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 the qualifying host countries are limited to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting the region or nation; this consequently rules out a large portion of the developing world. Finally, any prospective host city planning to bid for the Games is required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have on the region. For the 2022 Winter Games, IOC allowed a longer distance between the alpine events and other events. The Oslo bid had to