speech, awarding the Olympic Order in Gold to Romney and declared the Games closed. The Mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson handed the Olympic
Winter Olympic Games have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles. Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports. The