1996 Summer Olympics bids
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 1996 Summer Olympics bids | |
|---|---|
|
Overview · Atlanta |
|
 1996 Summer Olympics |
|
| Details | |
| Committee | International Olympic Committee (IOC) |
| Election venue |  Tokyo96th IOC Session |
| Important dates | |
| Decision | September 18, 1990 |
| Decision | |
| Winner | Atlanta (51 votes) |
| Runner-up | Athens (35 votes) |
Six cities submitted bids to host the 1996 Summer Olympics (formally known as Games of the XXVI Olympiad), which were awarded to Atlanta, on September 18, 1990. The other candidate cities were Athens (Greece), Toronto (Canada), Melbourne (Australia), Manchester (Great Britain) and Belgrade (Yugoslavia)
| 1996 Host City Election — ballot results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Country (NOC) | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 |
| Atlanta |  United States |
19 | 20 | 26 | 34 | 51 |
| Athens |  Greece |
23 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 35 |
| Toronto |  Canada |
14 | 17 | 18 | 22 | — |
| Melbourne |  Australia |
12 | 21 | 16 | — | — |
| Manchester |  Great Britain |
11 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Belgrade |  Yugoslavia |
7 | — | — | — | — |
[edit] Trivia
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Many felt that Athens should have had the right to host the 1996 Summer Olympics,[citation needed] as it marked the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympics. However, the IOC went to Atlanta because it felt that Athens's infrastructure would not be improved in time to host the Olympics. A year after the Olympics, Athens was awarded the 2004 Summer Olympics, and somewhat ironically, Athens held these games in the centennial year of the first American Olympics, St. Louis 1904.
- The Melbourne bid marketed itself on the fact the city is home to the largest concentration of Greeks outside Greece itself, and if Athens was logistically unable to host the Centennial Olympics it would provide as sentimental substitute. In addition to this Melbourne has a substantial amount of existing infrastructure to handle such an event, and because of this alone was considered a front runner to host the 1996 Games, and its position at fourth after in the final tally came as a surprise many Olympic bid commentators.
- While the bid put forward by Canada for Toronto to host the 1996 Olympics was considered a viable and safe option, the fact Canada had just hosted the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, was seemingly the bids biggest downfall. In addition to this Montreal had hosted the Olympics in 1976, which was plagued with organizational problems, and resulted with the taxpayers of Quebec a substantial debt. Because of this the 1996 bid from Toronto was met with skepticism by the Canadian public.
- The bid by Belgrade was submitted at the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia, and at a time when increasing tensions amongst former states of the Republic would result in the breakout of war only a year later. This risk was known to the IOC and undoubtedly lead to the Serbian capital ranking last in the final voting tally.
- The Manchester bid for the 1996 Games was the second to be put forward by the United Kingdom in this period, after Birmingham lost to Barcelona to host the 1992 Olympic Games. The plan offered by Manchester was seen as too expensive and considerable amount of urban renewal would be required to bring the city up to an Olympic standard. Manchester would bid again unsuccessfully for the Olympics, losing to Sydney for the right to host the 2000 edition. However Manchester would eventually go on to host the highly successful 2002 Commonwealth Games, regarded as an important contributor in the IOC decision to award London the 2012 Olympic Games.
|
|||||||||||||||||
