The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002, was a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 8 to 24 February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. 2,399 athletes from 78 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout 165 sporting sessions.[1][2] The 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Paralympic Games were both organized by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC), the first time in Olympic and Paralympic history that both events were organized by a single committee.[3] Utah became the fifth state in the United States to host the Olympic Games, after Missouri, New York, California, and Georgia. The 2002 Winter Olympics are the most recent Olympics to be held in the United States. These were the first Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge. The opening ceremony was held on February 8, 2002, and sporting competitions were held up until the closing ceremony on February 24, 2002.[3] Production for both ceremonies was designed by Seven Nielsen, and music for both ceremonies was directed by Mark Watters.[4] Salt Lake City became the most populous area ever to have hosted the Winter Olympics, although the two subsequent host cities' populations were larger.[5] Following a trend, the 2002 Olympic Winter Games were also larger than all prior Winter Games, with 10 more events than the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Norway won the most gold medals while Germany won the most number of medals. The Salt Lake Games faced a bribery scandal and some local opposition during the bid. Nevertheless, from sporting and business standpoints, this was one of the most successful Winter Olympiads in history; records were set in both the broadcasting and marketing programs. Over 2 billion viewers watched more than 13 billion viewer-hours.[7] The Games were also financially successful, raising more money with fewer sponsors than any prior Olympic Games, which left SLOC with a surplus of $40 million. The surplus was used to create the Utah Athletic Foundation, which maintains and operates many of the remaining Olympic venues. NBC became the telecast provider hereafter for the Winter Games in the United States after a three-Olympics run with CBS from 1992–1998. The games were succeeded by the 2002 Winter Paralympics..