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19th Winter Olympics Close VOA News 25 Feb 2002 09:01 UTC 
 Listen to David Byrd's report from Salt Lake City
(RealAudio)
The 19th Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City have come to a close, with a gala ceremony featuring a mix of entertainment and praise from the International Olympic Committee.
Most of the 2,500 athletes who took part in the Olympics were on hand at Rice-Eccles Stadium late Sunday, as musical acts ranging from KISS to Gloria Estefan took the stage. There was also a huge fireworks display and two huge dinosaur puppets.
Declaring the games officially closed, IOC President Jacques Rogue said Salt Lake City and the state of Utah had in his words "given the world superb games." He also called on the youth of the world to assemble in four years at the next Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
The Salt Lake City Olympics were highlighted by superb athletic performances but also beset by skating scandals, failed drug tests and numerous protests.
On the last day of the games Sunday, three cross-country skiers were ejected for use of a performance-enhancing drug, darbepoetin. Gold medals were taken away from two of the skiers, Spain's triple-gold medalist Johann Muehlegg and Larissa Lazutina of Russia.
Most of the controversy took place on and around the ice. A French judge was suspended after it was alleged that her vote in the pairs figure skating event was cast under pressure. As a result, pairs from both Russia and Canada were awarded gold medals.
Russia threatened to pull out of the games after one of its athletes won silver, not gold, in women's figure skating. And South Korea threatened to leave the games after its gold meal winner in 1500 meters short track speedskating was disqualified, giving the gold instead to an American.
Also Sunday, Canada claimed the last gold medal of the games, beating the United States 5-2 in the men's hockey final. The win ended a 50-year wait for Canada to win Olympic gold in its national sport.
The United States can claim the Salt Lake games as its best winter Olympics. They finished one behind the Germans in the final medal count with 34, the most ever for the United States by more than double. Norway was third with 23 medals, followed by Canada, Austria and Russia.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP.
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