made famous by the "Miracle on ice"). In an acknowledgment of the September 11 attacks, the ceremony opened with the entrance of a damaged American flag recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, carried by an honor guard of athletes nominated by fellow members of the U.S. team (as with the main flagbearer), and police officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York City Police Department, and firefighters from the New York City Fire Department. The flag was presented during the playing of the U.S. national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner", as performed by the Tabernacle Choir. The Olympic cauldron was designed to look like an icicle and was made of glass, allowing the fire to be seen burning within, reflecting the Games' slogan "Light the Fire Within" and an overarching "fire and ice" theme. The actual glass cauldron stands atop a twisting glass and steel support, is high, and the flame within burns at . Together with its support, the cauldron stands tall and was made of 738 individual pieces of glass. Small jets send water down the glass sides of the cauldron to keep the glass and metal cooled (so they would not crack or melt) and give the effect of melting ice. The cauldron was designed by WET Design of Los Angeles, its frame built by roller coaster manufacturer Arrow Dynamics of Clearfield, Utah, and its glass pieces created by Western Glass of Ogden, Utah. The cauldron's cost was $2 million, and it was unveiled to the public when originally installed at Rice–Eccles Stadium on January 8, 2002. Production for the opening and closing ceremonies was designed by Seven Nielsen, and music for both ceremonies was directed by Mark Watters. Sports The 2002 Winter Olympics featured 78 medal events over 15 disciplines in 7 sports, an increase of 10 events over the 1998 Winter Olympics. Skeleton made its return to the Winter Olympic program for the first time since 1948, while a women's event was contested for the first time in bobsleigh. Biathlon Bobsleigh Curling Ice hockey Luge Skating Skiing Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each separate discipline. Participating National Olympic Committees A total of 78 teams qualified at least one athlete to compete in the Games. Five NOCs made their Winter Olympic debut in Salt Lake, including Cameroon, Hong Kong, Nepal, Tajikistan, and