The Park City community this month is marking the 20th anniversary of helping host the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Park Record caught up with a few U.S. athletes who competed in Park City, and they shared stories of what it was like to be part of the most recent Games held on American soil.
(Note: Quotes have been lightly edited for length and readability.)
Salt Lake City secured the 2002 nomination over bids from Switzerland, Sweden and Canada in 1995, seven years before the opening ceremony. Salt Lake City had previously fallen short of hosting the 1998 Games.
Ted Ligety, alpine skier: When we got the bid, I was maybe in seventh grade. Our teachers were like, ‘Hey, this is a cool opportunity, you’re going to have the Olympics. By the time the Olympics come, you guys will be older and be able to go out there and appreciate it and this is built around for you guys to enjoy.’
So we really saw that energy build around town. I was 17, so an old enough age that I was really into it, thought about it as a goal in my future and was just awesome.
The lighting of the cauldron in Salt Lake City during the opening ceremony on Feb. 8 signaled the start of the Olympics. Competition started in Park City shortly after.
Park City hosted events in three different locations in 2002: Park City Mountain Resort (giant slalom, snowboard parallel giant slalom and snowboard halfpipe), Deer Valley Resort (freestyle skiing and slalom) and the Utah Olympic Park (bobsled, luge, skeleton, ski jumping and the ski jumping half of Nordic combined).
The women’s moguls event, held at Deer Valley, was one of the first competitions of the Games on Feb. 9 and featured the first medals awarded in Park City. Shannon Bahrke Happe finished in second to win the United States’ first medal. Bahrke Happe had qualified for the Games by winning a Gold Cup event at Deer Valley.
Happe: Competing at Deer Valley is one of the most fun venues to compete at because there’s usually 6,000 people that come up there and you can just really feel the energy.
But at the Olympics, it’s different, you know that you’re not just competing for a World Cup win or the people in the crowd down there. You’re competing for something much more than that. So to kind of stand in the gates and feel that weight, to know, yeah, there’s like 20 to 30,000 people down there, but on the other end of that camera lens, there’s the entire world. There’s 2.3 billion people that tune into the Olympics, and so that’s a heavy weight…
I think my best memory is right before I pushed out of the gate for my second run. It was just like this feeling of gratitude, like, ‘Man, I’m standing on the top of this mountain, and I have this opportunity right now,’ you know? Nothing has been decided, I hadn’t skied yet for a medal, and it was just like this feeling of calm… just meant to be there in that moment. It just felt like one of the most powerful moments in my whole life. I just looked up at the sky and the mountains and the people and then the task at hand and I was ready…
It’s extremely nice obviously to win a medal and to do those things, but that moment for me was, it was pure love of my sport and gratitude for being there. That’s what I remember the most…
To have all the help of my family, my friends and my coaches and everyone that believed in me, it’s just one of the most unbelievable feelings. I still can’t describe it, I still can’t really put into words what it means to represent your country and wear the American flag and put your best foot forward. That’s something that is one of the biggest honors of all time.
Also at Deer Valley, Ligety, who grew up in Park City, got his start at the Olympics in 2002 not as a competitor, but as a forerunner. He had the opportunity to ski the course to make sure it was safe before the slalom event started. Ligety went on to win two gold medals across four Olympics before retiring last year.
Ligety: I was super nervous, probably as nervous as I’ve ever been for any race to be able to forerun the Olympic slalom. It was a really tough hill, it was really icy. And your job is basically to finish. You’re not trying to go fast. You want to look good of course, but those are like tough World Cup conditions, and I wasn’t quite at that level at that point. So, to have that nervous energy, to come down to the finish line cleanly and do my job, especially in front of my childhood heroes, in front of U.S. Ski Team coaches, was a very daunting experience.
The United States’ first gold medal of the Olympics came at Park City Mountain Resort in the women’s snowboard halfpipe event. Kelly Clark, whose first run guaranteed her at least a silver medal, threw down a near-perfect 47.9 on her second run to take home gold.
Clark: It felt very much like this was the time, there was nothing to lose for me, so I really went for it. I remember I got to the bottom of my run, and I knew the run that I needed to land to win, and I knew that as soon as I landed my run, that was it. I remember looking at my coach in the finish area, and I just shrugged my shoulders because we both knew exactly what I needed to do to win and I had just done it.
Clark’s best memory of the Games was not her final run, however. It was the medal ceremony. The Olympics were a much-needed time of celebration in the United States just months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Clark: When the host country wins its first gold medal, it’s by far the biggest celebration of the Games I’ve kind of found. So, it was a moment I’ll never forget. I remember being in the medals plaza when I received my medal that night. It was the first time that they had heard the national anthem, and it was the first time they saw the American flag get raised.
And there was not a dry eye in the house. People still come up to me this day and say that was one of their favorite Olympic moments.
Arguably the most notable athletic performance for the United States at the 2002 Olympics came in the men’s snowboard halfpipe event. The American trio of Ross Powers, Danny Kass and J.J. Thomas swept the podium, the first sweep for the U.S. in the Winter Olympics since 1956.
Thomas: I remember being really sick that day, unfortunately. I had a sinus infection/cold/flu thing going on, and you can’t take any medicine when you compete, except ibuprofen. So I was struggling, I remember being really hot and weak, but I had to dig deep and just give it all I had, but I was hanging by a thread. But it was an amazing show…
I remember standing up top and watching Ross doing his first hit. I heard the crowd erupt, and they were making this noise that I still haven’t heard at a snowboard event since. They would stomp their feet on the metal, and it sounded kind of like a football or soccer stadium feel when runs would go. I’ll never forget watching Ross from the top do that method (grab), and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s first place.’
I remember watching him do that run and get the score and I was like, ‘OK, we’re going for second, third now,’ which is how it goes some days, and it was fine. But that was very etched in my brain still.
Thomas scored a 42.1 on his second and final run in the finals, an improvement on his 33.2 in his first run, but it was only enough to score a bronze medal.
Thomas: My run started with a McTwist and ended with a switch McTwist. So kind of the same thing as Ross. I was trying to make a statement on the first hit and make some jaws drop, and then I was trying to do it at the bottom, too. And he did the same thing. He started with a massive method and ended it with a switch McTwist.
But it’s timing. It’s just timing. Up until that event, I had won the last two events going into that, so I think it was safe to say I was one of the favorites that day, but that’s sports. Ross showed up and put down his magical run, and that was all there was to it. It was over, and it was so fun to watch and be a part of and I was really happy for Ross. He’s a really kind human, and he put so much into the sport that I was really happy to see him win that day.
The United States also found plenty of success at the Utah Olympic Park sliding on home ice. Two American doubles luge teams won medals, and the reintroduction of skeleton as an official Olympic sport ended with two gold medals for the United States.
The 2002 Olympics also saw the introduction of the two-woman bobsled event.
In that event, driver Jill Bakken and brakewoman Vonetta Flowers formed the USA-2 team. Flowers was a former long jumper and sprinter who failed to qualify for the Summer Olympics in 1996 and 2000 before injuries led to her retirement.
Flowers: I had five surgeries in an eight-year span that led me to a decision to hang up my track spikes for good after the 2000 Games and focus on starting a family with my husband, Johnny Flowers. But, opportunity knocked and I almost didn’t answer.
I was an assistant track and field coach at my alma mater (UAB) in 2000, and I was also an athlete competing at the trials. After my failed attempt to make the Summer Games, I had to put on my coach’s hat and try to help one of my athletes live out their dream.
So I was waiting for my athlete, Nakeshia Jackson, to arrive and Johnny spotted a sign encouraging track and field athletes to continue their dream by trying out for bobsled. I was still upset, disappointed and mentally trying to grasp the fact that my dreams were over and tried not to feel sorry for myself, but honestly, it was hard not to. But he thought it would be ‘fun’ for ‘both’ of us to try out for the team.
Once we arrived at the tryouts approximately two days later, I told him that I wasn’t going to do it. I sat by and watched him warm up, and I thought it would be funny if he actually made it. A former football/track and field athlete … he was not in shape and he ended up pulling his hamstring in the process. At that point, he looked at me and said … “Now you have to live out the family dream of going to the Olympics.” And that’s how my bobsled career began.
Flowers used her blazing speed to push herself and Bakken to a gold medal. They dominated the rest of the field across two runs to win the gold medal by 0.3 seconds. With the victory, Flowers became the first Black athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
Flowers: Becoming the first African American to win gold in the Winter Olympics was shocking, humbling and inspiring. Jill and I had great chemistry on and off the ice and we knew, although we were not favored to medal, that we could win. This was our home track and as a driver, Jill was as confident and comfortable as any driver on tour. After our sled crossed the line, we were going crazy because the No. 1 was showing by our time, and at that point, we knew that we just pulled off one of the biggest upsets in history.
As for the men, they headed into the 2002 Olympics looking to win their first medal since 1956.
Doug Sharp entered the Olympics not only looking to end the drought, but to fulfill his Olympic dreams. He narrowly missed the cutoff for the 1996 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter before switching to bobsled. Sharp, along with pilot Brian Shimer, Mike Kohn and Dan Steele, formed the USA-2 team.
Sharp: By the time 2002 came around, it was like come hell or high water, we’re going to make sure we bring a medal back for the U.S. I specifically remember Todd Hays and those guys, when the girls, when Vonetta Flowers and Jill Bakken won their medal, someone had said like, ‘Oh, the drought is over.’ (USA-1 pilot) Todd Hays is like, ‘The hell it is, that’s the women. This is on the men because the women weren’t even bobsledding back in the 1950s. This is us, we’re going to bring one home.’
Heading into the fourth and final run, there were not one, but two U.S. teams competing for a medal. USA-2 shot down the track and landed on top of the leaderboard. Only three teams — Hays’ USA-1 team, Switzerland and Germany — were left to go after Sharp’s team. USA-2 clinched a medal for the United States to end the drought, but Sharp and his USA-2 teammates could still go home emptyhanded.
Sharp: Todd Hays and USA-1 comes down, and they beat us by 0.05. That’s it, 0.05, they beat us, so they absolutely guaranteed them the bronze medal and us fourth place. Which, my story’s different from the rest of them. I was so mad that I walked off the dock there and went to start getting undressed. Because I don’t care, man, I wanted to medal. Dude, I didn’t fight for four years to see Todd Hays get it, I wanted it. And so, I was so mad I walked off the TV camera and everything to the locker room to get undressed…
Our team manager came and got me, he’s like, ‘Doug, Doug, Doug,’ he was a Russian. He’s like, ‘You have a chance, Doug, you have a chance!’ And I’m like, ‘Get out of here, dude, leave me alone!’
The place just starts to go ape-crazy, and what I didn’t realize is that the Swiss were coming down the mountain and screwing up every turn. And the Swiss were screwing up everything so badly, they went from ranked second and they slid all the way to fourth, and that means that USA-1 got silver and my team, USA-2, was a guaranteed bronze. But I had no idea because I was in the locker room madder than hell that we were probably looking at fourth…
I then run out across the ice as the party then ensues and the crowd’s going crazy. I’m the one who jumped off the short wall into the crowd. That whole crowd there was all my family members and friends. And NBC caught that on television, so I’m doing a backwards, mosh-pit dive into the crowd and they’re holding me up.
It was just incredible, more than I could have even — just how it all came together was just amazing.
Park City was more than just a host for a series of athletic competitions in 2002. People from all over the world came to Park City and helped create a party-like atmosphere for the duration of the Games. Whether it was a memorable, historic moment, an athlete fulfilling his or her Olympic dreams or the beginning of a storied career, Park City continues to hold a special place in people’s hearts 20 years later.
Carl Roepke, 2002 bobsled, luge and skeleton announcer: Even today, people come up to me and say, ‘I was there, I saw the women, Jill Bakken winning the women’s first two-man event with Vonetta Flowers as your brakeperson.’ To be a part of that is forever. It’s just lucky, I guess, is the bottom line. Just lucky being a part of it and to watch not just Park City grow, but the sports grow. And my fingers are still on the pulse.
Editor’s note: Roepke is currently in China working as an announcer for the Beijing Winter Games, doing the same job he did in Park City 20 years ago.
Sharp: Honestly, I’m probably reminded of it by someone, honestly, every two days? Once a week? Once every three days? Something, somewhere, something. Yeah, I don’t know the word. You still live it. And I’m not a guy either that looks back in the past and hangs onto this or that. I’m the guy that tries to explore forward and chase racing cars and chase coaching and chase all this sort of stuff. But, every three to five to six days, someone’s reminding me of it somehow, someway…
I’m going to go teach a bunch of 6-, 7-, 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds speed acquisition, speed training. And what I do in that camp that I do on Saturday mornings, we ask Olympic trivia, we bring the Olympic medal, so these kids can see, ‘Dude, if I can do this from small Nowheresville, Michigan, you can do it here in Nashville, Tennessee.’
Flowers: Competing in the U.S. was an absolute dream come true because my family/friends had a chance to watch me compete. My elementary coach, DeWitt Thomas, drove over 24 hours straight to cheer me on. It meant the world to me to have him there and to have my mom there. My mom had never seen me bobsled before. It was an amazing experience!
Ligety: I’m actually on the strategic board for the Games to come back, so I’m really excited about the opportunity for the Games to come back. I think having been to a handful of Olympics and seeing the different stages of readiness and how expensive and stuff the Games have gotten, we’re basically plug-and-play. There’s very little that needs to happen outside of a couple little facelifts to be able to host the Games.
So, I think it’s a unique opportunity to bring that excitement of sports back and to give the facilities that are already still being used that extra update would be a great opportunity to do around the Games. It’s just such an eye-opening experience for all the kids around town.
Sharp: I have a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old. My wife and I have talked about it frequently to get them to an age to where they could actually appreciate going to a bobsled race, seeing it and kind of absorbing it all. We specifically talked (about how) we could go to Calgary, we could go to Lake Placid, we could go to Salt Lake, whatever, those are all pretty close.
And I said we’ve got to go to Salt Lake because of the museum and the Utah (Olympic) Park. We could ski a day and we can go run down the mountain and go to P.F. Chang’s or whatever. So we’re planning on that. I don’t know if it’s going to occur next year or the year after, catch a World Cup or maybe a (North American) Cup. Get out there and see it because I do think about it often, and I miss it.
Happe: I really think all the volunteers and everybody that put every single hour into those Games showed the world what we’re made of and the kind of all the people in
Salt Lake and that we are so much more than just this little podunk Utah state. That we’re technologically savvy and that we can adapt to different situations and that we’re kind and that we’re thoughtful and we put other people first and we embrace everybody. That’s really the message that we sent out that was so powerful.
Roepke: I can speak for nearly every person that either worked the Games or the tens of thousands of volunteers that were a part of the Games, that nearly everybody still has a piece of that uniform they were given 20 years later. I bet you could ask 85% of the people that were a part of the 2002 Olympic Games, and they’re going to say, ‘I still have my uniform, I still have my vest or my jacket,’ or whatever the case may be. And a lot of these venues, I’m proud to represent Park City and Utah Olympic Park, to be the announcer for Beijing. But to think, back home in my closet, I’ve got my uniform that’s 20 years old, and there’s other Olympic Games that I’ve participated in, worked, that I don’t have any part of memorabilia other than a stuffed animal mascot. And I think it just shows this community or illustrates to the community how powerful the Games were and how many people I’ve met that said, ‘I didn’t want those Games, we left. We left as soon as those Olympic Games started.’
Well, many of those people wish they didn’t leave because of the success and the friendships that were built during the Games. The camaraderie, as Utah does, creating that passion, is special.