From Olympic Village to 31 Olympians: The University of Utah's Winter Games Legacy

On Feb. 8, 2002, about 55,000 people filled Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus for the Opening Ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Games. Twenty-four years later, on Feb. 21, 2026, two athletes on the university's list of Olympians, Kaila Kuhn and Chris Lillis, won gold with Connor Curran in mixed team aerials at the Milano Cortina Games.

In 2002 the campus housed the Athletes Village and the ceremonies. In 2026 the university counted 31 Olympians with ties to it, the most of any U.S. college or university, according to the U.

What the 2002 Games left on campus

The University of Utah was the Olympic and Paralympic Athletes Village in 2002. To house it, the U expanded its residence halls to hold 4,000 to 4,500 people during the three weeks of the Games. Shoreline Ridge, the Peterson Heritage Center and the renovated Fort Douglas Circle houses were finished in 2001 at a cost of $120 million.

Rice-Eccles Stadium was expanded to 46,500 seats for $50 million. With extra bleachers on the field it held 55,000 spectators for the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 8, 2002, and the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 24. More than 10,000 actors and volunteers took part. Five months after Sept. 11, eight American athletes carried the tattered U.S. flag that had flown at the World Trade Center into the stadium, and flag bearers from 78 National Olympic Committees entered in single file.

The Games also brought light rail to campus. The first 2.3-mile segment of the TRAX University Line, from the Delta Center to Rice-Eccles Stadium, opened on Dec. 15, 2001, at a cost of $148.5 million. The U's own legacy page lists the TRAX lines, the expanded stadium, the Eccles Legacy Bridge, Cauldron Plaza and the Fort Douglas and Shoreline Ridge housing as the lasting legacies of those Games.

Behind the scenes, University of Utah Health worked with Intermountain Health Care, the organizing committee's official medical provider, to run the Olympic and Paralympic Village Polyclinic. U researchers ran a real-time outbreak and disease surveillance system that monitored more than 114,000 acute care encounters.

On the snow, the U's local hero was Joe Pack, a former student, who won silver in freestyle skiing in 2002.

Who counted as a U Olympian in 2026

The U counts alumni, current and former students and staff. Its pre-Games roster said 31 athletes with university ties would compete in Italy: 28 for Team USA, plus three international alumni, Fayik Abdi of Saudi Arabia, Joe Davies of Great Britain and Madison Hoffman of Australia. After the Games the U said 21 of them competed in skiing disciplines and eight were speedskaters.

One discipline stood out. The entire U.S. women's aerials team, Kyra Dossa, Kaila Kuhn, Tasia Tanner and Winter Vinecki, consisted of U students and alumni, according to the university.

Some of those athletes are claimed by more than one Utah school. Five of the U's speedskaters, Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson, Corinne Stoddard, Kristen Santos-Griswold and Greta Myers, also appear on Salt Lake Community College's list of its 2026 Olympians, covered in Legends episode four. The two schools' counts overlap and cannot be added together.

The medals

The U's post-Games tally was two gold, five silver and two bronze medals, plus 27 top-10 finishes. Those totals only add up if each athlete on a medal-winning team is counted, so the one aerials gold counts twice. On that reading, the winners the U named account for both golds and all five silvers; it did not name the second bronze medalist.

• Kaila Kuhn and Chris Lillis, gold in mixed team aerials with Connor Curran on Feb. 21. The U.S. scored 325.35, ahead of Switzerland (296.91) and China (279.68), and defended the title it won in Beijing. Lillis was the only returning member of the 2022 team.
• Jaelin Kauf, two silver medals: in women's moguls and in the first Olympic dual moguls final on Feb. 14 in Livigno, where Australia's Jakara Anthony won gold. "A three-time Olympic medalist isn't bad either," Kauf told KPCW.
• Alex Hall, silver in men's freeski slopestyle on Feb. 10 with an 85.75, behind Norway's Birk Ruud (86.28). Hall had won the event in Beijing in 2022.
• Ethan Cepuran and Casey Dawson, silver in the men's team pursuit, improving on their 2022 bronze.
• Corinne Stoddard, bronze in the women's 1,500 meters in short track, after several falls earlier in the Games.

Kuhn added a fifth place in women's aerials, and Vinecki was sixth.

Three ski Utes, three countries

Four athletes in Italy had also competed for University of Utah Athletics: alpine skier Keely Cashman and three Utah Ski Team alumni racing for three different nations. Utah Athletics said all three alumni were College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans as Utes. That made three Academic All-Americans at the Games, the most of any school; Minnesota had two.

Joe Davies, Great Britain. Davies spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons at Utah after two at Alaska Fairbanks. In 14 starts as a Ute he had 11 podiums and four wins, and he won the 20K freestyle mass start at the 2025 NCAA Championships by more than a minute as Utah took its 17th national team title. He finished his college career as a two-time NCAA individual champion. In Italy he was 16th in the skiathlon, 12th in the 10K freestyle and 16th in the 50K classic mass start.

Madison Hoffman, Australia. Hoffman raced for Utah from 2021 to 2024 and swept both women's alpine titles at the 2023 NCAA Championships, Utah's first women's alpine double champion since 1990. She was named to Australia's team for 2022 but could not compete because of injury, which made Milano Cortina her first Olympic start. She was 23rd in the women's slalom on Feb. 18.

Novie McCabe, United States. McCabe skied for Utah from 2021 to 2023, won three NCAA individual titles and 19 races, and swept the women's Nordic races at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Her second Olympics brought a 26th place in the skiathlon, 31st in the 10K freestyle and fifth with the U.S. women's 4x7.5K relay. That trio of NCAA careers sits inside the run told in Legends episode one.

Behind the athletes

The U's ties ran past the start lists. Alumni David Euler and Ryan Wyble coached Team USA in freestyle slopestyle and big air. University of Utah Health physical therapist Jason Miller has worked with U.S. Speedskating since 2016, and U Health athletic trainer Trevor Kelsey has supported the team for four years. Alumnus Tom Wallisch, a former X Games champion, called halfpipe, big air and slopestyle for NBC and Peacock. And at the Opening Ceremony, alumnus Fayik Abdi was introduced for Saudi Arabia; the U notes he was the first Winter Olympian to compete for a Gulf nation when he debuted in 2022.

What comes next: 2034

Salt Lake City was named host of the 2034 Winter Games in Paris in July 2024. The U says campus will close during those Games, as it did in 2002, and its on-campus housing is set to grow to 12,000 beds over the next 10 years.

The 2034 plan leans on what 2002 built. The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee expects to spend $31.2 million on permanent capital investments, compared with $286.7 million on facilities for 2002, in 2023 dollars. More on the bid, venues and athletes is on the Utah 2034 Olympics hub.

Key facts:

• 2002 role: the University of Utah hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Athletes Village and the Opening (Feb. 8) and Closing (Feb. 24) ceremonies at Rice-Eccles Stadium, which held about 55,000 spectators
• 2002 build: $120 million in housing (Shoreline Ridge, Peterson Heritage Center, Fort Douglas Circle); Rice-Eccles expanded to 46,500 seats for $50 million; the TRAX University Line opened Dec. 15, 2001
• 2026 Olympians with U ties: 31 (28 Team USA, three international alumni), per the university
• 2026 medals named by the U: gold for Kaila Kuhn and Chris Lillis (mixed team aerials); silver for Jaelin Kauf (moguls, dual moguls), Alex Hall (slopestyle), Ethan Cepuran and Casey Dawson (team pursuit); bronze for Corinne Stoddard (1,500m short track)
• Utah Ski Team alumni: Joe Davies (Great Britain, best 12th), Madison Hoffman (Australia, 23rd in slalom), Novie McCabe (USA, fifth in the relay)
• Next: Salt Lake City hosts the 2034 Winter Games; campus will close during them, as in 2002