The XXVI Summer Olympic Games were held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from July 19 to August 4, 1996. Athletes representing 197 countries competed in 26 sports. At the same time, 271 sets of medals were played.
The choice of Atlanta as the Olympic city surprised many people. The fact is that during the Civil War in the United States, the state of Georgia was considered a stronghold of the Confederates - supporters of slavery, and for a long time racist prejudices were very strong in it. However, the Atlanta Bidding Committee members did a great job convincing the IOC of the city's high level of preparedness for this level of competition, and in the end they got their way.
The opening ceremony of the games turned out to be very colorful. Its main theme was the history of the American South and Atlanta itself. 10,700 people took part in the parade of athletes. After US President Bill Clinton declared the games open, the Olympic flame was lit. This high honor was given to the legendary boxer Mohammed Ali. At the end of the ceremony, the song "Power of Dreams" was performed, accompanied by colorful fireworks.
Alas, the great sports festival, which should be the Olympics, turned out to be overshadowed by a number of circumstances. Firstly, during the Olympics in Atlanta, there was a terrorist act - an explosion, which killed a person, and more than a hundred people were injured (one of them died of a heart attack). Secondly, the organization of the Olympic Games itself, despite all the assurances of the Atlanta Bid Committee, turned out to be at a very low level.
Many officials, representatives of the press, athletes expressed dissatisfaction with the poor organization of traffic, unsatisfactory presentation of information, as well as the low qualifications of volunteer assistants. People were also bewildered by the Olympics mascot, the computer-generated character Izzy. It is quite natural that IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, speaking at the closing ceremony of the games, did not utter the traditional phrase "These games were the best in history."
The Russian national team performed very well in Atlanta, it took second place in the overall team classification, losing only to the US national team. Our athletes won 63 medals, of which 26 are gold, 21 are silver and 16 are bronze. The most successful of the Russians was the gymnast A. Nemov, who received 6 medals - 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.
