Loading AI tools
Multi-sport event in Atlanta, Georgia, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games)[3][4][5] were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. These were the fourth Summer Olympics to be hosted by the United States, making it the first country to have three different cities host the Summer Olympics.[6] It also marked the 100th anniversary of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games. These were also the first Summer Olympics to be held in a different year than the Winter Olympics since the Winter Olympics commenced in 1924, as part of a new IOC practice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. The 1996 Games were the first of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantly English-speaking country, preceding the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. These were also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until 2028, when Los Angeles will host the games for the third time.
Emblem of the 1996 Summer Olympics | |
| Location | Atlanta, United States |
|---|---|
| Motto | The Celebration of the Century |
| Nations | 197 |
| Athletes | 10,318 (6,806 men, 3,512 women)[1] |
| Events | 271 in 26 sports (37 disciplines) |
| Opening | July 19, 1996 |
| Closing | August 4, 1996 |
| Opened by | |
| Cauldron | |
| Stadium | Centennial Olympic Stadium |
Summer Winter
1996 Summer Paralympics | |
10,318 athletes from 197 National Olympic Committees competed in 26 sports, including the Olympic debuts of beach volleyball, mountain biking and softball, as well as the new disciplines of lightweight rowing, women's swimming 4 x 200 freestyle relay, women's fencing, team rhythmic gymnastics, and women's association football. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 former Soviet republics participating for the first time as independent nations. With a total of 101 medals, the United States topped both the gold and overall medal count for the first time since 1984 (and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics), also winning the most gold (44) and silver (32) medals out of all the participating nations. Notable performances during the competition included those of Andre Agassi, whose gold medal in these Games would be followed up with the French Open title in 1999, making him the first men's singles tennis player to complete the Golden Slam; Donovan Bailey, who set a new world record of 9.84 for the men's 100 meters; Lilia Podkopayeva, who became the second gymnast to win an individual event gold medal after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics; and the Magnificent Seven, who dramatically won the first ever U.S. gold medal in the Women's artistic gymnastics team all-around.[7]
The Games were marred by violence on July 27, 1996, when a pipe bomb was detonated at Centennial Olympic Park (which had been built to serve as a public focal point for the festivities), killing two and injuring 111. Years later, Eric Rudolph confessed to the bombing and a series of related terrorist attacks, and was sentenced to life in prison. Nonetheless, the 1996 Olympics turned a profit, helped by record revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, and a reliance on private funding, among other factors. There were 8.3 million tickets sold for events at this Olympics, a record broken only in 2024. There was some criticism of the perceived over-commercialization of the Games, with other issues raised by European officials, such as the availability of food and transport. The event had a lasting impact on the city; Centennial Olympic Park led a revitalization of Atlanta's downtown area, and has served as a symbol of the legacy of the 1996 Games; the Olympic Village buildings have since been used as residential housing for area universities; and the Centennial Olympic Stadium has since been redeveloped twice, first as the Turner Field baseball stadium, then as the Center Parc American football stadium.
Atlanta was selected on September 18, 1990, in Tokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the 96th IOC Session. The city entered the competition as a dark horse, being up against stiff competition.[8] The US media also criticized Atlanta as a second-tier city and complained of Georgia's Confederate history. However, the IOC Evaluation Commission ranked Atlanta's infrastructure and facilities the highest, while IOC members said that it could guarantee large television revenues similar to the success of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the most recent Olympics in the United States.[9] Additionally, former US ambassador to the UN and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young touted Atlanta's civil rights history and reputation for racial harmony. Young also wanted to showcase a reformed American South. The strong economy of Atlanta and improved race relations in the South helped to impress the IOC officials. Coca-Cola, a long-standing partner of the Olympics, was also a strong advocate to bring the Games to its hometown.[10] The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) also proposed a substantial revenue-sharing with the IOC, USOC, and other NOCs.[10] Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front-running bid that began in 1986 had chances to succeed after Canada had held a successful 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and after Brisbane, Australia's failed bid for the 1992 games (which were awarded to Barcelona) and prior to Sydney, Australia's successful 2000 Summer Olympics bid. This would be Toronto's fourth failed attempt since 1960 (tried in 1960, 1964, and 1976, but was defeated by Rome, Tokyo and Montreal).[11]
Greece, the home of the ancient and first modern Olympics, was considered by many observers the "natural choice" for the Centennial Games,[9][10] due to its "divine right" in history.[12] Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxas gave repeated warnings to the IOC and demanded to give them the games to mark the centennial, saying "You don't hold a 100th birthday in someone else's home. The Centenary Games should be held in Athens."[12] He also warned that "if we don't get the Olympics in 1996 we will never bid again to host them."[13]
However, the Athens bid was described as "arrogant and poorly prepared," being regarded as "not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza" of the current Games. Athens faced numerous obstacles, including "political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about US$3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities."[9][14][15] Athens would later be selected to host the 2004 Summer Olympics seven years later on September 5, 1997.[16]
| City | Country | Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| Atlanta |  United States | 19 | 20 | 26 | 34 | 51 |
| Athens |  Greece | 23 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 35 |
| Toronto |  Canada | 14 | 17 | 18 | 22 | — |
| Melbourne |  Australia | 12 | 21 | 16 | — | — |
| Manchester |  Great Britain | 11 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Belgrade |  SFR Yugoslavia[18] | 7 | — | — | — | — |
The total cost of the 1996 Summer Olympics was estimated to be around US$1.7 billion.[19] The venues and the Games themselves were funded entirely via private investment,[20] and the only public funding came from the U.S. government for security, and around $500 million of public money used on physical public infrastructure including streetscaping, road improvements, Centennial Olympic Park (alongside $75 million in private funding), expansion of the airport, improvements in public transportation, and redevelopment of public housing projects.[21] $420 million worth of tickets were sold, sale of sponsorship rights accounted for $540 million, and sale of the domestic broadcast rights to NBC accounted for $456 million. In total, the Games turned a profit of $19 million.[22][19]
The cost for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). The average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is $5.2 billion. Unlike Atlanta 1996, Beijing and Sochi were primarily funded by their respective governments.[23]
_NRT_09JUL01_(6896202880).jpg)
.JPEG)
Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas. A number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi (4.8 km) circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held at Stone Mountain, about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the city. To broaden ticket sales, other events, such as Association football (soccer), were staged in various cities in the Southeast.[24][25]
The Olympiad's official theme, "Summon the Heroes", was written by John Williams, making it the third Olympiad at that point for which he had composed (official composer in 1984, NBC's coverage composer in 1988). The opening ceremony featured Céline Dion singing "The Power of the Dream", the theme song of the 1996 Olympics. The closing ceremony featured Gloria Estefan singing "Reach", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. 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, fantasy figure. A video game featuring the Games' mascot, Izzy's Quest for the Olympic Rings, was also released.[26]
Atlanta's Olympic slogan "Come Celebrate Our Dream" was written by Jack Arogeti, a managing director at McCann-Erickson in Atlanta at the time. The slogan was selected from more than 5,000[27] submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Billy Payne noted that Jack "captured the spirit and our true motivation for the Olympic games."[28]
The city of Savannah, Georgia, host of the yachting events, held its own local festivities, including a local cauldron lighting event on the first day of the Games (headlined by a performance by country musician Trisha Yearwood).[29]
In 1994, African-American artist Kevin Cole was commissioned to create the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural, and the 15-story mural took two years to complete.[30]
| July/August 1996 | July | August | Events | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19th Fri |
20th Sat |
21st Sun |
22nd Mon |
23rd Tue |
24th Wed |
25th Thu |
26th Fri |
27th Sat |
28th Sun |
29th Mon |
30th Tue |
31st Wed |
1st Thu |
2nd Fri |
3rd Sat |
4th Sun | |||
 Ceremonies | OC | CC | — | ||||||||||||||||
| Aquatics |  Diving
| ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | 38 | |||||||||
 Swimming
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | ||||||||||||
 Synchronized swimming
| ● | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
 Water polo
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | |||||||||||
 Archery
| ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||
 Athletics
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 44 | |||||||||
 Badminton
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||
| Baseball/Softball | |||||||||||||||||||
 Baseball
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 2 | ||||||
 Softball
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | ||||||||||
 Basketball
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
 Boxing
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 6 | 6 | 12 | |||
| Canoeing | _pictogram.svg){kind=small} Slalom
| 2 | 2 | 16 | |||||||||||||||
_pictogram.svg){kind=small} Sprint
| ● | ● | ● | ● | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| Cycling | _pictogram.svg){kind=small} Road cycling
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 | ||||||||||||||
_pictogram.svg){kind=small} Track cycling
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||||||
_pictogram.svg){kind=small} Mountain biking
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
 Equestrian
| ● | ● | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||||
 Fencing
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||||||||||||
 Field hockey
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
 Football
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Gymnastics | _pictogram.svg){kind=small} Artistic
| ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 16 | |||||||||
_pictogram.svg){kind=small} Rhythmic
| ● | 1 | ● | 1 | |||||||||||||||
 Handball
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
 Judo
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 | |||||||||||
.svg){kind=small} Modern pentathlon
| 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
 Rowing
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 7 | 7 | 14 | ||||||||||
 Sailing
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||||||
 Shooting
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||||