The 1996 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. These were the fourth Summer Olympics to be hosted by the United States, and marked the centennial of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games. These were also the first Summer Olympics since 1924 to be held in a different year than the Winter Olympics, as part of a new IOC practice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. The 1996 Games were the first of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantly English-speaking country preceding the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. These were also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until 2028, when Los Angeles will host the games for the third time.
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, often referred to as Fulton County Stadium and originally named Atlanta Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in the southeastern United States, located in Atlanta. The stadium was home of the Atlanta Braves of the Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League. It was built to attract an MLB team and in 1966 succeeded when the Milwaukee Braves relocated from Wisconsin.
The Olympic field hockey tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, was held in Herndon Stadium and Panther Stadium from July 20 to August 2, 1996.
The United States were the host nation for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. 646 competitors, 375 men and 271 women, took part in 263 events in 31 sports.
South Africa competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 84 competitors, 64 men and 20 women, and this was the first South African team marched under the new post-Apartheid flag.
Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. 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. After the Olympics and Paralympics, it was reconstructed into the baseball-specific Turner Field, used by the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball for 20 seasons (1997–2016). After the Braves departed for Truist Park, the facility was purchased by Georgia State University, which rebuilt the stadium a second time as Center Parc Stadium, designed for American football.
Alonzo Herndon Stadium, named for Alonzo Herndon, is an abandoned 15,011-seat stadium on the campus of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the only two-sided stadium in the Atlanta University Center. It is one block over from the locally known Herndon Home, and sits above the MARTA East-West rail line.
The Georgia State University Sports Arena is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was the home of the basketball teams of Georgia State University from 1973 until 2022 and hosted the badminton competition of the 1996 Summer Olympics. It is the home of Georgia State's women's volleyball team.
For the 2000 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty sports venues were used. After Melbourne hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics, Australia made several bids for the Summer Olympics before finally winning the 2000 Summer Olympics by two votes over Beijing, China. Venue construction was set at the Homebush Bay area of Sydney in an effort to rehabilitate the land. Environmental studies of the area in the early 1990s forced remediation to be used for about a fifth of the site selected. Fifteen new venues were constructed for the Games. Many of the venues used for the 2000 Games continue to be in use as of 2020, although some of the pre-existing facilities have been demolished and replaced.
The Stone Mountain Tennis Center was a tennis venue at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA. It was built to host the tennis events for the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Paralympics, at a total cost of $22 million. At the time of the Olympics, the complex included over 12,000 seats for tennis fans, a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) plaza area located around the stadium, and a stadium court plus 15 additional outer courts. The reconfigured stadium held 7,200 people, and two smaller courts seated 4,000 and 2,000. Although the park was in DeKalb County, the Tennis Center itself was in Gwinnett County.
The Solomon Islands sent a delegation to compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States from 19 July to 4 August 1996. This was the nation's fourth appearance at a Summer Olympic Games. The delegation to Atlanta consisted of four athletes, three in track and field: Selwyn Kole, Primo Higa, and Nester Geniwala'a; and one in weightlifting: Tony Analau. None of the athletes made their event final.
Summerhill is a neighborhood directly south of Downtown Atlanta between the Atlanta Zoo and Center Parc Stadium. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Grant Park, Mechanicsville, and Peoplestown. Established in 1865, Summerhill is one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods and part of the 26 neighborhoods making up the Atlanta Neighborhood Planning Unit system.
The women's field hockey tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics was the 5th edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over a thirteen-day period beginning on 20 July, and culminating with the medal finals on 1 August. Games were played at the Herndon Stadium and the Panther Stadium, both located in Atlanta, United States.
The Wolf Creek Shooting Complex, now known as the Tom Lowe Shooting Grounds, is a shooting range located southwest of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, in Fulton County. During the 1996 Summer Olympics, it hosted the shooting event. 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 being carried out at Fort Benning.
For the 1976 Summer Olympics, a total of twenty-seven sports venues were used. Several venues used had been in existence before Montreal made its first Olympic bid in the late 1930s. By the 1950s, Montreal's bid for the Olympics shifted from Winter to Summer before it was finally awarded the 1976 Summer Games in 1970. Strikes in 1974-5 affected construction of the Olympic Park, most notably the Stadium, Pool, and Velodrome, to the point where the FINA President threatened to not have the diving, swimming, and water polo events take place there for the games in early 1976 though all three venues were completed as best as possible prior to the 1976 Games. 27 swimming world records were set as a result. The oldest stadium, Molson Stadium at McGill University, would be converted into artificial turf for the field hockey tournaments while the sailing program in Kingston, Ontario would be held in freshwater, both for the first time in Summer Olympic history. Indoor track cycling took place at the Olympics for the first time at the velodrome. Once the Olympics finished, the Montreal Expos and Montreal Alouettes moved into Olympic Stadium, staying until 2004 and 1997, respectively. The Montreal Canadiens remained at the Montreal Forum until they moved to the Molson Centre in March 1996. In 1992, the velodrome was converted into an indoor zoo now known as the Montreal Biodôme. Île-Notre Dame hosted a canoe sprint world championships and two rowing world championships since the 1976 Games, but the area north of the basin on the island has been host to the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix on an almost annual basis since 1978.
A total of twenty-nine sports venues were used for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
For the 2004 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty-five sports venues were used. Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, which used venues such as Panathinaiko Stadium and the city of Marathon for which the long-distance race would be named. From the end of the 1896 Games until the late 1970s, Greece underwent numerous political changes that included the Balkan Wars, two World Wars, a civil war, and a military coup that resulted in a junta that lasted from 1967 to 1974. A change in democracy in 1975 resulted in Greece's admission into the European Economic Community in 1979.
Center Parc Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is the home of the Georgia State University Panthers football team as of the 2017 season, replacing the Georgia Dome which had served as their home stadium from the program's inception in 2010 until 2016.
