The jubilee Olympic Games, which have passed 100 years after their resumption, were held in 1996 and took place in the American city of Atlanta. For the first time, it was not the national team of Russia and the union republics who competed at them, but individual national teams of the states that were previously part of the USSR.
This grandiose sporting event turned out to be not the most successful for the athletes who played for the team of the Russian Federation. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics are notorious for the small number of medals won by Russia. Although in the unofficial team event it was second after the United States, the total number of awards was only 63. Of these, gold - 26, silver - 21 and bronze - 16. The hosts of the Olympic Games, Americans, who took first place in the number of medals, put 101 in their piggy bank. reward.
The most successful for the Russian teams were competitions in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and diving. In many sports, in which Soviet athletes have traditionally been winners, Russians did not even manage to enter the top six. Badminton, road cycling, rowing slalom, archery and tennis became such "failed" sports for men. Women have failed in badminton, rowing, kayaking and canoeing, moutainbaku, clay pigeon shooting, swimming, tennis and archery.
Of the total number of Russian athletes, only 52% of the national team members managed to win medals, the preparation of the remaining 48% was assessed by the results of these games as unsuccessful. The experts noted a clear regression in the women's Olympic sports program. This was especially noticeable in female judo competitions, track cycling, swimming, archery, table tennis and field hockey.
The situation in sports related to playing (basketball, volleyball, handball) and cyclical (rowing, athletics running, swimming), according to the results of the games, was called unfavorable. The national team of the country in Greco-Roman wrestling, on which special hopes were pinned, also performed very mediocre. It was also ineffective to attract athletes who had already played for foreign clubs to the Olympic team - they brought very little extra points to the common piggy bank.
