The organization of the Games has been heavily criticized by officials, athletes and journalists. Problems with the organization of traffic, the incompetence of volunteers, and failures in the operation of information systems were especially noted. The over-commercialization of the Games has been criticized. The serious incident was bombing at the olympic park, which took place on July 27 and temporarily overshadowed the Olympic events. As a result of the explosion, one person died, another died of a heart attack, one hundred and eleven people were injured of varying severity. The FBI named the alleged perpetrator - Eric Robert Rudolph, who was only captured in 2003. After his arrest, he confessed to all crimes and explained his actions with political motives. He was sentenced to four life sentences without parole. At the closing ceremony of the Games, IOC President J. A. Samaranch, for the only time during his presidency, did not say the traditional phrase "These Games were the best in history."

• Softball, beach volleyball, mountain biking, women's soccer, and lightweight crew racing in rowing made their Olympic debuts.
• The largest number of gold medals, four, was won by American swimmer Amy Van Dyken. She won the 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly; and also competed in the 4x100 freestyle relay and medley relay. The highest total number of medals, six, is by Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov.
• Li Laishan wins first and last sailboard competition gold medal in the history of Hong Kong as a British colony.
• The strongest professional cyclists were admitted to the Games for the first time. individual race the five-time Tour de France race champion Spaniard Miguel Indurain won on the highway.
• American Michael Johnson and Frenchwoman Marie Jo Perec made a gold double in the 200 and 400 meters, with Johnson with a world record in the two hundred meters.
• Sprinter Donovan Bailey of Canada won the 100m with a world record time of 9.84 seconds.
• The famous athlete Carl Lewis won his ninth gold medal in the long jump at the age of 35. Olympic medal.
• Russian swimmer Alexander Popov won the 50m and 100m freestyle at the second Olympics in a row.
• Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu became the first representative of his sport to win three Olympic gold medals.
• The athletics stadium contained nine tracks for running 100 meters. At the same time, 9 participants went to the final race (those who took 8th and 9th places showed the same time in the semi-finals). After the Olympics, it was converted into a baseball one.
• At the third Olympic Games in a row, Russian Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin won gold.
• American basketball team made up of NBA players and named "Dream Team 2" won gold Olympic tournament following their predecessors from Dream Team 1.
• The victory of the Nigerian team in the football competition was the first ever Olympic football victory for an African country.
• All 4 medals for

The Olympic Games were held by Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Manchester (England), Melbourne (Australia) and Toronto (Canada). But these cities were eliminated consecutively in the first four rounds of voting at the 96th session of the International Olympic Committee. In the final round, 51 out of 86 deputies voted for Atlanta.

Atlanta is a city of half a million people in the Southeast of the United States, which is the administrative center of the state of Georgia. It was founded in 1837 as one of the stations under construction of the railroad to the Midwest. Then it had the name Terminus, and the status of the city and the new name of the settlement received a decade later. In the history of the country, Atlanta is known as a place that, during the civil war between north and south, was burned in 1864 by the army of northerners, and at the beginning of the twentieth century there were mass unrest of the black population.

By the time of the event, Atlanta has become an ultra-modern city, the capital of the "new South" and the center of business activity, the architecture of which is dominated by the styles of "modern" and "postmodern". The tallest building, "Bank American Plaza", has a height of 312 meters - the tallest skyscrapers in the country are only in Chicago and New York. By the opening of the 1996 Olympics, an 85,000-seat multi-purpose stadium was built in the city, which was named the Centennial Olympic Stadium. It was he who became the main arena of competitions, the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the XXVI Summer Olympic Games.

The Games were opened by the then US President Bill Clinton, and the Olympic flame at the stadium was lit by the legendary Mohammed Ali. The Americans also got the largest number of awards - 101. Despite the modernity of the city, the organization of the information systems and transport support of the Olympiad, as well as the subordination of the game schedule to the commercial interests of sponsors and organizers, was seriously criticized.

The XXVI Summer Olympic Games were held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from July 19 to August 4, 1996. Athletes representing 197 countries competed in 26 sports. At the same time, 271 sets of medals were played.

The choice of Atlanta as the Olympic city surprised many people. The fact is that the state of Georgia during the years of the Civil War in the United States was considered a stronghold of the Confederates - supporters of slavery, and racist prejudices were very strong in it for a long time. However, the members of the Atlanta bid committee did a great job convincing the IOC of the high degree of readiness of the city to host competitions of this level, and in the end they got their way.

The opening ceremony of the games was very colorful. Her main theme was the American South and Atlanta itself. 10,700 people participated in the parade of athletes. After US President Bill Clinton declared the games open, the Olympic flame was lit. This high honor was given to the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. At the end of the ceremony, the song "The Power of Dreams" was performed, accompanied by colorful fireworks.

Alas, the great celebration of sports, which the Olympics should be, turned out to be clouded due to a number of circumstances. Firstly, during the Olympics in Atlanta, there was a terrorist act - an explosion, because of which a person died, and more than a hundred people were injured (one of them died of a heart attack). Secondly, the very organization of the Olympic Games, despite all the assurances of the Atlanta bid committee, turned out to be at a very low level.

Many officials, representatives of the press, athletes expressed their dissatisfaction with the poor organization of traffic, unsatisfactory presentation of information, as well as the low qualification of volunteer assistants. The mascot of the Olympics, the computer-generated character Izzy, also led people into confusion. It is quite natural that IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, speaking at the closing ceremony of the games, did not utter the traditional phrase "These games were the best in history."

The Russian team in Atlanta performed very well, it took second place in the team standings, losing only to the US team. Our athletes won 63 medals, including 26 gold, 21 silver and 16 bronze. The most successful of the Russians was gymnast A. Nemov, who received 6 medals - 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.

1996 was the year of the 100th anniversary of the 1st Olympic Games, so many considered Athens as the main contender for the vote on the choice of the host city of the Olympics. However, the XXVI Summer Olympic Games were held in Atlanta (Georgia, USA). Since this Olympiad was an anniversary one, they began to call it the 100th Anniversary Olympiad.

The grand opening of the Summer Olympics took place on July 19, 1996 at the Olympic Stadium, in front of which a special tower with a bowl for the Olympic flame was built. According to media reports, the live broadcast of the ceremony, which was conducted by 170 television companies, was watched by about 3.5 billion people. The 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games, as well as the history of the American South and Atlanta, were the most significant topics of the demonstration numbers of the ceremony. At the end of the opening ceremony of the Games, the song "The Power of Dreams" was performed by the famous singer Celine Dion, written by her especially for the Olympics. There were also colorful fireworks.

V Olympic Games Athletes from 197 countries took part in the event, among which 271 awards were played in 25 sports. For the first time, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, etc. performed as separate teams in the Summer Olympics. Women made their debut at the Games in Atlanta, Beach volleyball, softball, light weight rowing and mountain biking.

The Russian national team in 1996 for the first time acted as an independent country on Summer Games. Having taken 2nd place in the unofficial team event, the Russian team lost to the US team. Russian athletes took 26 gold, 21 silver, and 16 bronze medals. Fencers, swimmers, athletes and wrestlers brought most of the medals to the national team.

The organization of the 1996 Summer Olympics was subject to considerable criticism from athletes, officials and journalists. Failures in the operation of information systems, the incompetence of volunteers, problems with the organization of traffic, as well as the excessive commercialization of the Olympic Games, were especially criticized. An important incident was the explosion in the Olympic Park, which occurred on July 27 and temporarily blocked the Olympic events. As a result of the explosive action of a bomb planted by a terrorist, 1 person died, another 1 died of a heart attack, and more than 100 people received non-dangerous injuries. But still, despite these tragic events, the Olympic Games in Atlanta will be remembered thanks to sporting achievements.

On August 4, 1996, in the presence of more than 85 thousand people, the Closing Ceremony of the Games was held at the Atlanta Olympic Stadium. Many famous American musicians took part in the musical part of the ceremony. The winners were awarded in the men's marathon, which took place on the last day Summer Olympics 1996. By tradition, the athletes took part in the parade all together, thus symbolizing the Olympic unity.

At the closing ceremony of the Games, IOC President Samaranch did not say his traditional phrase "These Games were the best in history." During his speech, he paid special attention to the threat of terrorism and called for the memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in Atlanta, as well as the Israeli athletes who died in Munich in 1972. The Olympic flag was lowered from the flagpole, and the Olympic banner was solemnly presented to the mayor of the capital of the next Games - Sydney. The closing ceremony ended with a grandiose fireworks display.

Tip 4: What the 1996 Atlanta Olympics are notorious for

The 100th Anniversary Olympic Games were held in 1996 in the American city of Atlanta. For the first time, it was not the combined team of Russia and the Union republics that competed, but individual national teams of the states that were previously part of the USSR.

The most successful for the Russian teams were competitions in sports and rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, diving. In many sports in which Soviet athletes have traditionally been winners, the Russians did not even manage to enter the top six. Such “failed” sports for men were: badminton, road cycling, rowing slalom, archery and tennis. Women performed unsuccessfully in competitions in badminton, rowing, rowing and canoeing, moutainback, clay shooting, swimming, tennis and archery.

Of the total Russian athletes only 52% of the team members managed to win medals, the training of the remaining 48% was assessed as unsuccessful based on the results of these games. Experts noted a clear regression in the women's types of the Olympic sports program. This was especially noticeable in judo competitions, cycling, swimming, archery, table tennis and field hockey.

The situation in sports related to games (basketball, volleyball, handball) and cyclic (academic rowing, track and field running, swimming) was called unfavorable based on the results of the games. The Greco-Roman wrestling team of the country, on which special hopes were placed, also performed very mediocrely. It also turned out to be ineffective to attract athletes to the Olympic team who had already played for foreign clubs - they brought very few additional points to the common treasury.

197 countries. 10320 athletes (3523 women). 26 sports. Leaders in the unofficial team standings: 1. USA (44-32-25); 2. Russia (26-21-16); 3. Germany (20-18-27)

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games took place on July 19, 1996 at the Atlanta Olympic Stadium. 170 television companies broadcast live the ceremony, which was watched by about 3.5 billion people according to media reports.

The history of Atlanta and the American South, as well as the centenary of the Olympic Movement, were the main themes of the colorful demonstration numbers of the ceremony.

The parade of athletes was attended by 10,700 athletes from all 197 participating countries. After the end of the parade, IOC President J.A. Samaranch and President of the Organizing Committee of the Games Billy Payne delivered speeches. US President Bill Clinton officially declared the Games open. The Olympic flag was raised to the music of the Olympic anthem. The culmination of the opening ceremony was the lighting of the Olympic flame. Famous American athletes carried the torch around the stadium - boxer Evander Holyfield, swimmer Janette Evans; and the honor of lighting the fire in the bowl was given to former boxer Mohammed Ali. The traditional oath was taken by judges and athletes - basketball player Teresa Edwards did it on behalf of the athletes.

The final chord of the ceremony was the performance of the song "The Power of Dreams", a composition created specifically for the Games by the famous singer Celine Dion and colorful fireworks.

Since the Games were held in the year of the centenary of the 1st Olympic Games, Athens was considered by many to be the favorite in the voting for the choice of the capital. However, the Games were unexpectedly given to Atlanta.

The organization of the Games has been heavily criticized by officials, athletes and journalists. Problems with the organization of traffic, the incompetence of volunteers, and failures in the operation of information systems were especially noted. The over-commercialization of the Games has been criticized. A serious incident was the explosion in the Olympic Park, which occurred on July 27 and temporarily blocked the Olympic events. As a result of the explosion, one person died, another died of a heart attack, and more than a hundred people were slightly injured. At the closing ceremony of the Games, IOC President J. A. Samaranch, for the only time during his presidency, did not say the traditional phrase "These Games were the best in history."

Softball, beach volleyball, mountain biking, women's soccer, and light weight crew racing in rowing made their Olympic debuts.

Twenty countries took part in the Games for the first time, including Russia and 11 other former Soviet republics. Four years ago, all the countries that once made up the USSR, with the exception of the Baltic states, competed as part of the United Team.

The largest number of gold medals, four, was won by the American swimmer Amy van Dycken. She won the 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly; and also competed in the 4x100 freestyle and medley relay events. The largest total number of medals, six, is on account of the Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov.

Li Laishang won the first and last gold medal in the history of Hong Kong as a British colony in the sailboard competition.

The strongest professional cyclists were admitted to the Games for the first time. Miguel Indurain, a five-time Tour de France champion, won the individual road race.

American Michael Johnson and Frenchwoman Marie Jo Perec made a gold double in the 200 and 400 meters, with Johnson with a world record in the two hundred meters.

Sprinter Donovan Bailey of Canada won the 100m with a world record time of 9.84 seconds.

The famous athlete Carl Lewis won his fourth gold medal in the long jump at the age of 35.

Russian swimmer Alexander Popov won the 50m and 100m freestyle at the second Olympics in a row.

Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu became the first representative of his sport to win three Olympic gold medals.

The athletics stadium contained nine tracks for running 100 meters. At the same time, 9 participants went to the final race (those who took 8th and 9th places showed the same time in the semi-finals). After the Olympics, it was converted into a baseball one.

At the third consecutive Olympic Games, the Russian Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin won gold.

The American basketball team, made up of NBA players and named Dream Team 2, won the gold of the Olympic tournament following their predecessors from Dream Team 1.

The victory of the Nigerian team in the football competition was the first ever Olympic football victory for an African country.

All 4 medals for Ireland (three gold and one bronze) were won by swimmer Michelle Smith. Two years later, she was caught using illegal drugs and disqualified, but she was not deprived of the 1996 Olympic medals.

The American women's gymnastics team won the Olympics for the first time in team competition. The courageous behavior of Kelly Strug, who performed in the final exercise with a serious injury, was long discussed in the press.

Chinese athlete Deng Yaping for the second Olympics in a row made a double in individual and doubles table tennis competitions.

Heavyweight boxer Paea Wolfgram from Tonga won so far the only Olympic medal of this state. He lost only in the final of the tournament to Wladimir Klitschko.

The closing ceremony took place on August 4 at the Atlanta Olympic Stadium in the presence of more than 85,000 people. Many famous American musicians took part in the musical part of the ceremony.

Right during the closing ceremony, the winners of the men's marathon, which took place on the last day of the Games, were awarded.

By tradition, the athletes took part in another parade, but this time they were not divided by countries, but all together, symbolizing Olympic unity.

IOC President J. A. Samaranch spoke specifically about the threat of terrorism and called for the memory of the victims of the explosion in the Olympic Park in Atlanta, as well as the Israeli athletes who died in 1972 in Munich.

The Olympic flag was lowered from the flagpole, and the challenge Olympic banner was solemnly presented to the mayor of Sydney, the capital of the next Games.

After the official announcement of the Games as closed, the Olympic flame was extinguished. The ceremony ended with a grandiose fireworks display.

July 19 - August 4, 1996 in Atlanta, USA, the Games of the XXVI Olympiad were held. The Games were held on a significant date - the 100th anniversary of the first modern Olympic Games.

For the first time since 1912, the Russian team competed at the Olympics (408 athletes from 53 territories). Russian Federation), who managed to put up a worthy resistance to the US team and won third place in the unofficial team standings in a difficult struggle.

10,700 athletes from 197 countries competed at the Games. 271 sets of medals were played in 26 sports.

Oleg Saitov (boxing), Vadim Bogiev, Khadzhimurad Magomedov, Buvaisa Saitiev (freestyle wrestling), Alexander Karelin (Greco-Roman wrestling), Zulfiya Zabirova (cycling), Alexei Nemov and Svetlana Khorkina distinguished themselves in the Russian team ( gymnastics), Svetlana Masterkova and Elena Nikolaeva ( Athletics), Alexander Popov and Denis Pankratov (swimming), Dmitry Sautin (diving), Alexei Petrov and Andrey Chemerkin (weightlifting), Stanislav Pozdnyakov and Alexander Beketov (fencing), Olga Klochneva, Artem Khadzhibekov and Boris Kokarev (bullet shooting) .

The organization of the Games has been heavily criticized by officials, athletes and journalists. Problems with the organization of traffic, the incompetence of volunteers, and failures in the operation of information systems were especially noted. The over-commercialization of the Games has been criticized. A serious incident was the explosion in the Olympic Park, which occurred on July 27 and temporarily blocked the Olympic events. As a result of the explosion, one person died, another died of a heart attack, and more than a hundred people were slightly injured.

At the closing ceremony of the Games, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch for the only time during his presidency did not say the traditional phrase "These Games were the best in history."