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1996 Summer Olympics

1996 Summer Olympics

Overview
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, were an international
International
International or internationally most often describes interaction between nations, or encompassing two or more nations, constituting a group or association having members in two or more nations, or generally reaching beyond national boundaries...

 multi-sport event
Multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, and featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the modern Olympic Games.Many...

 which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Atlanta was selected in September 1990 in Tokyo
Tokyo
, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....

, Japan
Japan
is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, over Athens
Athens
Athens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....

, Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...

, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...

, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne city centre is the anchor of the larger geographical area and statistical division known as the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area – of which Melbourne is...

 and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...

. Atlanta's bid to host the Summer Games that began in 1987 was considered a long-shot, since the U.S.
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Encyclopedia
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, were an international
International
International or internationally most often describes interaction between nations, or encompassing two or more nations, constituting a group or association having members in two or more nations, or generally reaching beyond national boundaries...

 multi-sport event
Multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, and featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the modern Olympic Games.Many...

 which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Selection


Atlanta was selected in September 1990 in Tokyo
Tokyo
, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....

, Japan
Japan
is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, over Athens
Athens
Athens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....

, Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...

, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...

, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne city centre is the anchor of the larger geographical area and statistical division known as the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area – of which Melbourne is...

 and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...

. Atlanta's bid to host the Summer Games that began in 1987 was considered a long-shot, since the U.S. had hosted the Summer Olympics just 3 games earlier in Los Angeles. Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front running bid that began in 1986 seemed almost sure to succeed after Canada had held a successful 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and felt that the Olympic Games should return to Australia. The Athens bid was based on sentiment, the fact that these Olympic Games would be the 100th Anniversary of the first Summer Games in Greece in 1896.

The chart's information below comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page, regarding the cities that bid for Atlanta for the 1996 Olympic Games. The vote occurred at the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo
Tokyo
, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....

, Japan
Japan
is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.
1996 Summer Olympics Bidding Results
City NOC Name Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5
Atlanta 19 20 26 34 51
Athens
Athens
Athens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....

23 23 26 30 35
Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...

14 17 18 22
Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne city centre is the anchor of the larger geographical area and statistical division known as the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area – of which Melbourne is...

12 21 16
Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...

11 5
Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...

7

Effect on the city


The games had a profound impact on the city of Atlanta and many in the metro area consider the Games to be instrumental in transforming Atlanta into the modernized city it has become , although it was already known as a modern city before then. One instance is the mid-rise dormitories built for the Olympic Village, as one of these complexes became the first residential housing for Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Georgia State University is an urban research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves over 30,000 students, and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. The current university president is Mark P...

, and has recently been transferred for use by the Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly called Georgia Tech, Tech, and GT, is a public, coeducational research university in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States...

. Another example is Centennial Olympic Stadium
Centennial Olympic Stadium
Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Construction of the stadium began in 1993, and it was complete and ready for the Opening Ceremony in July 1996, where it hosted track and field events and the closing ceremony...

, which by design was later converted in the baseball-specific Turner Field
Turner Field
Turner Field is a ballpark in Atlanta, Georgia, home to Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves since 1997. Turner Field was originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium, it was completed in 1996 to serve as the centerpiece of the 1996 Summer Olympics...

 for the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Braves have played in Turner Field....

 after the Games concluded, as there was no long-term need for a track and field venue in the city. Centennial Olympic Park
Centennial Olympic Park
Centennial Olympic Park is a 21 acre public park located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA that is owned and operated by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. The park was built by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games as part of the infrastructure improvements for the Centennial...

 was also built for the events and is still in use.

The Atlanta Olympics followed the model established by the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...

. The cost to stage the Games was US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...

1.8 billion. Governmental funds were used for security, but not for the actual Games themselves. To pay for the games, Atlanta relied on commercial sponsorship and ticket sales, resulting in a profit of $10 million. It must also be stated that up to 500 million dollars of tax payer money was used on the physical infrastructure including streetscaping, road improvements, centennial park, expansion of airport, improvement in public transportation, and redevelopment of public housing projects.

Incidents


However, Atlanta's heavy reliance on corporate sponsorship caused many to consider the Games to be overly commercialized. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries...

, whose corporate headquarters is in Atlanta, received criticism for being the exclusive drink offered in Olympic venues. In addition, the city of Atlanta was found to have been competing with the IOC for advertising and sponsorship dollars. The city licensed street vendors who sold certain products over others, and therefore provided a presence for companies who were not official Olympic sponsors.

A report prepared by European Olympic officials after the Games was critical of Atlanta's performance in several key issues, including the level of crowding in the Olympic Village, the quality of available food, the accessibility and convenience of transportation, and the Games' general atmosphere of commercialism. The opening ceremony, featuring 500 cheerleaders and 30 pickup trucks, was also "garish" by some observers and considered questionable in taste by many foreign visitors.

The Atlanta Olympics were marred by the Centennial Olympic Park bombing
Centennial Olympic Park bombing
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bombing on July 27, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States during the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first of four committed by Eric Robert Rudolph, former explosives expert for the United States Army...

 on July 27. This bombing killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others, and caused the death of Melih Uzunyol by heart attack. Eric Robert Rudolph
Eric Robert Rudolph
Eric Robert Rudolph , also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is an American far-right radical described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a terrorist who committed a series of bombings across the southern United States which killed two people and injured at least 150 others.Rudolph declared...

 was charged with and confessed to this bombing and several others. He is now in a US Federal prison.

At the closing ceremony
1996 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on August 4, 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia at approximately 8:00 PM EDT...

, IOC
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees....

 President Juan Antonio Samaranch
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Juan Antonio Samaranch Torelló, Marquess of Samaranch is a Spanish sports official who served as the 7th President of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001.-Biography:...

 said in his closing speech, "Well done, Atlanta" and called the Games "most exceptional". This broke precedent for Samaranch, who had traditionally labeled each Games "the best Olympics ever" at each closing ceremony, a practice he resumed at the subsequent Games in Sydney in 2000
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 16 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

.

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
The Power of the Dream
"The Power of the Dream" is a single by Céline Dion, released on August 20, 1996 in Japan."The Power of the Dream" was written and produced by David Foster and Babyface for the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics. Dion performed it in front of more than 100,000 people, in addition to...

", composed by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and David Foster
David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter and arranger.-Career:Foster was a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark, whose song “Wildflower” was a top ten hit in 1972...

, with words by Linda Thompson was performed in the opening ceremony by Céline Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion , CC, OQ is a Canadian singer, occasional songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur. Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to...

 accompanied by Foster and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Centennial Choir
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Robert Spano has been its music director since 2001....

. Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the Empress of Soul, is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...

 sang "Georgia on My Mind
Georgia on My Mind
"Georgia on My Mind" is a song written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell . It is the official state song of the U.S. state of Georgia. Gorrell wrote the lyrics for Hoagy's sister, Georgia Carmichael . However, the lyrics of the song are ambiguous enough to refer either to the state...

", Georgia's official state song, at the opening ceremony. The closing ceremony
1996 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on August 4, 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia at approximately 8:00 PM EDT...

 featured Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban-American singer and songwriter. She is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 90 million albums sold worldwide, 26.5 million of those in the United States alone...

 singing "Reach", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. At the closing of the ceremony Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Originally discovered by Garth...

 performed the Olympics song ["The Flame"].

Mascot



The mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 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.

Highlights


A record 197 nations, all current IOC
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees....

 member nations, took part, with a record 79 of them winning at least one medal. Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...

 was allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time. Also for the first time, Olympic medals were won by the athletes from Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...

, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...

, Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi, is a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of...

, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...

, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...

, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...

, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...

, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....

, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498...

, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...

, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga , officially the Kingdom of Tonga , an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprises 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, and stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line...

, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...

, and Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...

. Lee Lai Shan
Lee Lai Shan
Lee Lai-Shan MBE BBS is a former world champion and Olympic gold medal-winning professional windsurfer from Hong Kong. She is the first and last ever athlete won an Olympic medal representing Hong Kong, not as part of China...

 won a gold medal in sailing, the only Olympic medal that Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...

 ever won as a British colony (1952–1997). This meant that for the only time, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised to the accompaniment of the anthem God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen", or "God Save the King", is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms. It is the national anthem of the United Kingdom and her territories and dependencies, Norfolk Island, one of the two national anthems of the Cayman Islands and New Zealand and the royal anthem of...

, as Hong Kong's sovereignty was later transferred to China in 1997.

Softball
Softball
Softball is a team sport popular especially in the United States. It is a direct descendant of baseball. Some key differences between softball and baseball are that softballs are larger than baseballs, and pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand. Softball was invented by George Hancock...

, beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played on sand. Like other variations of volleyball, two teams, separated by a high net, try to score points against the other by grounding a ball on the other team's court...

 and mountain biking
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is an ever evolving sport that has recently seen a huge flux of popularity but has firm roots in experimentation with non "mountain" style bicycles. The sport consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, with specially equipped mountain bikes or hybrid / cross...

 debuted on the Olympic program, together with women's soccer/football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...

 and lightweight rowing
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

.
  • Muhammad Ali
    Muhammad Ali
    Muhammad Ali is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome...

     lit the Olympic torch during the opening ceremonies of the games and received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the 1960 Summer Olympics
    1960 Summer Olympics
    The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Rome, Italy, in 1960...

    .
  • Kurt Angle
    Kurt Angle
    Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, actor and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is a former three-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, as recognized by promotion.Angle was involved in amateur wrestling...

     of the United States won the gold medal in 100 kg (220 lb) freestyle wrestling while suffering from a fractured neck
  • Slovene gymnast
    Gymnast
    Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Australia:*Monette Russo...

     Leon Štukelj
    Leon Štukelj
    Leon Štukelj was a Yugoslav gymnast of Slovene nationality, Olympic gold medalist and athlete.Štukelj was born in Novo Mesto, Austria-Hungary . He is a noted figure in Slovenian sporting history...

     arose at the opening ceremony as one of the oldest living sportsmen in the world (age 97)
  • Naim Süleymanoğlu
    Naim Süleymanoglu
    Naim Süleymanoğlu , formerly known as Naim Suleimanov , is a Turkish World and Olympic Champion in weightlifting...

     became the first weightlifter to win three gold medals.
  • Donovan Bailey
    Donovan Bailey
    Donovan Bailey is a retired Canadian sprinter who once held the world record for the 100 metre race following his gold medal performance in the 1996 Olympic Games...

     of Canada won the men's 100 m, setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds at that time. He also anchored his team's gold in the 4x100 m relay
    Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 x 100 metre relay
    These are the official results of the men's 4 x 100 metres relay event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 37 nations competing....

    .
  • Michael Johnson
    Michael Johnson (athlete)
    Michael Duane Johnson is a retired American sprinter. He won four Olympic gold medals and was crowned world champion eight times. Johnson currently holds the world record in the 400 m and 4 x 400 m relay and formerly held the world record in the 200 m and Indoor 400 m...

     won gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting a new world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 m. Johnson afterward began disputing Bailey's unofficial title as the "world's fastest man", which later culminated in a 150-metre race
    Bailey-Johnson 150-metre race
    The Bailey–Johnson 150-meter race was a track and field event that occurred in Toronto, Canada on May 31, 1997. In an effort to settle the dispute regarding who was the world's fastest man, a race was organised between 1996 Olympic 100 m champion Donovan Bailey from Canada, and 1996 Olympic 200 and...

     between the two to settle the issue.
  • Marie-José Perec
    Marie-José Pérec
    Marie-José Pérec is a French athlete, specialised in the 200 and 400 m, and a triple Olympic champion....

     equaled Johnson's performance, although without a world record, by winning the rare 200 m/400 m double.
  • Carl Lewis
    Carl Lewis
    Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis is a retired American track and field athlete who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were gold, in a career that spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and...

     won his 4th long jump gold medal at the age of 35.
  • Cycling
    Cycling
    Cycling is an activity most commonly performed on a bicycle - when it is it is also referred to as bicycling or simply biking. It is the use of the bicycle, unicycle , tricycles , quadracycles , and other similar wheeled human-powered vehicles for the purpose of transport, as a form of...

     professionals were admitted to the Olympics, with five-time Tour de France
    Tour de France
    The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers approximately throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to...

     winner Miguel Indurain
    Miguel Indurain
    thumb|Miguel Indurain [[1993 Tour de France ]].Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He is best known for winning the Tour de France from 1991 to 1995, becoming only the fourth person to win the event five times, and the first to win five in a row...

     winning the inaugural individual time trial
    Individual time trial
    An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

     event.
  • Michelle Smith
    Michelle Smith
    Michelle Smith is a retired Irish swimmer. She was a triple gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley...

     of Ireland won three gold medals and a bronze in swimming. She remains her nation's most decorated Olympian. However, her victories were overshadowed by doping
    Doping (sport)
    In sports, the use of performance-enhancing drugs is commonly referred to by the disparaging term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of...

     allegations even though she did not test positive in 1996. She received a four-year suspension in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample, though her medals and records were allowed to stand.
  • Kerri Strug
    Kerri Strug
    Kerri Allyson Strug is an American gymnast from Tucson, Arizona. She was a member of the Magnificent Seven, the gymnastics team that represented the United States at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and is remembered for performing the vault despite having seriously injured her ankle, in order to...

     of the United States women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot. The US women's gymnastics team won its first gold medal.
  • Amy Van Dyken
    Amy Van Dyken
    Amy Van Dyken is an American swimmer who has six career Olympic gold medals. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat...

     won four gold medals in the Olympic swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    The aquatic sport of swimming involves competition amongst participants to be the fastest over a given distance under self propulsion.The different events include 25, 50, 100, 200, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly, the 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500, 800, 1000, 1500, and 1650 free and the 100,...

     pool, the first American woman to win four titles in a single Olympiad.
  • Deon Hemmings
    Deon Hemmings
    Deon Hemmings is a former female 400 metres hurdler.Hemmings was the first ever Jamaican woman to win an Olympic Gold when she won the 400m Hurdles at the 1996 Olympics breaking the Olympic record which stood to 2004...

     became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal for Jamaica
    Jamaica
    Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

     and the English-speaking West Indies.
  • Five athletes were disqualified for using banned drugs. A few of these athletes were reinstated since the drug they took had been declared illegal only a week before the Olympics.
  • Andre Agassi
    Andre Agassi
    Andre Kirk Agassi is a former World No. 1 professional American tennis player who won eight Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. He is generally considered by critics and fellow players to be among the greatest tennis players of all time, and has been called the...

     won the gold medal in tennis. This helped him become the first male player to ever win the career Golden Slam.
  • Deng Yaping
    Deng Yaping
    Deng Yaping is a Chinese table tennis player, who won six world championships and four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1997...

     of China won two gold medals in Women singles and doubles of table tennis
    Table tennis
    Table tennis is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must...

    . She also won these two titles in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics
    1992 Summer Olympics
    The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.-Host city selection:...

    .
  • The US women's soccer team won the gold medal in the first ever women's soccer event.
  • Xeno Müller
    Xeno Müller
    Xeno Müller is a Swiss rower and Olympic gold medallist.His first international appearance was at the 1990 Junior World Rowing Championships - winning bronze in his single scull ....

     won gold for the Men's single scull event (rowing) in his first Olympic appearance. His time of 6:44.85 is still the current Olympic record.
  • Alexander Karelin
    Alexander Karelin
    Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin, or simply Alexander Karelin, is a Hero of the Russian Federation and was a dominant Greco-Roman wrestler for the Soviet Union and later, after its dissolution, for Russia. He won gold medals at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games...

     won his third Olympic gold medal as a Greco-Roman wrestler.
  • Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...

     won gold at the inagural rhythmic gymnastics team competition defeating the favorite and reigning world champion Bulgaria who won the World Championship less than a month ago.

Venues


Events of the Atlanta Games were held in a variety of areas. A number were held within the Olympic Ring, a three-mile circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held at Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock in Stone Mountain, Georgia. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet amsl and 825 feet above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain granite extends underground at its longest point into Gwinnett County...

, about 20 miles outside of the city. To broaden ticket sales, other events, such as soccer, occurred in various cities in the southeast (see below).

Inside the Olympic Ring


  • Centennial Olympic Stadium
    Centennial Olympic Stadium
    Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Construction of the stadium began in 1993, and it was complete and ready for the Opening Ceremony in July 1996, where it hosted track and field events and the closing ceremony...

     (Now known as Turner Field
    Turner Field
    Turner Field is a ballpark in Atlanta, Georgia, home to Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves since 1997. Turner Field was originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium, it was completed in 1996 to serve as the centerpiece of the 1996 Summer Olympics...

    ) – Opening/Closing Ceremonies, Athletics
  • Georgia Dome
    Georgia Dome
    The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It has been the home stadium for the Atlanta Falcons since 1992, and is owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center...

     – Basketball, Artistic Gymnastics, Handball
  • Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
    Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
    The Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center is part of the Georgia Tech campus.-History:...

     – Swimming, Diving, Synchronized Swimming, Water Polo
  • Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium
    Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium
    Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, often shortened to "Fulton County Stadium," was a multi-use stadium that formerly stood in Atlanta, Georgia. Completed in a then-record 50 weeks for $18 million, it opened in the spring of 1965 as Atlanta Stadium...

     – Baseball
  • Georgia World Congress Center
    Georgia World Congress Center
    The Georgia World Congress Center or GWCC is the major convention center in Atlanta. It is the fourth-largest convention center in the United States at 1.4 million ft2 and hosts more than a million visitors each year. At the time opened in 1976 the Georgia World Congress Center was the...

     – Fencing, Handball, Judo, Table Tennis, Weightlifting, Wrestling
  • Omni Coliseum
    Omni Coliseum
    The Omni Coliseum, usually called The Omni, from the Latin for "all," or "every," was an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Center...

     – Volleyball
  • Clark Atlanta University Stadium
    Clark Atlanta University
    Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University.-Academics and demographics:...

     – Hockey
  • Morris Brown College Stadium
    Morris Brown College
    Morris Brown College is a four-year, private, coed, liberal arts college located in the Vine City Community of Atlanta, Georgia. It is a historically black college, affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church...

     – Hockey
  • Georgia State University Sports Arena – Badminton
  • Forbes Arena
    Forbes Arena
    The Forbes Arena is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is home to the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers basketball team. It also hosted Basketball preliminaries during the 1996 Summer Olympics and was the home arena to the Atlanta Glory. It was opened in 1996 at a cost...

     (Morehouse College
    Morehouse College
    Morehouse College is a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of four remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States, and a member of the Black Ivy League....

    ) – Basketball
  • Alexander Memorial Coliseum
    Alexander Memorial Coliseum
    The Alexander Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the home of the basketball teams of Georgia Tech and hosted the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999...

     – Boxing

Elsewhere in Metropolitan Atlanta

  • Stone Mountain Tennis Center
    Stone Mountain Tennis Center
    The Stone Mountain Tennis Center is a tennis venue in Stone Mountain, Georgia, which cost $22 million to construct, was built to host the tennis events for the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Paralympics...

     (at Stone Mountain, Georgia
    Stone Mountain, Georgia
    Stone Mountain is a suburb of Atlanta in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 7,145 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

    ) – Tennis
  • Stone Mountain Park Archery Center – Archery
  • Stone Mountain Park Velodrome – Cycling-Track
  • Sanford Stadium
    Sanford Stadium
    Sanford Stadium is the on-campus playing venue for football at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. The 92,746-seat stadium is the seventh largest stadium in the NCAA. Architecturally, the stadium is known for the fact that its numerous expansions over the years have been carefully planned...

     (Athens, Georgia
    Athens, Georgia
    Athens-Clarke County is a unified city-county in Georgia, U.S., in the northeastern part of the state. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial creation of Athens and its subsequent growth...

    ) – Football (Soccer)
  • Stegeman Coliseum
    Stegeman Coliseum
    Stegeman Coliseum is a 10,523-seat multi-purpose arena in Athens, Georgia. The arena opened in 1964. It is home to the University of Georgia Bulldogs basketball and gymnastics teams. It was also the venue of the rhythmic gymnastics and preliminary volleyball matches during the 1996 Summer Olympics,...

     (Athens, Georgia
    Athens, Georgia
    Athens-Clarke County is a unified city-county in Georgia, U.S., in the northeastern part of the state. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial creation of Athens and its subsequent growth...

    ) – Volleyball, Rhythmic Gymnastics
  • Atlanta Beach (Jonesboro, Georgia
    Jonesboro, Georgia
    Jonesboro is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,829 as of the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Clayton County....

    ) – Beach Volleyball (now known as The BEACH
    The Beach
    The Beach may refer to:*The Beach , a 1996 novel by Alex Garland*The Beach , a 2000 movie based on the aforementioned novel*The Beach a 1995 short film made in New Zealand, directed by Dorthe Scheffmann...

    )
  • Wolf Creek Shooting Complex
    Wolf Creek Shooting Complex
    The Wolf Creek Shooting Complex outside Atlanta, Georgia, was built for the shooting events at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Until 2002, it was also often used for ISSF World Cup competitions in rifle and pistol events, although such competitions, when held in the United States, have now reverted to...

     – Shooting
  • Georgia International Horse Park
    Georgia International Horse Park
    The Georgia International Horse Park is located in Conyers, Georgia, 30 miles east of Atlanta.-History:...

     (Conyers, Georgia
    Conyers, Georgia
    Conyers is the only city in Rockdale County, Georgia, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 10,689. Census estimates of 2005 indicate a population of 12,205. The city is the county seat of Rockdale County.- History :...

    ) – Equestrian, Cycling-Mountain Bike
  • Lake Lanier
    Lake Lanier
    Lake Lanier is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake encompasses of water, and of shoreline at normal level, a "full...

     (Near Gainesville, Georgia
    Gainesville, Georgia
    Gainesville is a city in Hall County in Georgia, United States of America. The population was 25,578 at the 2000 census. Census estimates for 2007 show a population of 34,818. The city is the county seat of Hall County. Because of its large number of poultry processing plants, it is often called...

    ) – Rowing, Canoeing/kayak (Sprint)

Other venues

  • Savannah River
    Savannah River
    The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...

     (at Savannah, Georgia
    Savannah, Georgia
    Savannah is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Chatham County, Georgia, USA. Savannah was established in 1733 and was the first colonial and state capital of Georgia...

    ) – Yachting
  • Ocoee River (Polk County, Tennessee
    Polk County, Tennessee
    Polk County is a county located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was created 28 November 1839 from parts of Bradley and McMinn counties. The county had a population of 16,050 in 2000. Its county seat is Benton...

    ) – Canoeing/kayak (slalom)
  • Golden Park
    Golden Park
    Golden Park is a 5,000-seat baseball-only stadium in Columbus, Georgia that opened in 1926. Located on the Chattahoochee River in Downtown Columbus, it currently is not home to any professional baseball team. The exterior of the Golden Park is a red brick façade and has many well-landscaped...

     (Columbus, Georgia
    Columbus, Georgia
    Columbus is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia. The city is the county seat of Muscogee County. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2008, had an estimated population of 287,653...

    ) – Softball
  • Legion Field
    Legion Field
    Legion Field is a large stadium in Birmingham, Alabama primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but is occasionally used for other large outdoor events. The stadium is named in honor of the American Legion, a U.S. organization of military veterans. At its peak it seated...

     (Birmingham, Alabama
    Birmingham, Alabama
    Birmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...

    ) – Football
  • RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...

    ) – Football
  • Citrus Bowl
    Citrus Bowl
    The Florida Citrus Bowl is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA, built for football which currently seats around 70,000 people. Its main events are the Capital One Bowl the Champs Sports Bowl and Monster Jam...

     (Orlando, Florida
    Orlando, Florida
    Orlando is a major city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan region...

    ) – Football
  • Miami Orange Bowl
    Miami Orange Bowl
    The Miami Orange Bowl was a stadium in the City of Miami, west of Downtown in Little Havana. Considered a landmark, it was the home stadium for the University of Miami Hurricanes football team and the temporary home of the Florida International University Golden Panthers for the 2007 football...

     (Miami, Florida
    Miami, Florida
    Miami is a major coastal city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. With an estimated population of 424,662 in 2007, Miami is the largest city within the Miami metropolitan area, which is the...

    ) – Football


After the Olympics, Centennial Olympic Stadium was converted into Turner Field
Turner Field
Turner Field is a ballpark in Atlanta, Georgia, home to Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves since 1997. Turner Field was originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium, it was completed in 1996 to serve as the centerpiece of the 1996 Summer Olympics...

, which became home of the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Braves have played in Turner Field....

 baseball team for the 1997 season. Once the Braves moved, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was demolished, and the site became a parking lot for Turner Field; the Omni was demolished that same year to make way for Philips Arena
Philips Arena
Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Completed in 1999 at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League, the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association, and the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association...

 on its site. The only other Olympic venue to be closed since has been the Miami Orange Bowl
Miami Orange Bowl
The Miami Orange Bowl was a stadium in the City of Miami, west of Downtown in Little Havana. Considered a landmark, it was the home stadium for the University of Miami Hurricanes football team and the temporary home of the Florida International University Golden Panthers for the 2007 football...

, demolished in 2008 for the Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Florida Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami Gardens, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

' new baseball stadium to be built on its site.

Medals awarded


See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
  • Archery
    Archery at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Archery at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta consisted of four events. The events were held in neighboring Stone Mountain.All archery was done at a range of 70 metres. 64 archers competed in each the men's individual and women's individual competitions. They began with a 72-arrow ranking round...

  • Athletics
    Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 44 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 20 by women. There were a total number of 2053 participating athletes from 191 countries.-Men:...

  • Baseball
    Baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Baseball had its second appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, with games played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Eight nations competed, with the preliminary phase consisting of each team playing every other team. Playoffs were then held, with the...

  • Basketball
    Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Final results for the Basketball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics.For the second straight year, the United States' team comprised fully of NBA players won the gold medal...

  • Badminton
    Badminton at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Badminton at the 1996 Summer Olympics included the four events held at the previous Games as well as a fifth event: mixed doubles. An additional change to the tournament was the playoff game for the bronze medal rather than the awarding of two bronzes.The tournament was single-elimination...

  • Boxing
    Boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    -Medal winners:-Medal table:-First Round:* Beibis Mendoza, Colombia def. Domenic Figliomeni, Canada, 12-1* Somrot Kamsing, Thailand def. Yasar Giritil, Turkey, 19-4* Sabin Bornei, Romania def. José Perez, Dominican Republic, 16-10...

  • Canoeing
    Canoeing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The canoeing competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics was composed of 16 events in two disciplines, slalom and sprint...

  • Cycling
    Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Final results for the Cycling competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics. There were three categories of events – road cycling, track cycling and mountain biking...

  • Diving
    Diving at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, four diving events were contested during a competition that took place at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, from 26 July to 2 August, comprising a total of 121 divers from 40 nations.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:...

  • Equestrian
    Equestrian at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The Equestrian events were held at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Georgia -Medal summary:-Medal table:...

  • Fencing
    Fencing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    -Men's events:-Women's events:...

  • Football
    Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Final results for the association football competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Birmingham, Alabama; Washington, D.C; Orlando, Florida; Miami, Florida; and Athens, Georgia.- Soccer medal winners at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics :...

  • Gymnastics
    Gymnastics at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    At the 1996 Summer Olympics, two different gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Georgia Dome from July 20-25 and July 28-29. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the University of Georgia...

  • Handball
    Handball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Final results for the Handball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics.-Medal Summary:-References:*...

  • Hockey
  • Judo
    Judo at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    This page shows the final results of the Judo Competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.Kye Sun-Hui surprised spectators by winning gold in the women's extra-lightweight event. She had obtained a wildcard entry to the Games....

  • Modern pentathlon
    Modern pentathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    -Medal Summary:Individual:Team events were abolished from this convention.-Final Results:...

  • Rowing
    Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The 1996 Olympics saw the debut of lightweight rowing events. The three included replaced the remaining coxed events for men and the Women's Coxless Four...

  • Sailing
    Sailing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, ten events in sailing were contested. Races were held off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. Twenty-two nations won medals, of thirty available.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Open events:-Medal table:...

  • Shooting
    Shooting at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The shooting competitions at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place at the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex near Atlanta, Georgia. Competitions were held in ten men's events and five women's events...

  • Softball
    Softball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Softball made its first appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The competition was held at historic Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia. Final results for the Softball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics:-Medal Summary:...

  • Swimming
    Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The swimming competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which was built for the Games.At the time of the '96 Games, the facility had a temporary 50m warm-up pool located behind the lockerrooms/entry concourse ; as well as a temporary...

  • Synchronized swimming
    Synchronized swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Final results for the synchronized swimming competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics.-Medal summary:...

  • Table tennis
    Table tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The table tennis competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics consisted of four events.-Medal table:-Medal summary:-Controversy:During the women's singles final match between the People's Republic of China and Chinese Taipei , police arrested two Taiwanese spectators for waving the flag of the Republic...

  • Tennis
    Tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the host nation United States won 3 of the 4 gold medals in tennis. For the first time at the Olympics, single bronze medal was awarded in each event.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's events:...

  • Volleyball
    Volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    Volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics featured beach volleyball for the first time as the official Olympic sport.-Medal Table:-Medals Summary:...

  • Water polo
    Water polo at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The Men's Water Polo Tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held from July 20 to July 28, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia.-Group A:
    *Saturday July 20, 1996
    *Sunday July 21, 1996
    *Monday July 22, 1996
    *Tuesday July 23, 1996
    ...

  • Weightlifting
    Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    The weightlifting competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta consisted of ten weight classes, for men only. The range of each weight class was adjusted by 1–4 kg for these Games, marking the first redefinition of Olympic weightlifting weight classes since they were introduced in...

  • Wrestling
    Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics
    At the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2 different wrestling disciplines were contested: freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. The freestyle category was notable as it featured the gold medal performance of Kurt Angle, who later became a notable professional wrestler.-Freestyle:-Greco-Roman:-Medal...


  • Participating nations



    A total of 197 nations were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318. 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
    Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics
    The Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain was a joint team consisting of twelve of the fifteen former Soviet republics. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania competed separately. The team has been informally called the Commonwealth of Independent States team, though Georgia was...

    . Russia competed independently for the first time since 1912
    1912 Summer Olympics
    The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden. For the first time, competitors in the Games came from all five continents symbolized in the Olympic rings...

    , when it was the Russian Empire
    Russian Empire
    The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

    . The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
    Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
    The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or FRY was a federal state consisting of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , created after the other four republics broke away from Yugoslavia amid rising ethnic tensions...

     competed as Yugoslavia.

    The 14 countries making their Olympic debut were: Azerbaijan
    Azerbaijan
    Azerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...

    , Burundi
    Burundi
    Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi, is a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of...

    , Cape Verde
    Cape Verde
    The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago located in the Macaronesia ecoregion of the North Atlantic Ocean, off the western coast of Africa, opposite Mauritania and Senegal....

    , Comoros
    Comoros
    The Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique...

    , Dominica
    Dominica
    Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. To the north-northwest lies Guadeloupe, to the southeast Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth of Dominica has an...

    , Guinea-Bissau
    Guinea-Bissau
    The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in western Africa, and one of the smallest states in continental Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....

    , Macedonia
    Republic of Macedonia
    Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country in the central Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

    , Nauru
    Nauru
    Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbor is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 km to the east...

    , Palestine
    Palestine
    Palestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...

    , Saint Kitts and Nevis
    Saint Kitts and Nevis
    The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies...

    , Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. Its size is 620 km² with an...

    , São Tomé and Príncipe
    São Tomé and Príncipe
    São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off the...

    , Tajikistan
    Tajikistan
    Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east...

     and Turkmenistan
    Turkmenistan
    Republic of Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic...

    .

    The 10 countries making their Summer Olympic debut (after competing at the 1994 Winter Olympics
    1994 Winter Olympics
    The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. In 1986, the IOC voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same year since the latter's inception in...

     in Lillehammer
    Lillehammer
    is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal...

    ) were: Armenia
    Armenia
    Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

    , Belarus
    Belarus
    Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...

    , Czech Republic
    Czech Republic
    The Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...

    , Georgia
    Georgia (country)
    Georgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...

    , Kazakhstan
    Kazakhstan
    Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...

    , Kyrgyzstan
    Kyrgyzstan
    Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, it is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east....

    , Moldova
    Moldova
    Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....

    , Slovakia
    Slovakia
    The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...

    , Ukraine
    Ukraine
    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...

     and Uzbekistan
    Uzbekistan
    Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...

    .
    (662)




    Broadcast rights


    : NBC
    Olympics on NBC
    NBC Sports coverage of the Olympic Games consists of broadcasts on the various networks of NBC Universal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, Spanish language network Telemundo, and many of the company's cable networks....

    , WNBC
    WNBC
    WNBC is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City and owned and operated by NBC Universal. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...

    , CNBC
    CNBC
    CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBC Universal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

    , KNBC
    KNBC
    KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California. Its studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California and its transmitter is based on Mount Wilson...

    , MSNBC
    MSNBC
    MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States and available in both the US and Canada. Its name is a combination of "MSN" and "NBC"....

    , Fox News Channel
    Fox News Channel
    The Fox News Channel , commonly referred to as Fox or Fox News, is a major American cable news and satellite channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation. As of April 2009, it is available to 102 million households in the U.S...

    , CBS
    CBS
    CBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...

    , WCBS
    WCBS
    WCBS may refer to:* WCBS , a radio station licensed to New York, New York, United States* WCBS-FM, a radio station licensed to New York, New York, United States...

    , and CNN
    CNN
    Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...

    : Rede Globo
    Rede Globo
    Rede Globo is a Brazilian television network, owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo. The network is currently the largest in the Latin America and the fourth largest in the world, just behind the U.S...

    , Rede Record
    Rede Record
    Rede Record is a Brazilian television network. Owned by Bishop Edir Macedo, founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, it currently is Brazil's second largest television network. With 55 years of uninterrupted transmission, it is also the oldest TV network of the country.- History :TV...

    , SBT, Rede Bandeirantes
    Rede Bandeirantes
    Rede Bandeirantes , officially nicknamed Band or Band Network, is a television network from Brazil, based in São Paulo. Part of the Grupo Bandeirantes de Comunicação , it aired for the first time in 1967...

    , Rede Manchete
    Rede Manchete
    Rede Manchete was a television network from Brazil. It first aired on June 5, 1983 in Rio de Janeiro and simultaneously in other 5 Brazilian cities, like São Paulo on Rede Exclesior's old channel 9 frequency...

    , Sportv
    SporTV
    SporTV is a Brazilian cable television network that has his programming based on all sports, launched in 1991 by Globosat. It's the most watched sports channel in Brazil.- Auto Racing :*Formula One*Stock Car Brasil*Stock Car Light...

    , and ESPN Brasil
    ESPN Brasil
    -History:Launched in June 1995, ESPN Brasil was the first ESPN broadcaster launched outside the United States. Today, the network has 2,2 million subscribers. The channel has a great reputation covering great events, like: the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics; the 1998 and 2006 FIFA World...

    : Australian Broadcasting Corporation
    Australian Broadcasting Corporation
    The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC", is Australia's national public broadcaster. With a total budget of AUD$1.13 Billion annually, the corporation provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia, as well as...

    , Special Broadcasting Service
    Special Broadcasting Service
    The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...

    , Seven Network
    Seven Network
    The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by the Seven Media Group. It dates back to 2 December 1970, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Sydney and Melbourne. It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

    , Nine Network
    Nine Network
    The Nine Network, or Channel Nine, is an Australian television network based in Willoughby, a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney. For nearly 40 years between 1956 and 2005, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

    , and Network Ten
    Network Ten
    Network Ten, or Channel Ten, is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

    : TVRI
    TVRI
    Televisi Republik Indonesia is a state-owned television station, the oldest television station in Indonesia , and the only broadcaster with national coverage...

    , RCTI
    RCTI
    RCTI is Indonesia's first privately owned television network and is based in West Jakarta. RCTI broadcasts Indonesian Idol. It also broadcasts sinetron , films, news and current affairs, reality shows and religious programs...

    , SCTV
    SCTV
    SCTV can refer to:*Second City Television, a Canadian sketch comedy television program*SCTV , an Indonesian TV station*SCTV , a television station of Sichuan province in China...

    , TPI
    TPI
    TPI as an acronym or abbreviation can stand for:* Technology Point International, an IT training and consulting company * The Ted Petty Invitational, an annual wrestling tournament held by IWA:Mid-South to honor the late Ted Petty * Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia* Threads per inch, for threaded...

    , ANTV
    Antv
    antv is an Indonesian television network based in South Jakarta. It is owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie-History:...

    , and Indosiar
    Indosiar
    Indosiar is a publicly owned national television station in Indonesia, which has been operating from West Jakarta since 1994. It was listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in 2004. Citibank Singapore has an 8.5 percent shareholding....

    . Jakarta Television Cable: Indovision
    Indovision
    Indovision is a subscription-based direct broadcast satellite or direct-to-home satellite television and radio service initially in Indonesia...

    , IM2 Pay TV, M2V Mobile TV, and Kabel Vision. and Owner Stations By ; Global Mediacom, PT MNC Skyvision
    Indovision
    Indovision is a subscription-based direct broadcast satellite or direct-to-home satellite television and radio service initially in Indonesia...

    , Grup Salim, PT Cipta Lamtoro Gung Persada, Grup Bakrie, PT Bimantara Citra, and Para Group.: China Central Television
    China Central Television
    China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...

    , Beijing Television Station
    Beijing Television Station
    Beijing Television or Beijing Television Station is a government-owned television network in the People's Republic of China. It broadcasts from Beijing. The channel is available only in Chinese...

    , Shanghai Media Group
    Shanghai Media Group
    Shanghai Media Group , under the Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group , is a multimedia television and radio broadcasting, news and Internet company...

    , Tianjin Television
    Tianjin Television
    Tianjin Television is a television network in Tianjin, China. Its official website is called Tian Shi Wang . The locals of Tianjin refer to the station as TJTV in English, but in Chinese, it is called Tianjin Dianshi.-External links:*...

    , Chongqing Television
    Chongqing Television
    Chongqing Broadcasting Group , is a television broadcaster based in Chongqing, China. Its main channel, CQTV is carried on cable systems in urban areas throughout mainland China and is available nationwide on both analogue and digital satellites.-CQTV talent show controversy:On 15 August 2007, a...

    , Fujian Television
    Fujian Television
    Fujian Television , is a television network in Fujian, China. It is part of the Fujian Media Group, which in itself is part of the Fujian Radio Film and TV Group conglomerate.-External References:**...

    , and Shenzhen Media Group
    Shenzhen Media Group
    Shenzhen Media Group is a media company, of which the radio stations consists of four stations that play Chinese music, report news, or broadcast Chinese talk shows. -Shenzhen Radio:...

    : Television Corporation of Singapore
    Television Corporation of Singapore
    The Television Corporation of Singapore was a private company that provide television broadcasting services in then monopolised media industry. TCS existed from 1994 to 2001; Singapore Broadcasting Corporation was privatised in 1 January, 1994 into 3 individual companies, one of which was TCS...

    , and StarHub TV: Radio Television Brunei
    Radio Television Brunei
    Radio Television Brunei is the state broadcaster of Brunei. Radio Brunei made its first broadcast on May 2,1957, with a television service starting in 1975.-Television:...

    : ATV
    ATV
    ATV may refer to:In broadcasting:*Amateur television*Analog television*ATV , the NBC affiliate in Aruba.*ATV , Austrian TV station*ATV Home, major Cantonese-language TV station *ATV Jordan*ATV *ATV Madiun...

    , TVB, Cable TV Hong Kong
    Cable TV Hong Kong
    Cable TV Hong Kong , previously known as Wharf Cable before October 1998, is owned and operated by i-CABLE Communications Limited...

    , NOW TV
    Now TV
    now TV is a 24-hour pay-TV service provider in Hong Kong.It is transmitted through the company's Netvigator broadband network via an IPTV service...

    , HKBN bbTV
    HKBN bbTV
    HKBN bbTV is a pay-TV service provider in Hong Kong SAR that belongs to Hong Kong Broadband Network.It is transmitted through the company's HKBN broadband network via an IPTV service.It open in 2004....

    , Pay Vision, Star TV
    Star TV
    Star TV is a Turkish nation wide TV channel. It was owned by Cem Uzan until it was sold to Aydın Doğan for 306,5 Mio. American Dollars in 2005 by the Turkish Government.It is available online on JumpTV, the World's online television network.- History :...

    , and Phoenix Television
    Phoenix Television
    Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Ltd or Phoenix Television is a Hong Kong-based Mandarin Chinese television broadcaster that serves the Chinese mainland and other markets with substantial Chinese viewers...

    : Taiwan Television
    Taiwan Television
    Taiwan Television Enterprise, Ltd. , commonly known as TTV, is the first television broadcast station in Taiwan. It was established on April 28, 1962 and started formally broadcasting on later that year on Double Ten Day, the Republic of China's national holiday.The station became home to many...

    :TTV
    Taiwan Television
    Taiwan Television Enterprise, Ltd. , commonly known as TTV, is the first television broadcast station in Taiwan. It was established on April 28, 1962 and started formally broadcasting on later that year on Double Ten Day, the Republic of China's national holiday.The station became home to many...

    , TTV Family
    TTV Family
    TTV Family is a digital television channel operated by Taiwan Television in Taiwan, it shares channel with TTV Finance....

    , TTV Finance
    TTV Finance
    TTV Finance is a digital television channel operated by Taiwan Television in Taiwan, launched on September 1, 2004. Now TTV Finance shares channel with TTV Family.-External links:...

    , TTV Health, China Television
    China Television
    China Television Company, Ltd. was established on September 3 1968 by the then-ruling Nationalist Party of the Republic of China . The party owned the majority stake of the network...

    :CTV
    China Television
    China Television Company, Ltd. was established on September 3 1968 by the then-ruling Nationalist Party of the Republic of China . The party owned the majority stake of the network...

    , CTV News Channel
    CTV News Channel
    CTV News Channel is a digital television channel operated by China Television in Taiwan, launched on July 1, 2004....

    , CTV MyLife
    CTV MyLife
    CTV MyLife is a digital television channel operated by China Television in Taiwan....

    , Chinese Television System
    Chinese Television System
    Chinese Television System is a broadcast television station in Taiwan.-History:Founded on October 31, 1971, CTS started off as a joint venture between the ROC's Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Education. At the time of its establishment, CTS was the only VHF-supported channel on...

    :CTS
    Chinese Television System
    Chinese Television System is a broadcast television station in Taiwan.-History:Founded on October 31, 1971, CTS started off as a joint venture between the ROC's Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Education. At the time of its establishment, CTS was the only VHF-supported channel on...

    , CTS Education and Culture
    CTS Education and Culture
    CTS Education and Culture is a free-to-air television station in Taiwan, operated by Chinese Television System ....

    , CTS Recreation
    CTS Recreation
    CTS Recreation is a digital television channel operated by Chinese Television System in Taiwan....

    , CTS News, Formosa TV
    Formosa TV
    Formosa TV is a television station based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Established on March 27, 1996, FTV began broadcasting on June 111997.The station was wholly owned and operated by the Democratic Progressive Party...

    : FTV
    Formosa TV
    Formosa TV is a television station based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Established on March 27, 1996, FTV began broadcasting on June 111997.The station was wholly owned and operated by the Democratic Progressive Party...

    , FTV News
    FTV News
    FTV News is a cable news channel operated by Formosa TV in Taiwan, launched on June 11, 1997.-External links:...

    , Follow Me TV
    Follow Me TV
    Follow Me Television is a digital television channel operated by Formosa TV in Taiwan. It offers realtime traffic information to audiences.-External links:...

    , Public Television Service: PTS, Dimo TV
    Dimo TV
    Dimo TV is a digital mobile television channel operated by Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation in Taiwan. Dimo TV, whose name stands for "digital mobile", is targeted toward "on-the-go" viewers via mobile TV-enabled mobile handsets or TV systems installed in vehicles....

    , HiHD, Sanlih E-Television
    Sanlih E-Television
    Sanlih Entertainment Television or Sanlih E-Television is a nationwide cable TV network operated in Taiwan that was founded in May 1983.In terms of political orientation, Sanlih leans heavily towards the Pan-Green Coalition.-SET channels:...

    , Gala Television
    Gala Television
    Gala Television Corporation is a nationwide cable TV network in Taiwan that is operated by the Gala Television Corporation, established on June 13, 1997.-GTV Channels:GTV currently operates three commercial cable television channels:*GTV One...

    , Era Television
    Era Television
    Era Television is a nationwide cable TV network in Taiwan that is operated by the ERA Communications Inc., established on October 1996.-Era TV Channels:Era TV currently operates three commercial cable television channels:*Era News *Much TV...

    , TVBS
    TVBS
    TVBS is a satellite television channel and nationwide cable TV network in Taiwan, launched on September 28, 1993. It was established by TVBI Company Limited , a subsidiary of Television Broadcasts Limited in Hong Kong, and ERA Group of Taiwan, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Television...

    , Chung T'ien Television
    Chung T'ien Television
    Chung T'ien Television , is a nationwide cable TV network based in Taiwan. It belongs to the China Times group, which also owns China Television .-History:...

    , Eastern Television
    Eastern Television
    Eastern Television is a nationwide cable TV network in Taiwan that is operated by the Eastern Broadcasting Group, which also operates the online news site .-ETTV Channels:Eastern Television operates several channels:*ETTV Variety *ETTV News...

    , Videoland Television Network
    Videoland Television Network
    Videoland Television Network is a cable network program provider in Taiwan, founded in 1983 by Koos Group. Videoland is one of Taiwan's major satellite television providers, offering seven channels of programming...

    , Unique Satellite TV, STAR TV
    STAR TV
    Satellite Television for the Asian Region Broadcasting Corporation is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation...

    , Taiwan Broadcasting System
    Taiwan Broadcasting System
    Taiwan Broadcasting System is a Public broadcasting group that holds 8 television channels in Taiwan, including:*Chinese Television System**CTS**CTS Education and Culture**CTS Recreation*Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation**PTS**Dimo TV...

    , and HBO Asia
    HBO Asia
    HBO Asia is a franchise of HBO in Asia. HBO Asia is now a joint venture of media giants Viacom and Time Warner . Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Studios have exited the 15-year-old HBO Asia premium movie joint venture from January 16, 2008.-History:Launched in 1992, Singapore-based HBO...

    : NHK: NHK General TV
    NHK General TV
    is the main television service of NHK . It shows news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime and specials which directly compete with its commercial counterparts. It is well known for its nightly newscasts, regular documentary specials and popular historical dramas...

    , NHK Educational TV
    NHK Educational TV
    is the second television service of NHK . It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also showing anime...

    ), NNN
    Nippon News Network
    Nippon News Network is a commercial television news network in Japan. The network is run by Nippon Television Network Corporation.-Nippon News Network stations:-Remote controller buttons of digital TV to tune:...

    : Nippon TV
    Nippon Television
    is a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan owned by the Yomiuri Shimbun. It is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV".-Offices:...

    , JNN: TBS TV
    Tokyo Broadcasting System
    or TBS Holdings, Inc., is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....

    , MBS TV
    Mainichi Broadcasting System
    is a broadcasting station in Osaka, Japan, and it is affiliated with the Japan Radio Network , the National Radio Network , Japan News Network and TBS Network. MBS is also one of the major stockholders of Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc...

    , FNN
    Fuji News Network
    Fuji News Network is a commercial television news network in Japan. The network is run by Fuji Television Network, Inc..-Fuji News Network stations:-External links:*...

    : Fuji TV
    Fuji Television
    is a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign, JOCX-TV...

    , ANN
    All-Nippon News Network
    , or ANN, is a commercial television news network in Japan run by TV Asahi Corporation.-All-Nippon News Network stations:-Remote Controller Buttons of Digital TV:*1: Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting*3: TV Miyazaki*5: 20 ANN stations...

    : TV Asahi
    TV Asahi
    , also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network.-Headquarters:In 2003, the company...

    , TXN
    TXN
    TXN, or TV Tokyo Network , is a commercial television network in Japan.- TV Tokyo Network stations :-External links:*...

    : TV TOKYO
    TV Tokyo
    is a television station headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a portmanteau of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...

    , TOKYO MX
    Tokyo Metropolitan Television
    thumb|Tokyo Metropolitan Television old headquarters : Telecom Center Building is the only commercial television station in Tokyo, Japan that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon Television, TV Asahi, Tokyo Broadcasting System, TV Tokyo, and Fuji Television, all of which are...

    , and Open University
    Open University of Japan
    is a distance learning university which has students all over Japan; it accepted its first students in 1985.Although founded by the national government initiative with a single-issue law and heavily subsidised by the government, it is established by as a , the University classified as a private...

    : Radio Televisyen Malaysia
    Radio Televisyen Malaysia
    Radio Televisyen Malaysia is a Malaysian state-owned public broadcaster. It both owns and operates a number of radio and television stations in Malaysia. At present, RTM runs 8 national, 16 state, 7 district radio stations and 2 television channels. The main motto from 1987 until 2004 was Teman...

    , Media Prima Berhad
    Media Prima Berhad
    Media Prima Berhad is a media corporation in Malaysia. Through its subsidiaries, it controls several television networks, newspapers and a radio station...

    , and Astro (satellite TV)
    Astro (satellite TV)
    Astro is a subscription-based direct broadcast satellite service based in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

    : Zee Network
    Zee Network
    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is the largest media and entertainment company in India and is a subsidiary of Essel Group. The company's Chairman, Managing Director and Founder is Subhash Chandra and its Chief Executive Officer is Puneet Goenka....

    , STAR TV
    STAR TV
    Satellite Television for the Asian Region Broadcasting Corporation is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation...

    , and Sahara One
    Sahara One
    Sahara One is an Indian Hindi general entertainment channel. It is operated by Sahara India Pariwar, a company formed by Subrata Roy Sahara who is a managing worker and chairman of the Sahara India Pariwar....

     Ireland
    Republic of Ireland
    Ireland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...

    : RTÉ
    RTE
    -Organisations:* Raidió Teilifís Éireann , the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland* Réseau de transport d'électricité, the French Transmission System Operator -Computing:* Real Time Enterprise...

    : RAI
    RAI
    Rai , known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by parliament. RAI is the biggest television company in Italy...

    : ARD
    ARD (broadcaster)
    ARD , is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...

    , ZDF
    ZDF
    Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television channel based in Mainz. It is run as an independent non-profit agency established by joint contract between the German federal states...

    , and DWTV
    Deutsche Welle
    Deutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio in 29 languages . It has a satellite television service, , that is available in four languages, and there is also an online news site...

    : BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...

    : Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
    Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
    The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting is one of the broadcasters in the Dutch public broadcasting system, Netherlands Public Broadcasting...

    : PTV
    National Broadcasting Network
    National Broadcasting Network, Inc. is television network owned by the Government of the Philippines through People's Television Network, Inc. . Its head office, studios and transmitter are located in Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City ....

     and SkyCable
    SkyCable
    SkyCable is a direct-to-home cable TV and subscription service, established by the Lopez Group of Companies and Central CATV Group Of Companies...

    : CBC
    Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
    The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. In French, it is called la Société Radio-Canada...

    : BRTN
    VRT
    The abbreviation VRT may be a reference to:* Vehicle Registration Tax* Verkehrsverbund Region Trier , Trier regional transport* Vestibular rehabilitation therapy* Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep, the Flemish public broadcasting organization...

    : TVN
    TVN (Chile)
    National Television of Chile is Chilean state-owned television station. Its inaugural transmission took place on 1969. TVN is owned, but not funded, by the state, and it functions independently from it; a very particular case of public television in South America...

    , UCTV
    Canal 13 (Chile)
    Corporación de Televisión de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , generally known as Canal 13 , is the second oldest television station in Chile. It is owned by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, the most important Chilean pontifical university...


    Medal table



    These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games. (Host country is highlighted)
    1 USA (host) 44 32 25 101
    2 RUS 26 21 16 63
    3 GER 20 18 27 65
    4 CHN 16 22 12 50
    5 FRA 15 7 15 37
    6 ITA 13 10 12 35
    7 AUS 9 9 23 41
    8 CUB 9 8 8 25
    9 UKR 9 2 12 23
    10 KOR 7 15 5 27

    External links