The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were held in and around Salt Lake City, United States from February 8 to 24, 2002, and the Paralympics from March 7 to 16, 2002. The sporting events were held in ten competitive venues, while non-competitive events, such as the opening ceremony, were held in six other venues. Three venues were also created for training purposes. All Olympic venues were scattered throughout Northern Utah and the Wasatch Front.

In November 1989, Utah's voters passed the Olympic referendum, which allowed construction to begin on a few of the future Olympic venues with the 1998 Winter Olympics on the mind. The construction was to proceed using public funds which would be repaid with profits following the games. As part of the referendum, the state created the Utah Sports Authority, who would work closely with the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee and other Olympic organizers to ensure the venues complied with Olympic standards. Two years later, Salt Lake City lost its bid to host the 1998 Winter Olympics, but the plans continued. By the time Salt Lake City bid again, the venues had been completed in 1995. On June 16, 1995, the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the XIX Winter Olympics, with the newly completed venues cited as one of the key factors in the successful bid.

The Utah Sports Authority constructed two of the Olympic venues: the Utah Olympic Park and Utah Olympic Oval. Prior to the games, the authority turned over ownership of the venues to the Salt Lake 2002 Organizing Committee (SLOC), who turned the ownership of the venues over to the Utah Athletic Foundation after the games.

Competitive Venues Deer Valley Resort

The Deer Valley Resort is located east of downtown Salt Lake City, in Park City, Utah. Deer Valley has been a popular skiing location since the 1930s, and was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) who built many of its first ski trails and other facilities during the winter of 1936–37. In 1946, local citizens built the first ski lifts, and the area became known as "Snow Park". In 1981, a private resort officially opened in the same area as Deer Valley, and has grown to include six mountains with six bowls, of glade skiing and of snow-making. The resort totals in size.

During the 2002 games, Deer Valley Resort hosted the freestyle moguls and aerials and alpine slalom events. Three of the resort's runs were used during the games, including "Champion" (site of freestyle moguls), "Know You Don't" (site of alpine slalom), and "White Owl" (site of freestyle aerials). The spectator stadium located at the end of each run was 12 stories tall and included seating for 10,000 people, while spectator standing areas were located along the sides of each course. The standing areas and stadium combined allowed roughly 13,300 spectators to view each event, with 99.4 percent of tickets sold. During the games, 95 percent of Deer Valley remained open to the public for normal seasonal operations.

E Center

Originally known as the E Center, the Maverik Center is located west of downtown Salt Lake City in West Valley City. In July 1995, only a month after winning the Olympic bid, SLOC accepted a proposal from West Valley City to build a new ice hockey facility in the city. SLOC loaned $7 million to the city for construction costs, and would rent the arena from the city during the games. The arena would be funded through a variety of ways, but would be owned the municipality of West Valley City, and used for various events before and after the games. Ground was broken for the E Center on March 22, 1996, and the arena was completed in September 1997. The arena was designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport), cost $54.1 million to construct, and was dedicated on September 19, 1997. The first event held at the new venue was WCW's Monday Nitro Live on September 22, 1997.

As the home of the Utah Grizzlies, the E Center served as one of the two venues for ice hockey during the 2002 games. The hockey events held in the venue were spread out during six days in 31 sessions, and it was capable of holding 8,400 spectators, plus press members, during the competitions. 96.7 percent of available tickets were sold, for a total of 230,657 spectators witnessing events in the arena. During the 2002 Winter Paralympics, the arena hosted the ice sledge hockey events.

Park City Mountain Resort

Park City Mountain Resort is located east of downtown Salt Lake City, in Park City, Utah. It was opened as Treasure Mountain by United Park City Mines on December 21, 1963, as the last surviving mining company in Park City, with funds from a federal government program meant to revive the economically depressed town. When it originally opened, it boasted the longest gondola in the United States, as well as a double chairlift, a J-bar lift, base and summit lodges, and a nine-hole golf course. A special "Skier's Subway" was used to transport skiers nearly into the mountain through the pitch-black Spiro Tunnel on a mine train, where skiers then boarded a mining elevator that lifted them to the surface, from there they had access to the entire mountain. Treasure Mountain's name was changed to the Park City Ski Area for its fourth season of 1966–67, and it eventually became known as the Park City Mountain Resort. The resort has grown to include eight peaks and nine bowls, with of skiing and 16 lifts.

During the 2002 games, the resort hosted the men's and women's giant slalom, men's and women's snowboarding parallel giant slalom, and men's and women's snowboarding halfpipe events. The resort's Eagle Race Arena and Eagle Superpipe were used as the Olympics runs. Temporary stadiums were erected at the end of each run with spectator standing areas on each side, creating a combined capacity of 16,500 persons. 99.8 percent of available tickets for events at the resort were sold, for a total of 95,991 spectators witnessing events at the resort. During the games, 96 percent of the resort was open to normal seasonal operations, and was the only venue to allow spectators to leave and reenter.

Peaks Ice Arena

Peaks Ice Arena is located south of downtown Salt Lake City, in Provo, Utah. Provo was chosen as the site for an Olympic venue because the leaders of Utah County refused to support Utah's 1989 Olympic referendum unless they were promised at least one Olympic event would be held in the county. Originally, county leaders wanted the speed skating oval built somewhere in Provo, or on the campus of Utah Valley Community College; others suggested the Games' closing ceremony be held at Brigham Young University's Cougar Stadium. After the 1989 Olympic referendum passed and Salt Lake City lost its 1991 bid to host the 1998 Winter Olympics, the Utah Sports Authority and Provo City decided to wait until Salt Lake City bid again for the 2002 Winter Olympics before beginning construction on the arena.

After Salt Lake City won the 2002 Olympic bid in 1995, planning began again for what venue Utah County would host, and an ice sheet was decided upon. On September 17, 1997, ground was broken for construction of the new arena. It was to be a building, with two ice sheets side by side. One ice sheet would have seating for about 2,000 spectators while the other would seat 300. By the time ground was broken, the price had increased to $8.5 million, $1.5 million more than originally planned, paid for by Seven Peaks. After construction had already begun, the SLOC decided to host hockey events at the new arena rather than using Utah Valley State College's McKay Center. The SLOC would contribute $5.25 million towards the project, whose cost had just jumped to $10.75 million, with the addition of 12 locker rooms instead of four, 8,000 seats (2,300 of which would be permanent), and other minor expansions to the original plan.

The arena opened November 20, 1998, in what was considered a "soft opening", and following the completion of minor work, the arena was supposed to have a grand opening in January or February 1999. In December 1998, however, allegations of a scandal involving members of the SLOC and the International Olympic Committee concerning the 2002 Olympic bid surfaced, pushing back the grand opening. The arena was finally opened on September 29, 1999, and hosted its first event, a women's ice hockey game between the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and the University of Calgary Oval Extremes, two days later. The completed arena cost $12.4 million to build, included two ice sheets, had seating for over 2,000 spectators, and was in size.

During the 2002 games, both men's and women's ice hockey games and practices were held at the arena. Because of its original size, over 6,000 temporary seats had to be installed to boost the ice center's capacity to 8,400, including press members. 93 percent of tickets were sold, for a record total 131,067 of spectators witnessing events in the arena.

Salt Lake Ice Center

The Delta Center (renamed Salt Lake Ice Center for the duration of the Games due to IOC sponsorship rules) opened in 1991 as the new home arena for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

It hosted the figure skating events and the short track speed skating event. The arena was capable of holding an average of 14,600 spectators for each session, and 100 percent of available tickets for events in the arena were sold, for a total of 145,997 spectators witnessing events in the Ice Center. Because it was normally a basketball arena, several changes to the floor, and seating configurations had to be made. In order to create an Olympic-sized ice rink, the lower levels of seating had to be retracted, making the first level of spectator seating several feet higher than the skater's heads, a problem coined "the Pit". The Utah Jazz played their last home game on February 2, 2002, giving organizers less than a week to transform the arena in time for the games. Temporary changes included a separate audio system capable of producing higher quality sound, new scoreboards, the removal of 1,200 seats to make room for media tables, building camera platforms, and the removal of Utah Jazz paraphernalia.

Snowbasin

Snowbasin is located northeast of downtown Salt Lake City, in Weber County, Utah, and is one of the oldest continuously operating ski areas in the United States. Following the end of World War I and the Great Depression, numerous small ski resorts were developed in Utah's snow-packed mountains. Eager to capitalize on this growth, Weber County decided to redevelop the area in and around Wheeler Basin, a deteriorated watershed area that had been overgrazed and subjected to aggressive timber-harvesting. Lands were restored and turned over to the US Forest Service, and by 1938, the Forest Service and Alf Engen had committed to turning the area into a recreational site. In 1939, the first ski tow was built and in service at the new Snow Basin ski park. Over the past 70 years, the resort has grown to include 115 runs, 13 lifts, and of Skiable area.

During the 2002 games, Snowbasin hosted the downhill, combined (downhill and slalom), and super-G events. The spectator viewing areas consisted of a stadium at the foot of the run, with two sections of snow terraces for standing along both sides of the run. The spectator capacity was 22,500 per event; 99.1 percent of tickets were sold, and 124,373 spectators were able to view events at the Snowbasin Olympic venue. During the 2002 Winter Paralympics, Snowbasin hosted the Alpine Skiing events, including downhill, super-G, slalom, and giant slalom.

Soldier Hollow