2002 Salt Lake Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). The opening and closing ceremonies "Light the Fire Within" (theme) for the Olympics were produced and choreographed by Kenny Ortega.
The more than 3.5 billion people watching the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games witnessed the breathtaking special effects created by Technifex especially for this international event. Hundreds of points of fiber optics embedded in the ice transformed the frozen surface of Rice-Eccles Stadium into a dazzling display of lights. Five circular, electric-powered platforms carried performers across the stadium floor. Powerful fog manifolds delivered clouds of fog into the air to highlight the entrance of legendary performers onto the ice.
The opening segment of the opening ceremony celebrated all previous hosts of the Olympic Winter Games. The opening ceremonies included Grammy Award-winning artist LeAnn Rimes singing "Light the Fire Within," the official song of the 2002 Olympics. The Grammy Award-winning Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed the "Star-Spangled Banner." John Williams composed "Call of the Champions," his third official theme for an Olympiad, and his first for a Winter Olympiad. It was performed by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the official motto of the Olympic Games "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger). The premiere of the work at the opening ceremonies also corresponded with John Williams’ 70th birthday. Yo Yo Ma and Sting also performed together a duet for the opening ceremonies.
There were also signs of the aftermath of September 11, 2001, being the first Olympics since then. They included the flag that flew at Ground Zero, NYPD officer Daniel Rodriguez singing "God Bless America," and honor guards of NYPD and FDNY members. Along with the flag that flew at the World Trade Center site, the Challenger flag was also carried into the stadium.
The Olympic Flame was lit by the members of the Gold Medal-winning US Hockey Team of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, which was the previous time the Winter Olympics were in the US.
"In its own way, this extremely tasteful (in the best sense) program was a masterpiece as incredible as Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel murals at the Vatican: it was overwhelming and very ennobling in its brilliance. It was an affirmation of honorable yearnings for global peace and the glory of humanity. It was stirring circumstance, not vacuous pomp." – Carter B. Horsley (The City Review)
