2002 Winter Olympics & Paralympics
During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the stadium served as the venue for the Opening Ceremony on February 8, 2002, and for the Closing Ceremony on February 24, 2002. In order to host the ceremonies, the grass field was paved over with asphalt and a stage was constructed, scoreboards were removed, flags and Olympic livery were installed, temporary seating was brought in (allowing more than 50,000 spectators), and the 2002 Olympic cauldron was installed atop the southern bleachers. For the duration of the games, the stadium was temporary renamed the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium. Through broadcasts from the stadium an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide watched the Opening and Closing Ceremonies on television. The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Paralympics was also held in the stadium on March 7, 2002.
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Famous quotes containing the word winter:
“Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)