1996 Summer Olympics Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Nations participating	197
Athletes participating	10,320 (6,797 men, 3,523 women)
Events	271 in 26 sports
Opening ceremonies	July 19, 1996
Closing ceremonies	August 4, 1996
Officially opened by	President Bill Clinton
Athlete's Oath	Teresa Edwards
Judge's Oath:	Hobie Billingsley
Olympic Torch	Muhammad Ali

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 1990 above Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto. Athens had hoped to organise the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games. The IOC's vote for Atlanta was therefore slightly surprising, however the reasoning was that Athens' infrastructure could not be improved enough in time to successfully host the Games.

It was regarded by some as one of the least successful of the modern games. The problem of traffic congestion sometimes made travel between venues difficult. There were complaints at how omnipresent the advertising was, with Coca-Cola especially being marketed on every available surface. Also during the games, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing took place on July 27, 1996 killing Alice Hawthorne and wounding 111 others, and eliciting the death of Melih Uzunyol by heart attack. In his closing speech, Juan Antonio Samaranch, head of the IOC, for the first time did not describe the games as being the "best ever."

Table of contents

1 Highlights 2 Medals awarded 3 Medal count 4 See also 5 External links

Highlights

(to be expanded to a day-by-day article)

• Slovene gymnast Leon Štukelj; arises at the open ceremony as one of the oldest living sportsmen in the world.
• Naim Süleymanoğlu; becomes the first weightlifter to win three gold medals.
• Michael Johnson wins gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting an amazing 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, also winning the rare 200 m/400 m double.
• Softball, beach volleyball and mountainbiking debut on the Olympic programme, together with women's football (soccer) and lightweight rowing.
• Cycling professionals were admitted to the Olympics, with five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Induráin winning the inaugural individual time trial event.
• Michelle Smith of Ireland wins three gold medals and a bronze, but her victories are overshadowed by doping allegations, which are later reinforced as she is banned after failing a test in 1999.
• 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 also includes Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Archery Athletics Baseball Basketball Badminton Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrianism Fencing Football Gymnastics Handball Hockey

Judo Modern Pentathlon Rowing Shooting Soccer (football) Softball Swimming Synchronized Swimming Table Tennis Tennis Volleyball Water Polo Weightlifting Wrestling Yachting

Medal count

Top medal-collecting nations at the 1996 Summer Olympics:
(for the full table, see 1996 Summer Olympics medal count)

1996 Summer Olympics medal count
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	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

See also:

• 1996 Summer Olympics medal productivity
• For a list of medals per capita and similar statistics, see http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics1996.html .

See also

• 1996 Summer Paralympics
• International Olympic Committee
• WikiProject Sports Olympics
• IOC country codes

External links

• IOC Site on 1996 Summer Olympics

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