1996 Summer Olympics
| Games of the XXVI Olympiad | |
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| Host city | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| Nations participating | 197 |
| Athletes participating | 10,320 (6,797 men, 3,523 women) |
| Events | 271 in 26 sports |
| Opening ceremony | July 19 |
| Closing ceremony | August 9 |
| Officially opened by | President Bill Clinton |
| Athlete's Oath | Teresa Edwards |
| Judge's Oath | Hobie Billingsley |
| Olympic Torch | Muhammad Ali |
| Stadium | Centennial Olympic Stadium |
The 1996 Summer Olympics, formally known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and informally known as the Centennial Olympics, were held in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Atlanta was selected in September 1990 in Tokyo, Japan, above Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto.
Selection
Some felt Athens should have had the right to host the games because it marked the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic games.[citation needed] The IOC instead voted for Atlanta, predicting that Athens' infrastructure could not be improved enough in time to successfully host the Games. Athens would eventually win the right to host the 2004 Summer Olympics in 1997. There were claims that executives in Atlanta had bribed the IOC officials.[1] These claims were never substantiated, but they prompted other winning bids from Nagano in 1998, Sydney in 2000, and Salt Lake City in 2002 to be more carefully scrutinized.
Incidents
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Although the Games made a financial profit, it was not without problems. Numerous observers considered the Games "over commercialized".[2] Problems of traffic congestion sometimes made travel between venues difficult. More seriously, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing of July 27 1996, killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others, and elicited the death of Melih Uzunyol by heart attack. Even with the problems, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said, in his closing speech, "Well done, Atlanta", although did not say they had been the best Olympics yet, as he did at every other Olympic closing ceremony while he was IOC president.
Effect on the city
The games had a profound impact on the city of Atlanta and many in the Atlanta metro area consider the games to be instrumental in transforming Atlanta into the more modern city it has become since. Examples of this are the mid-rise dormitories built for the Olympic village. One of these complexes became the first residential housing for Georgia State University, and has recently been transferred for use by the Georgia Institute of Technology. Other examples include Turner Field, which was a modification of the original Centennial Olympic Stadium, and where the Atlanta Braves baseball team now makes its home. Centennial Olympic Park was also built for the events and is still in use. Atlanta used no public money to finance the games, which cost US$1.8 billion to host. It was the first city in Olympic history to use ticket sales, commercial endorsements, advertising, and private money alone to fund the hosting of the Olympics. The consequence of this, however, was that many felt that the games in Atlanta were over-commercialized and were less exciting than previous games.[2]
Songs and themes
The Olympiad's official theme, Summon the Heroes, was written by
John Williams, making it the third Olympiad for which he has composed. The song
"The Power of the Dream", composed by
Mascot
The mascot for the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character named Izzy. In contrast to the standing tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous, computer-designed fantasy figure. The mascot was popularly ridiculed by the public and press as commercialized, unappealing, and ungrounded in any connection to the region.
Highlights
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- Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic torch during the opening ceremonies of the games and received his gold medal from the 1960 Summer Olympics (he had thrown his previous one into a river in disgust).
- Slovene gymnast Leon Štukelj arises at the opening ceremony as one of the oldest living sportsmen in the world (age 97)
- Naim Süleymanoğlu becomes the first weightlifter to win three gold medals.
- USA Dream Team III cruise to another gold medal win.
- Michael Johnson wins gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting a new world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 m.
- Donovan Bailey of Canada wins the men's 100 m, setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds at that time.
- Marie-José Perec equals Johnson's performance, although without a world record, by winning the rare 200 m/400 m double.
- At the age of 35 Carl Lewis takes his 4th long jump gold medal, his 9th in all.
- Softball, beach volleyball and mountainbiking debut on the Olympic program, together with women's soccer/football and lightweight rowing.
- Palestine was allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time.
- Cycling professionals were admitted to the Olympics, with five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain winning the inaugural individual time trial event.
- Michelle Smith of Ireland wins three gold medals and a bronze in swimming, but her victories are overshadowed by doping allegations, which are later reinforced as she is banned after failing a test in 1998.
- Amy Van Dyken wins four gold medals in the Olympic swimming pool, the first American woman to win four titles in a single Olympics.
- A record 197 nations, all current IOC member nations, take part, with a record 79 of them winning at least one medal.
- Five athletes were disqualified for using banned drugs. A few more were reinstated since the drug they took had been declared illegal only a week before the Olympics.
- Kerri Strug becomes an American heroine after bringing victory to the American female gymnastics team in spite of having to perform with an injury in the final event. Her gymnastics team, popularly known as the "Magnificent Seven", also includes Shannon Miller, Amy Chow, Jaycie Phelps, Amanda Borden, Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu.
- Andre Agassi wins the gold medal in the tennis event. This helps him become the first male player to ever win the career Golden Slam. (completes his Career Grand Slam in 1999 when he wins the French Open singles title).
- Kurt Angle of the United States won the gold medal in 100 kg (220 lb) freestyle wrestling while suffering a fractured neck. Angle would later go on to fame in Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment. He is widely regarded as one of the best athletes to ever participate in professional wrestling and the only Olympic gold medalist in the sport.
- Deng Yaping of China wins two gold medals in Women singles and doubles of table tennis. She is also the winner of these two titles in 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
- For the first time Olympic medals were won by the athletes from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burundi, Ecuador, Georgia, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mozambique, Slovakia, Tonga, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
- Lee Lai Shan won a gold medal in sailing, the first and only gold medal that Hong Kong has ever won.
- It was the first time that The United States 4X100 meters men relay was beaten in the finals . They were cleanly beaten by Canada . The team had won each final they were in at all the other games.
- The US Women's Soccer team won the Gold Medal in the first ever Women's Soccer Event.
Venues
- Centennial Olympic Stadium (now Turner Field)
- Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (demolished 1997)
- The Omni (Demolished 1997 and replaced by Philips Arena in 1999)
- Georgia Dome
- Georgia International Horse Park (Conyers, Georgia)
- Lake Lanier (Near Gainesville, Georgia)
- Georgia World Congress Center
- Georgia State University
- Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
- Forbes Arena (Morehouse College)
- Ocoee River (McCaysville, Georgia)
- Sanford Stadium (Athens, Georgia)
- Savannah River (at Savannah, Georgia)
- Stone Mountain Tennis Center (at Stone Mountain, Georgia)
- Legion Field (Birmingham, Alabama) - Soccer
- Golden Park (Columbus, Georgia) - Softball
- Alexander Memorial Coliseum - Boxing
Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
Participating nations
Blue = Participating for the first time. Green = Have previously participated. Yellow square is host city (Atlanta)
A total of 197 nations were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.[3] Twenty-four countries made their Olympic debut this year, including eleven of the ex-Soviet countries that competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992. Russia competed independently for the first time since 1912, when it was the Russian Empire. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia competed as Yugoslavia.
The 14 countries making their Olympic debut were: Azerbaijan, Burundi, Cape Verde, Comoros, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, FYR Macedonia, Nauru, Palestine, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The 10 countries making their Summer Olympic debut (after competing at the 1994 Winter
Olympics in Lillehammer) were: Armenia,
Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Slovakia,
Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
