Venues of the 2002 Winter Olympics firework display. The Medals Plaza also hosted the Closing Ceremony for the 2002 Winter Paralympics on March 16, 2002. The 2002 Olympic Village was located east of downtown Salt Lake City, at Historic Fort Douglas, on the campus of the University of Utah. Fort Douglas, a U.S. Army base, had been established in 1862 but was closed in 1991; from the earliest stages of Olympic planning the fort was a possible location for the Olympic Village. Following the fort's closure the University of Utah acquired much of its property, and began planning to restore the historic buildings and build new
Winter Olympic Games the Summer and Winter Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years, the next Winter Olympics after 1992 was in 1994. The Winter Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as Alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme. Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it. Still others, such as