page_title: 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
section_title: The ceremony
hierarchical_section_title: 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony / The ceremony
caption_attribution_description: English: 020208-N-3995K-002 Salt Lake City, UT (Feb. 8, 2002) -- Members of the United States Olympic team, including Women's Bi-athlete Sgt. Kristiana Sabasteanski (2nd from right), hold the American flag that flew over the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The flag was carried into Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium during the playing of the national anthem at the Opening Ceremonies of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 1st Class Preston Keres. (RELEASED)
context_page_description: The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics took place at the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 8 February 2002. U.S. President George W. Bush opened the 2002 Winter Olympics, which took place five months after the September 11 attacks, with: On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation..., then the standard opening formula followed.
context_section_description: Prior to the ceremony, the turf inside the stadium was removed and a giant, abstract-shaped ice rink, designed by Seven Nielsen, was installed covering a large part of the stadium floor. Music was directed by Mark Watters.  Figure skaters, speed skaters, and hockey players performed on the ice, while cloggers, dancers, and some of the local Native American tribes performed on the surrounding platform.
  An American flag rescued from the World Trade Center Site on September 11 was carried into the stadium by an honor guard of American athletes and was carried in by firefighters and police officers of the NYPD, FDNY, and Port Authority Police. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, clad in white sweaters, performed The Star Spangled Banner, the US national anthem, as the flag (the Challenger flag) was raised. The parade of the 2,300 athletes was led by the Child of Light and began traditionally with Greece and ending with the host nation, the United States of America. As the artistic section kicked off, the five native Utah Native American tribes arrived together on horseback and performed several traditional "Welcome" stomp dances. The Dixie Chicks also performed.
  The beauty of the Utah landscape was showcased as huge puppets of native Utah animals, including a 15-foot-long bison and the American bald eagle (the national bird and animal of the U.S.), entered the stadium, as well as dancing pioneer settlers as two trains came together on, symbolizing the US railroad industry which was beneficial to Utah's economy beginning in the 1860s, as well as economically linking the Western U.S. and the Eastern U.S. At the end of this segment, the performers unfurled a giant quilt that covered the entire stadium floor with the 2002 Winter Olympics logo in the center.  Two figure skaters, Olympians Kristi Yamaguchi, Jozef Sabovcik (the fire within), and Scott Hamilton performed on the oversized ice rink as "Light the Fire Within," the 2002 Winter Olympic's theme song, was sung by LeAnn Rimes. Jozef's son, Blade, also performed in the ceremonies as one of the skating children of light. Other notable skaters included a young local skater and Beatrisa Liang as younger versions of Kristi Yamaguchi's character.
  The ceremonies were choreographed and rehearsals led by Sarah Kawahara. Sarah won an Emmy for her work in both the opening and closing ceremonies for the Games. Performers were auditioned and put in over 150 hours of practice on the weekends leading up to the Games. Practices were held at both Steiner Ice Arena and on the official venue ice. The main child of light was played by Ryne Sanborn, a young local hockey player who was in the seventh grade at the time of the ceremonies.
  After speeches by Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC and Mitt Romney, the CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the Olympic flame, which had traveled 13,500 miles (21,700 km) was carried into the stadium by gold medalists Dorothy Hamill and Dick Button. They passed it to other pairs U.S. Olympians, who either ran or skated their short relay. Gold medalists in Nagano 1998 Picabo Street and Cammi Granato carried it up the steps to the towering torch where they were met by Mike Eruzione, captain of the "Miracle on Ice" hockey team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1980. Eruzione summoned the other members of the team, who together lit the Olympic torch.  The Opening Ceremony would win seven Emmy Awards.
  The President opened the Games standing among the athletes, while previous heads of state opened the Games from an official box. NBC's Bob Costas applauded the move during the network's coverage of the Opening Ceremony.
  The official box was occupied by the President's Olympic delegation, which featured four future members of their respective sport's Hall of Fame:
  Dorothy Koch, the President's sister
  Colin Powell, U.S. Department of State
  Mel Martinez, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  Gale Ann Norton, U.S. Department of the Interior
  Tommy Thompson, Department of Health and Human Services
  Ann Veneman, U.S. Department of Agriculture
  Christine Todd Whitma
caption: The American flag, held by the US Navy
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D1X", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.01", "Image DateTime": "2002:02:08 09:08:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 0, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "31172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "31296", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4931", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2002:02:08 09:08:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2002:02:08 09:08:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF FocalLength": "400", "EXIF SubSecTime": "31", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "31", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "31", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3008", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1960", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "31142", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]"}