Hope After Tragedy
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An Everlasting Beacon

Hope After Tragedy, also, An Everlasting Beacon. . , Hope After Tragedy , Beginning just five months after the tragic September 11, 2001 attacks, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee shepherded the approaching Games through a period of uncertainty to prepare for the Opening Ceremony. As 56,000 people looked on in reverence from inside Rice-Eccles Stadium, a contingent of athletes and first responders carried an American flag rescued from the World Trade Center in New York City into the arena as a symbol of healing, resilience and unity. , The Olympic flame that traveled nearly 13,500 miles across the United States was placed in the hands of the Lake Placid 1980 "Miracle on Ice" hockey team, who raised a torch in unison to light the 2002 Olympic Cauldron. , During the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, climber Erik Weihenmayer, the first person who is blind to summit Mount Everest, passed the torch to Paralympic skiers Muffy Davis and Chris Waddell to jointly light the Paralympic Cauldron. , An Everlasting Beacon , Built of tempered steel and 738 individual pieces of glass, WET of California designed the 72-foot Salt Lake 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Cauldron. The innovative design combines fire and water-a 900-degree Fahrenheit flame burning both within the Cauldron's flowing waters and 12 feet high above it. Arrow Dynamics of Clearfield, Utah fabricated the Cauldron frame; Western Glass of Ogden, Utah created its glass pieces. , Construction for the original Olympic Cauldron Park began in October 2002 and was completed in time to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Salt Lake 2002 Games in February 2003. , With the expansion of Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Cauldron was taken off campus for a full refurbishment process to lengthen its lifespan in February 2020. The undertaking included replacement of all original glass with higher-quality panes by Holdman Studios of Lehi, as well as adding supportive infrastructure elements. The Cauldron returned in January 2021 and was placed on the 17-foot pedestal in this plaza as the centerpiece of the renamed Olympic and Paralympic Cauldron Plaza. , Caption , The Olympic and Paralympic Cauldron flame and fireworks illuminate the sky during the Salt Lake 2002 Opening Ceremony.