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The '''1996 Summer Olympics''', formally known as the '''Games of the XXVI Olympiad''' and informally known as the '''Centennial Olympics''', were |
The '''1996 Summer Olympics''', formally known as the '''Games of the XXVI Olympiad''' and informally known as the '''Centennial Olympics''', were celebrated in [[1996]] in [[Atlanta, Georgia]], [[United States]]. Atlanta was selected in [[1990#September|September 1990]] in [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]], above [[Athens]], [[Belgrade]], [[Manchester]], [[Melbourne]] and [[Toronto]]. |
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==Selection== |
==Selection== |
Revision as of 19:08, 7 March 2008
The 1996 Summer Olympics, formally known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and informally known as the Centennial Olympics, were celebrated 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.[1] The IOC instead voted, in 1990, 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.
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 some felt that the games in Atlanta were over-commercialized and were less exciting than previous games.[2][2]
Incidents
Although the Games made a financial profit, it was not without problems. Allegations were levelled that Atlanta organizers bribed members of the IOC to obtain the Olympic Games.[citation needed] However, ACOG documents were destroyed prior to a formal inquiry and the allegations remain unproven.[citation needed] In his defense, ACOG Chairman Billy Payne said, "Atlanta's bidding effort included excessive actions, even thought processes, that today seem inappropriate but, at the time, reflected the prevailing practices in the selection process and an extremely competitive environment."
Problems of traffic congestion sometimes made travel between venues difficult.[citation needed] More seriously, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing of July 27 1996, killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 11 others, and elicited the death of Melih Uzunyol by heart attack.
Aside from the problems, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said in his closing speech, "Well done, Atlanta," and called the Games the "most exceptional." He broke with precedent and did not say they had been the best Olympics ever, as he did at every previous Olympic closing ceremony while he was IOC president. This was likely an intentional omission given some of the issues like the Games' over-commercialism, technology and transportation issues. The City of Atlanta was also found to have been competing with the IOC for advertising and sponsorship dollars. The city was licensing street vendors who would sell certain products over others, and therefore providing a presence for companies who were not the official sponsors of the Games.[3] Four years later Samaranch called the 2000 Sydney Olympics the best ever.[4]
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 Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and David Foster, with words by Linda Thompson was performed in the opening ceremony by Céline Dion accompanied by Foster and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Centennial Choir. Gladys Knight sang "Georgia on My Mind", Georgia's official state song, at the opening ceremony. The closing ceremony featured Gloria Estefan singing "Reach", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. At the closing of the ceremony Trisha Yearwood performed the Olympics song ["The Flame"]
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
- 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.
- 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, She passed all tests however.
- 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..
- 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.
- Kurt Angle of the United States won the gold medal in 100 kg (220 lb) freestyle wrestling while suffering a broken neck.
- 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.
- The US Women's Soccer team won the Gold Medal in the first ever Women's Soccer Event.
Venues
- Clark Atlanta University
- 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 (Polk County, Tennessee)
- 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
- The Beach (then known as Atlanta Beach) (Jonesboro, Georgia)- Beach Volleyball
Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
Participating nations
A total of 197 nations were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.[5] 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.
Broadcast Rights
- USA NBC
- BRA TV Globo, TV Record, SBT and TV Bandeirantes
- AUS Seven Network
- ITA RAI
- GBR BBC
- NLD Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
Medal count
These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:
1 | United States (host nation) | 44 | 32 | 25 | 101 |
2 | Russia | 26 | 21 | 16 | 63 |
3 | Germany | 20 | 18 | 27 | 65 |
4 | China | 16 | 22 | 12 | 50 |
5 | France | 15 | 7 | 15 | 37 |
6 | Italy | 13 | 10 | 12 | 35 |
7 | Australia | 9 | 9 | 23 | 41 |
8 | Cuba | 9 | 8 | 8 | 25 |
9 | Ukraine | 9 | 2 | 12 | 23 |
10 | South Korea | 7 | 15 | 5 | 27 |
Leading medal winners
Men's leading medal winners at the Atlanta games | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Athlete's name | Sport / discipline | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
1 | Alexei Nemov (RUS) | Gymnastics | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | |
2 | Gary Hall Jr. (USA) | Swimming | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
Alexander Popov (RUS) | Swimming | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | ||
4 | Josh Davis (USA) | Swimming | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
5 | Denis Pankratov (RUS) | Swimming | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
6 | Daniel Kowalski (AUS) | Swimming | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
7 | Vitaly Scherbo (BLR) | Gymnastics | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Women's leading medal winners at the Atlanta games | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Athlete's name | Sport / discipline | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
1 | Amy Van Dyken (USA) | Swimming | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
2 | Michelle Smith (IRL) | Swimming | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
3 | Angel Martino (USA) | Swimming | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
4 | Simona Amânar (ROU) | Gymnastics | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
5 | Dagmar Hase (GER) | Swimming | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
6 | Gina Gogean (ROU) | Gymnastics | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
7 | Jenny Thompson (USA) | Swimming | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
8 | Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) | Gymnastics | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
9 | Amanda Beard (USA) | Swimming | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
Jingyi Le (CHN) | Swimming | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | ||
Whitney Hedgepeth (USA) | Swimming | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | ||
12 | Susie O'Neill (AUS) | Swimming | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
13 | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | Athletics | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Franziska van Almsick (GER) | Swimming | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
15 | Sandra Völker (GER) | Swimming | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
See also
- 1996 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony
- 1996 Summer Paralympics
- International Olympic Committee
- IOC country codes
Olympics with significant criminal incidents
- 1972 Summer Olympics – Munich, Bavaria, West Germany — Munich massacre
- 1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta, Georgia, USA — Centennial Olympic Park bombing
Reference
- ^ "Atlanta Selected Over Athens for 1996 Olympics" (html). New York Times. 1990-09-19. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
- ^ a b Olympic bid smacks into $10M hurdle - fact mentioned in the 5th paragraph
- ^ McGill's master of the rings
- ^ Australia Best Ever
- ^ Olympics OFFICIAL Recap
External links
- IOC Site on 1996 Summer Olympics
- Official Report Vol. 1 Digital Archive from the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles
- Official Report Vol. 2 Digital Archive from the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles
- Official Report Vol. 3 Digital Archive from the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles