Moldova at the 2002 Winter Olympics
{{infobox country at games
| NOC = MDA
| NOCname = National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Moldova
| games = Winter Olympics
| year = 2002
| flagcaption =
| oldcode =
| website = {{url|www.olympic.md }} {{in lang|ro}}
| location = Salt Lake City
| competitors = 5 (3 men, 2 women)
| sports = 3
| flagbearer = Ion Bucșa (cross-country skiing)
| rank =
| gold = 0
| silver = 0
| bronze = 0
| officials =
| appearances = auto
| app_begin_year = 1994
| app_end_year =
| summerappearances =
| winterappearances =
| seealso = {{flagIOC|RU1}} (1900–1912)
{{flagIOC|ROM}} (1924–1936)
{{flagIOC|URS}} (1952–1988)
{{flagIOC|EUN|1992 Summer}} (1992)
}}
Moldova participated at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, United States, held between 8 and 24 February 2002. The country's participation in the Games marked its third appearance at the Winter Olympics since its debut in the previous Games.
The Moldovan team consisted of five athletes including two women, who competed across three sports. Skier Ion Bucșa served as the country's flag-bearer during the opening ceremony. Moldova did not win any medal in the Games, and has not won a Winter Olympics medal as of these Games.
Background
Moldova achieved independence after the break-up of Soviet Union in 1991 and its National Olympic Committee was formed on 29 January 1991. As the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Moldova was only recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1993, Moldovan athletes participated as a part of a unified team at the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona. Moldavan athletes competed from 1952 to 1988 as a part of Soviet Union.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/countries/MDA|title=Moldova at the Olympics|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}} The 1994 Winter Olympics marked Moldova's first participation as an independent nation in the Olympic Games. After the nation made its debut in the Winter Olympics at the 1994 Games, this edition of the Games in 2002 marked the nation's third appearance at the Winter Games.
The 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, United States, held between 8 and 24 February 2002.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-games/salt-lake-city-2002|title=Salt Lake City 2002|work=Olympics.com|access-date=3 February 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/editions/47|title=2002 Winter Olympics|work=Olympedia|access-date=3 February 2024}}
The Moldovan team consisted of five athletes including two women, who competed across three sports.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/countries/MDA/editions/47|title=Moldova at the 2002 Winter Olympics|work=Olympedia|access-date=3 February 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/MDA/winter/2002/|title=Moldova at 2002 Winter Olympics|work=Sports Reference|access-date=1 June 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417092656/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/MDA/winter/2002/|archive-date=17 April 2020}} Skier Ion Bucșa served as the country's flag-bearer during the opening ceremony.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/flagbearers?edition_id=47|title=Flag bearers at the 2002 Winter Olympics|work=Olympedia|access-date=3 February 2024}} Moldova did not win any medal in the Games, and has not won a Winter Olympics medal as of these Games.
Competitors
Moldova sent five athletes including two women who competed in nine events across three sports at the Games.
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" | ||
| width=120|Sport
!width=55|Men !width=55|Women !width="55"|Athletes | ||
|---|---|---|
| align=left|Biathlon
|1 | 1 | 2 |
| align=left|Cross-country skiing
|1 | 1 | 2 |
| align=left|Luge
|1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total
!3 !2 !5 |
Biathlon
{{main|Biathlon at the 2002 Winter Olympics}}
Biathlon competitions were held at Soldier Hollow in Wasatch Mountain State Park.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/editions/47/sports/BTH|title=Biathlon|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}} Mihail Gribuşencov and Valentina Ciurina represented Moldova at the sport in the men's and women's categories respectively. This was the first Winter Games for both the athletes.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/mihail-gribusencov|title=Mihail Gribuşencov|work=Olympics.com|access-date=1 June 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/valentina-ciurina|title=Valentina Ciurina|work=Olympics.com|access-date=1 June 2024}} Gribuşencov took part in the men's sprint and individual competitions. He recorded a best place finish of 83rd in the sprint competition.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/1585|title=Biathlon, men's sprint|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/1586|title=Biathlon, men's individual|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}} Ciurina took part in three events in the women's competition, with her best finish coming in the pursuit event.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/1594|title=Biathlon, Women's pursuit|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}}
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%" |
| Event
!Athlete !Time !Misses{{efn|name=Miss|In the sprint and pursuit events, a penalty loop of 150 metres had to be skied per missed target.}} !Adjusted Time{{efn|name=Adj|In the individual event, a penalty of one minute is added per missed target.}} !Rank |
|---|
| rowspan="2"|Mihail Gribuşencov
|align="center"|30:02.2 |align="center"|2 |{{n/a}} |align="center"|83 |
| Men's individual
|align="center"|58:58.5 |align="center"|7 |align="center"|1'05:58.5 |align="center"|84 |
| rowspan="3"|Valentina Ciurina
|align="center"|23:49.7 |align="center"|1 |rowspan=2" {{n/a}} |align="center"|51 |
| Women's pursuit
|align="center"|38:19.7 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|48 |
| Women's individual
|align="center"|52:40.8 |align="center"|6 |align="center"|58:40.8 |align="center"|62 |
{{notelist}}
Cross-country skiing
{{main|Cross-country skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics}}
Cross-country skiing competitions were held at Soldier Hollow in Wasatch Mountain State Park.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/editions/47/sports/CCS|title=Cross-country skiing|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}} Ion Bucsa and Elena Gorohova represented Moldova at the sport in the men's and women's categories respectively. This was the third Winter Games for Gorohova, who made her debut at the 1994 Games.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/elena-gorohova|title=Elena Gorohova|work=Olympics.com|access-date=1 June 2024}} Busca first participated in the event in the 1998 Winter Olympics and made his second appearance in the event.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/ion-busca|title=Ion Busca|work=Olympics.com|access-date=1 June 2024}} Busca took part in the 30 km freestyle competition, and finished in 67th place.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/1585|title=Cross-country skiing, men's 30km freestyle|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}} Gorohova took part in two events in the women's competition. She finished 55th in the sprint event while not finishing the freestyle event.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/2112|title=Cross-country skiing, women's 15km freestyle|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}} {{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/2114|title=Cross-country skiing, women's sprint|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}}
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%" |
| rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event !colspan="2"|Qualifying !colspan="2"|Finals |
|---|
| Time
!Rank !Time !Rank |
| Ion Bucsa
|colspan="4" {{n/a}} |align=center|1'32:48.9 |align=center|67 |
| rowspan="2"|Elena Gorohova
|align=center|{{abbr|DNF|Did not finish}} |align=center|– |
| Women's sprint
|align="center"|3:43.82 |align="center"|55 |align="center" colspan="2" {{n/a|Did not advance}} |
Luge
{{main|Luge at the 2002 Winter Olympics}}
The Luge event was held from 10 to 11 February 2002 at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/2002/LUG/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417061546/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/2002/LUG/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Luge at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games |access-date=8 April 2020 |work=Sports Reference}} In his first run, Liviu Cepoi clocked a time of 47.161, finishing more than two second behind the leader Armin Zöggeler. In the second run, he clocked 47.353 to be ranked 42nd amongst the 50 participants. He performed better than the previous run in the third attempt, finishing 39th with a time of 46.604. In the final run, he completed the circuit with the time of 46.825 to be ranked 40th. Cepoi was classified in the 38th position with a total time of 3:07.943 and finished more than ten seconds behind the gold medalist Zöggeler.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/195|title=Luge Singles, Men|work=Olympedia|access-date=1 June 2024}}
| class="wikitable" border="1" style="font-size:90%" |
| rowspan="2"|Athlete
!colspan="2"|Run 1 !colspan="2"|Run 2 !colspan="2"|Run 3 !colspan="2"|Run 4 !colspan="2"|Total |
|---|
| Time
!Rank !Time !Rank !Time !Rank !Time !Rank !Time !Rank |
| Liviu Cepoi
|align="center"|47.161 |align="center"|40 |align="center"|47.353 |align="center"|42 |align="center"|46.604 |align="center"|39 |align="center"|46.825 |align="center"|40 |align="center"|3:07.943 |align="center"|38 |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070612020125/http://www.la84foundation.org/5va/reports_frmst.htm Official Olympic Reports]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20200417041013/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/2002/ Olympic Winter Games 2002, full results by sports-reference.com]
{{Nations at the 2002 Winter Olympics}}