It was 16 days of skating scandals, hockey heroics, cool kids and freaky fashions. Here's a look at the good, the bad and the bizarre from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
American Boarders
The country that invented snowboarding schooled the rest of the world in Salt Lake City. Americans won five medals in snowboarding - including gold medals in the halfpipe from Kelly Clark and Ross Powers.
Canadian Hockey
Canada made up for a 50 year drought by winning the gold medal in women's and men's ice hockey. The Canadian girls beat the US 3-2 to revenge a loss in the gold medal game at the 1998 Olympics. The men's final featured two teams made up of NHL All-Stars. The Canadian lineup included Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and Paul Kariya. The American team featured such super snipers as Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Mike Modano. The Canadians won the game 5-2, causing wild celebrations across Canada. The last time Canada won a gold medal in ice hockey was at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.
Ghosts and Skeletons
Jimmy Shea used the death of his grandfather as inspiration and won gold in the men's skeleton race. Jimmy's grandfather, also named Jim, won two gold medals in speedskating in 1932 and died less than a month before the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City started. On his winning run, Jimmy carried the funeral card of his grandfather inside his helmet then raced to Olympic gold.
Kick-Butt Kids
Youth power came up big at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Sarah Hughes, age 16, won the gold medal in women's figure skating and made the world forget about Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya. In women's hockey, 15 year-old goalie Kim Martin led Sweden to the bronze medal by stopping 32 shots in a 2-1 win over Finland. Meanwhile, 18 year-old Danny Kass took the silver in the men's halfpipe.
Skating Scandal
Two gold medals were awarded in pairs figure skating after a judging scandal involving a judge from France. Canadian figure skaters, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, skated a nearly perfect routine but placed second to a Russian pair due to questionable judging. After a French judge admitted she had been pressured into voting for the Russians, Jamie and David were awarded a gold medal as well. This is the first time in Olympic history that there has been two golds, a bronze, but no silver medal in a competition. Jamie and David became instant celebrities and were chosen to be flag bearers for Canada during the closing ceremonies.
Freaky Fashions
The 2002 Winter Olympics brought out several freaky fashions from around the world - not including those shiny, skin-tight suits worn by lugers. Apolo Anton Ohno's scruff of facial hair on his chin and Finnish snowboarder, Heikki Sorsa's multi-colored mohawk were some of the standout fashion statements. But the biggest fashion items at the Games were the outfits designed for the Canadian and US Olympic teams by Roots. Click here to win some of that Olympic Roots gear for yourself.
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