The Andorran Olympic Committee was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 31 December 1974.[1] They first participated in Olympic competition at the 1976 Winter Olympics and have taken part in every Summer and Winter Olympics since.[2] This was Andorra's seventh consecutive appearance at a Winter Olympics.[2] Andorra had never won a medal in either the Summer or Winter Olympics.[2] The 2002 Winter Olympics were held from 8–24 February 2002; a total of 2,399 athletes took part representing 77 National Olympic Committees.[3] The Andorran delegation to Salt Lake City consisted of three alpine skiers; Victor Gómez, Alex Antor, and Vicky Grau.[4] Gómez was selected as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony[5] and for the closing ceremony.[6]
Victor Gómez was 27 years old at the time of the Salt Lake City Olympics, and was a veteran of the Albertville, Lillehammer, and Nagano Winter Olympics.[7]Vicky Grau was 26 years old, and had also participated in all three of those Olympics with her compatriot Gómez.[8]Alex Antor was 22 years old, and making his Olympic debut. He would later represent Andorra again at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.[9]
Grau competed in two races, the women's slalom and the women's giant slalom. First for her, on 20 February, was the slalom. She posted run times of 58.13 seconds[10] and a faster second run of 57.03 seconds.[11] Her combined time was 1 minute and 55.16 seconds, which placed her 24th out of 38 competitors who finished both legs of the race, the gold medal was won by Janica Kostelić of Croatia in a time of 1 minute and 46.10 seconds, the silve rmedal was won by Laure Pequegnot of France, and the bronze by Anja Pärson of Sweden.[12] Two days later she participated in the giant slalom, finishing her first leg in a time of 1 minute and 21.24 seconds.[13] She did not finish the second run, and therefore went unranked for the event; the gold medal was again won by Kostelić, the silver medal by Pärson, and the bronze was taken by Sonja Nef of Switzerland.[14]
On 21 February, both Gómez and Antor took part in the men's giant slalom. Gómez finished the first run in 1 minute and 17.83 seconds[15] and the second in 1 minute and 15.50 seconds.[16] He finished in 39th place with a time of 2 minutes and 33.33 seconds.[17] Antor was a little faster, he completed his first run in 1 minute and 16.66 seconds[15] and his second in 1 minute and 14.73 seconds.[16] His total time was 2 minutes and 31.39 seconds, which was enough for 36th place, out of 57 classified finishers.[17] The gold medal in the giant slalom was won by Stephan Eberharter of Austria in a time of 2 minutes and 23.28 seconds, the silver medal was won by Bode Miller of the United States, and the bronze by Lasse Kjus of Norway.[17] On 23 February, Antor participated in the men's slalom, finishing the first leg in 54.57 seconds.[18] However, he did not finish the second leg, and was eliminated from the event.[19] In the slalom, the gold medal was won by Jean-Pierre Vidal and the silver by Sébastien Amiez, both Frenchmen, and the bronze was taken by Benjamin Raich of Austria.[20]
