As I watched the London Olympic opening ceremonies last night, I couldn’t help but think back to the year 1996 and the Atlanta Centennial Games.
For 17 days the world came to Atlanta, and since my real estate office was located in the heart of the city, I got to experience much of excitement first hand.
And even though I was able to attend about a dozen or so events, the real story was about the people that came to Atlanta to participate in the Olympic experience.
I spent a lot of time downtown In Centennial Olympic Park just trying to drink it all in. You cannot even imagine the enormity of this quadrennial celebration until you are right in the middle of it.
The monuments to the 1996 Games remain. Olympic Stadium was converted into Turner Field which is the home of the Atlanta Braves. The Olympic Village became dormitories for both Georgia Tech andGeorgiaState. Many of the other venues still exist in some form and scattered across the metropolitan area.
It was a time in Atlanta history that I will never forget. And every four years, I am again reminded of those hot Summer days in 1996 when the Olympics came to us!
Photos Courtesy of RichardWeisser.com. More about the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
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