25 years since Atlanta 1996

I cannot believe its been 25 years since I volunteered at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. The 1996 games started July 19 and ended August 4. The games itself was great as well! I remember going through training in May and June 1996 while I was sick from a liver imbalance. I remember my uniform, which consisted of Hanes Khaki pants, 3 rings shirts, a belt, Olympic shoes, a hat and fanny pack. I heard of lots of money was being given for the uniforms so I sold my hat for 40 dollars and 2 shirts at 25 dollars apiece, far cry from the thousands I heard that volunteers were selling their uniforms for.

I remember parking my car in a lot and taking a MARTA train downtown to the games. When I heard Omni, Dome, Georgia World Congress Center I knew it was time to get off. I got off at this stop almost all the days I volunteered but later found out that the stop before was the stop I was supposed to get off and walk to the security area where we would show our accreditation badges and pass through security. on the way home after a shift volunteering, the trains were packed. 

I got to go to the Opening Ceremony dress rehearsal and it was amazing. I volunteered for 12 days and was off 2 days to go to Olympic events in women's volleyball and track and field. I have seen 1996 Olympics women's softball and women's soccer clips from Peacock TV streaming, the 1996 effect.  I did not watch most of the games because I was volunteering. So these clips were entertaining. I remember visiting Centennial Olympic Park opening on July 13, 1996. I took lots of photos. Also for the first 5 days of the games I did not bring a camera into the venues and missed taking photos of the gold medal winning USA women's gymnastics team in press conference. They let me sit in on it.  I regret not taking photos of press conference to this day. The press conference was in a 30,000 square foot Media Sub Center which covered the sports in the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center. I did attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the 1996 Olympics in July 2016. I was able to take photos of 5 of the 7 members of the gold medal women's gymnastics team and would have met some of them as I was standing in line to meet them when the thunderstorms moved in and they cleared the park for more than an hour. When they let us back in, that event was cancelled. 

I remember taking a camera in through what was supposed to be secure area to get photos of the Olympic stadium the day before the games started. I have photos of a gate, which I passed through to take the photos. I was stopped by the police on I-75 south of Atlanta while taking photos of the Olympic stadium on I-75. They told me I couldn't take photos from the road so I left the area after getting the photos. 

I remember ACOG closed Centennial Olympic Park for 3 days(from July 27-29) after the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park. I was at home and was awoken by ( at the time ,my girlfriend's family). I stayed up all night to watch the coverage. Later that day it took several more hours to pass through security to see track and field at the Olympic Stadium, 

On July 22, 1996 I saw the USA women's volleyball team beat the Netherlands 3-1 at the Omni. Because the venue did not allow photos during the match, I took a few warmup photos before the match. 

On July 27, 1996 I got to see the men's and women's 100 meter dash. The women's race was a photo finish and I have a decent photo of the finish line. The race was won by Gail Devers of the USA.  In the men's 100M dash, it took 15 minutes to start the race as there were 2 false starts and Linford Christie was disqualified. I witnessed a world record by Donovan Bailey of Canada winning gold in 9.84 seconds. A truly memorable night of track and field. 

To redeem myself after not taking photos of the USA women's gymnastics gold medal winning press conference, I decided to walk into the men's basketball gold medal winning Dream Team press conference on the second to last day of the games to attend and get photos, which I did!

I remember that IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was at a Judo event I was working at. I see Mr. Samaranch and decided to take his photo sitting in the stands. I was scared they were going to take my badge from me for taking his photo, but it never happened. I took several photos of him taking part in the Judo medal ceremony.

I remember that I won a nice USA short sleeve shirt in a raffle. I still have it.  I remember going into venues and taking photos of events I was working. I worked as a Mixed Zone Marshall for wrestling and also witnessed several men's weightlifting world records while working that event as well. I remember exchanging my meal tickets for lunch every day I worked. 

I remember attending a volunteer party on August 10, 1996 in Centennial Olympic Park where I got ACOG CEO Billy Payne's autograph. I remember pushing my hand through several people and Billy pushed it back. I had to wait a few more minutes to get his autograph!

I remember collecting pins, Sports Illustrated daily's, and newspapers from the Atlanta Journal Constitution from every day of the games, i still have a lot of them from the 1996 Olympics. 

This was one of the happiest times in my life! Too bad there isn't a Atlanta 1996 25th anniversary celebration that I could attend. Oh, the memories, now 25 years old!