TURIN, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The 19th Winter Olympic Games:

    The Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games saw the expansion of the Olympic program to 78 events, including the return of skeletonand the introduction of women's bobsled. Athletes from a record 18 delegations earned gold medals. Canadian teams won both the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen earned gold medals in all four biathlon events and Samppa Lajunen in all three Nordic combined competitions. Alpine skier Janica Kostelic won three gold medals and one silver. Simon Ammann scored unexpected victories in both individual ski jump events. Speedskater Claudia Pechstein earned her third straight gold medalin the 5,000m race and also won at 3,000m. By taking the silver medal in singles luge, Georg Hackl became the first person in Olympic history to earn a medal in the same individual event five times in a row. Short track speedskater Yang Yang (A) became the first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Games. Competing in the women's bobsled, Vonetta Flowers became t he first black athlete to earn winter gold, while ice hockey player Jarome Iginla followed as the first black male winner.

    Numbers:

    77 National Olympic Committees

    2,399 athletes (886 women, 1,513 men)

    78 events

    22,000 volunteers

    8,730 media (2,661 written press, 6,069 broadcasters) Enditem