Venues of the 1998 Winter Olympics the event entirely before a compromise was reached three months before the Olympics. M-Wave has hosted three World Speed Skating Championships since the Olympics while the Spiral has hosted a couple of World championships in bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton. Nagano first attempted to host the Winter Olympics in 1940, but lost out to Sapporo. Those Olympics were abandoned in 1937 when Japan invaded China for the second time, forcing Sapporo's withdrawal. The city tried again for the Winter Olympics in 1968 in 1961, but lost out in domestic voting to Sapporo who in turn lost out to Grenoble, France in
2002 Winter Olympics the last Olympics to be held in the United States until the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These were the first Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge. The opening ceremony was held on February 8, 2002, and sporting competitions were held up until the closing ceremony on February 24, 2002. Production for both ceremonies was designed by Seven Nielsen, and music for both ceremonies was directed by Mark Watters. Salt Lake City became the most populous area ever to have hosted the Winter Olympics, although the two subsequent host cities' populations were larger. Following a trend,