| Nepal at the 2002 Winter Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | NEP |
| NOC | Nepal Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| inSalt Lake City | |
| Competitors | 1 (man) in 1 sport |
| Flag bearer | Jay Khadka |
| Medals |
|
| Winter Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Nepal sent a delegation to compete at the2002 Winter Olympics inSalt Lake City,United States from 8–24 February 2002. This was Nepal's first time participating in aWinter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of a singlecross-country skier,Jay Khadka. In themen's sprint he finished in 70th place, and in themen's 2 × 10 kilometre pursuit he finished in 79th place, and did not advance to the finals of either event.
TheNepal Olympic Committee was recognized by theInternational Olympic Committee on 31 December 1962.[1] Nepal first participated in Olympic competition at the1964 Summer Olympics inTokyo. The nation did not take part in the next Summer Olympics, but have participated in everySummer Olympic Games since the1972 edition. Despite this, these Salt Lake City Games were their first appearance in theWinter Olympic Games, and they have never won an Olympic medal as of 2018.[2] The 2002 Winter Olympics were held from 8–24 February 2002; a total of 2,399 athletes took part representing 77National Olympic Committees.[3] The only athlete sent by Nepal to the Salt Lake Olympics wasJay Khadka, competing in cross-country skiing.[4] He was selected as the flag bearer for theopening ceremony.[5]
Jay Khadka was 29 years old at the time of the Salt Lake City Olympics.[6] The Nepalese native was adopted into a British family as a young man.[7] On 14 February, he participated in themen's 2 × 10 kilometre pursuit, which consisted of 10 kilometres of classical style racing, followed by a separate 10 kilometres of freestyle pursuit.[8] Khadka finished the classical portion in 44 minutes and 20.3 seconds, putting him in 79th place out of 80 finishers, in a race where only the top 60 qualified to advance, and he was eliminated; the slowest qualifying time was 29 minutes and 4.6 seconds.[9] The gold medal was shared byFrode Estil andThomas Alsgaard ofNorway, while bronze was won byPer Elofsson ofSweden.[10] Five days later, in themen's sprint, Khadka finished the qualification round in 4 minutes and 48.42 seconds, which put him in 70th and last place, but only the top 16 were allowed to advance. The slowest qualifying time was 2 minutes and 53.87 seconds.[11] The gold medal was won byTor Arne Hetland of Norway, the silver was taken byPeter Schlickenrieder ofGermany, and the bronze was won byCristian Zorzi ofItaly.[12]
Sprint
| Athlete | Qualifying round | Quarter finals | Semi finals | Finals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Final rank | |
| Jay Khadka | 4:48.42 | 70 | did not advance | |||||
Pursuit
| Athlete | 10 km C | 10 km F pursuit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Final rank | |
| Jay Khadka | 44:20.3 | 79 | did not advance | |