1996 Summer Paralympics
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Host city | Atlanta, United States |
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Motto | The Triumph of the Human Spirit |
Nations | 104 |
Athletes | 3,259 |
Events | 517 in 20 sports |
Opening | August 16 |
Closing | August 25 |
Opened by | |
Cauldron | |
Stadium | Centennial Olympic Stadium |
Summer Winter
1996 Summer Olympics |
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Part of a series on |
1996 Summer Paralympics |
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The 1996 Paralympic Games in
It was the first Paralympic Games where
Bidding history
In an interview with Atlanta-based Reporters and Newspapers website, the CEO of the Organizing Committee (APOC), the disability rights attorney Andrew Flaming thanked and recognized the efforts of Alana Shepherd, who founded the world-renowned Shepherd Center which was one of the first hospitals in the world dedicated to the rehabilitation of victims of cervical spine accidents. Until March 1992, it was not guaranteed that the 1996 Summer Paralympics would actually be held in Atlanta, as the event was not a part of the original planning did not contain any possibility that the Paralympic Games could be held two weeks after the Olympic Games closing ceremonies. Due to disconnected actions between the two Organizing Committees, even before being secured in Atlanta, the Paralympics began to be promoted and already had their visual identity disclosed and the international promotion had started.
And the concerns came from different areas, either on the part of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (AOCOG) and its disorganization or the and also by the financial aspects that put all areas related to planning and management at risk. Between 1990 and 1992, the Shepherd family observed that there was a lack of interest in hosting the Paralympic Games in Atlanta and this included the neglect not only of local authorities but also of both Olympic sponsors and large international corporations who were headquartered in the city. This spilled over into the way in which the 1996 Summer Paralympic Games would be financed and promoted, whose actions, if successful, could lead to a massive sale of tickets and licensed products, helping the event itself. Fleming even recalled an interview with Shepard that if Atlanta failed to host the Games, the Great Britain was seen as "the plan B" which was already on the radar of the newly formed International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Fleming also said that the low-budget organizational model used at 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles was repeated by Atlanta Olympics. As the Californian capital, was the only bidder, they "forget" the 1984 Summer Paralympics, later called as "the last minute games". The games was shared by New York City and Stoke Mandeville in Great Britain and unlike what had happened with its predecessors Seoul who in a late stage signed late cooperation agreements for the realization of the Paralympics after the Olympic Games. He also says that the decision taken by Barcelona to organize "the two events under the same Organizing Committee" caused a lot of discomfort for the American organizers, as the decision taken in early 1987 increased the pressure on them, as was the first time on history that the two events was held as one together. In 1990, when Atlanta won the rights to host the 1996 Summer Olympics, a group of civil and disability people right led by him and the Shepherd Family matriarch, had a hard initiative to elaborate and submitting a project to bid for the Paralympics, a project that took a year and a half to complete. Fleming further records when were at the bidding process that the organizers of the Olympic Games were skeptical about hosting the Paralympics one half week after the Olympics and did not want to commit in any way with them. Thus, it would be difficult to achieve the entirety of the planned budget of nearly US$80 million, as the Paralympics had no source of funding, nor was there any sale of media rights.
Fleming also recalled that in a previous market survey, only 2% of city locals knew about the Paralympic Games against 4% who knew about the Atlanta Youth Games and the red alert was turned on for the event,as the time was passed. When this situation became public in 1991 it also caused internal tensions in the organization of the Olympics and in order not to damage its image any further, the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee donated a sum of money and deciding to help discreetly the organization of the Paralympic Games in some areas. After this awkward situation, the Shepherd Center co-founder Alana Shepherd's made a courageous crusade to ensure that the 1996 Summer Paralympics were also held in Atlanta. And after the IPC accept the bid, she made an aggressive strategy to add the involvement of large companies as sponsors and give a larger visibility for the event.
According to press reports at the time, the situation was so drastic that in the first few months, the Organizing Committee of the Paralympics started their works in an adapted small basement place at the center, as they did not have money to rent commercial rooms.[4][5] After final documents and proposal were sent to Belgium in late 1990 and some informal agreements were made the following year, the Sheperd Center Committee,had to elaborated their proposal in a 1.5 years time and had to officially presented it during the 1992 Winter Paralympics in Tignes, France.[6]
A different kind of competition
Shortly after the IPC announced that Atlanta's civil society proposal to host the Paralympics. Another race against time had started, and this one was seen as the worst, as the bidding committee had to get corporate and large sponsors. During the bidding campaign companies like
Racing against time and all risks, Shepard raised the USD$81 million needed to hold the event. Without the involvement of any public authority, Atlanta successfully held the IX edition of the Summer Paralympic Games. But unlike what had happened four years earlier, not all Olympic Games competition venues were used and the same Barcelona experience could not be delivered. But,contrary to predictions, the event made an impressive profit of millions of dollars, and that amount was used to create BlazeSports America, a Norcross-based non-profit organization that runs sports programs for children and veterans with disabilities.
Atlanta aftermath
Flaming and Shepherd believes until today that Samaranch and others must have heard the key message of these struggles. "After Atlanta, the IOC said it would not accept an Olympic bid unless it also made provisions for the Paralympic Games," Fleming said. "The IOC leadership essentially said, 'The Paralympic movement is not going way, especially after Atlanta…'and this was already happening, a few months after the closing of the Atlanta Games, the International Olympic Committee announced that it had changed the rules of the application process and starting from the 2000 Summer Olympics would not accept more than no city would file a bid without disclosing its plans for the Paralympic Games. Following this difficult process, when is bidding for the Olympic Games between 1991 and 1993, the eventual winner the Australian city of Sydney,did not originally guarantee that the city wanted to host the Paralympics.But during the process,they changed their attitudes and promised that apart the two events had the possibility to be organized by two different parties, they would give the same treatment to all the participants and public who went to go to Australia for the two events.This also encompassed planning, financing, security, logistics, marketing and ticket sales. This joint planning give the opportunity to share all the functions and made until that Games, won the title of "the best ever" until that date.[8]
The Atlanta 1996 Summer Paralympic Games budget troubles, led to the IOC to take and study some changes on their management. In the first action held in 1993,IOC and IPC signed a joint protocol of strategic partnership and they undertook to include topics related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the evaluation questionnaires that would be sent to the cities interested in the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. Occasionally, another American city Salt Lake City would be elected to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. In a different way that held in Atlanta, as they assumed the responsibility to host the 2002 Winter Paralympics if they won. While of the 11 cities applying for the 2004 Games, 6 had also chosen the joint management model.[9][10]
Five years later, and after the large and unprecedented success of the 1998 Winter Paralympics and the 2000 Summer Paralympics in 2001, after a change at the Olympic Charter, the International Paralympic Committee became an effective collaborator of the International Olympic Committee, and its president became a compulsory member of the IOC. With that, a cooperation agreement was signed informally called "One city, two events" and from then on, the same city and the same Organizing Committee would be responsible for the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games of the same year, and this concept started to be used during the process that led Beijing to win the process to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.[11][12]
Incidents during the Games
In addition to problems related to organization and funding between the two Committees. Other difficulties and problems were recorded when the Paralympic athletes arrived at the Olympic Village. They made public the displeasure of the first delegations that registered with the Olympic Village about the state of conservation of its rooms, the availability of food and especially the conditions of logistics between the village and the venues because of the distances and accessibility of the same. These were not the first problems that were reported in the so-called "transition period" that lasted from August 5 to 16. Several media, that were covering the games, made public accusations about the fact that the Olympic Games Organizing Committee was showing negligence about the Village services and raised serious possibilities that the situation was a result of numerous contractual failures between the two parties. This agreement also included the infrastructures issues of those sites that were shared and their cleaning and conservation, until APOC could take over their operation. At the exact moment athletes were able to access their accommodations, the athletes and participating delegations also noticed that several electronic devices and sockets were summarily ripped off and there was furniture missing, which turned the residential part of the village into a mess. The amount of criticism was so great that ACOG issued a public denial about the situation, claiming that some delegations arrived two days earlier than planned in Atlanta. As had already happened at the Olympics, logistics and accessibility were serious problems, as competitions were held in 17 venues scattered throughout Metro Atlanta, with only 3 being close to the Village and another 6 exclusive venues for the Paralympics inside member institutions of the
Look of the Games
The visual concept for this edition was called "The Ascending Flame" and was based at the logo called "StarFire" released in 1992 and was developed by the local design office Copeland Design who had created all the visual concepts for the city's bid for the Olympic Games. The office took advantage of its already being public knowledge that the two events would be held separately. A totally different corporate identity was created. It was from common sense that this would be the biggest edition of the Paralympic Games so far in everything,[
According to a survey carried out by the Atlanta History Center, there are few recorded materials about the development of this project. However, Copeland Design was also responsible for creating the visual identity. In these documents, the so-called concept of "The Ascendent Flame" is explained and associated with the Games slogan that was "The Triumph of the Human Spirit" along the mascot that was the phoenix Blaze.[14]
Mascot
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/1996_Paralympic_Mascot_Blaze.png)
The mascot for the Paralympic Summer Games in Atlanta 1996 was Blaze. Blaze was created by Trevor Stone Irvin of Irvin Productions in Atlanta.
Blaze is a phoenix, a mythical bird that rises from ashes to experience a renewed life. The phoenix appears in Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Arabian, Chinese, Russian and Native American folklore and in all instances symbolizes strength, vision, inspiration and survival. The phoenix was an ideal mascot for the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and later for BlazeSports America, a nonprofit organization that is the direct legacy of the Games. The phoenix has long been the symbol of Atlanta's rebirth after its devastation in the American Civil War. But most importantly, it is the personification of the will, perseverance and determination of youth and adults with physical disability to achieve full and productive lives. Blaze, with his bright colors, height and broad wing span, reflects the traits, identified in a focus group of athletes with disability, as those they believed best represented the drive to succeed of persons with physical disability who pursue sports as recreation and as a competitive endeavor. Today, Blaze is the most recognizable symbol of disability sport in America.
Sports
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Tracey_Cross_and_other_medallists_50m_free.jpg/220px-Tracey_Cross_and_other_medallists_50m_free.jpg)
The games consisted of 508 events spread over twenty sports, including three demonstration sports.[1]
- Archery
- Athletics
- Boccia
- Cycling
- Equestrian
- Football 7-a-side
- Goalball
- Judo
- Lawn bowls
- Powerlifting
- Racquetball
- Sailing (demonstration sport, but medals awarded)
- Shooting
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Volleyball
- Wheelchair basketball
- Wheelchair fencing
- Wheelchair rugby (demonstration sport, but medals awarded)
- Wheelchair tennis
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/24_ACPS_Atlanta_1996_Open_Ceremony_Crowd.jpg/220px-24_ACPS_Atlanta_1996_Open_Ceremony_Crowd.jpg)
Venues
In total 17 venues were used at the 1996 Summer Olympics and five new venues were used at the Games in Atlanta.[15]
Olympic Ring
- Centennial Olympic Stadium – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics
- Alexander Memorial Coliseum– standing volleyball
- Georgia Tech Aquatic Center– swimming
Metro Atlanta
- Henderson Arena– judo and wheelchair rugby
- Panther Stadium – lawn bowls and 7-side-football
- Woodruff P.E. Center – boccia
- GSU Sports Arena – goalball
- Marriott Marquis – powerlifting
- Sheffield Building – wheelchair fencing
- Forbes Arena and Omni Coliseum – wheelchair basketball
- Clayton State Arena– sitting volleyball
- Wolf Creek Shooting Complex – shooting
- Stone Mountain Park– archery, wheelchair tennis and cycling
Duluth
- Gwinnett Center– table tennis
Another Venues
- Lake Lanier – yachting
- Georgia International Horse Park – equestrian
Calendar
In the following calendar for the 1996 Summer Paralympics, each blue box represents an event competition. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport are held. The number in each yellow box represents the number of finals that are contested on that day.[16]
● | Opening ceremony | Event competitions | Event finals | ● | Closing ceremony |
August | Thu 15th |
Fri 16th |
Sat 17th |
Sun 18th |
Mon 19th |
Tue 20th |
Wed 21st |
Thu 22nd |
Fri 23rd |
Sat 24th |
Sun 25th |
Gold Medals |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ceremonies | OC | CC | — | |||||||||
Archery | ● | ● | ● | 5 | 3 | 8 | ||||||
Athletics | 16 | 25 | 28 | 26 | 24 | 18 | 25 | 29 | 26 | 211 | ||
Boccia | ● | ● | ● | ● | 5 | 5 | ||||||
Cycling Track | 3 | 6 | 2 | 11 | ||||||||
Cycling Road | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | ||||||||
Equestrian
|
4 | 5 | 9 | |||||||||
Football 7-a-side | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Goalball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | ||||
Judo | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||
Lawn Bowls | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 4 | 4 | 8 | ||||
Powerlifting | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||||||
Sailing | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Shooting | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 15 | ||||
Sitting volleyball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||
Standing volleyball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||
Swimming | 18 | 20 | 15 | 11 | 19 | 19 | 15 | 28 | 21 | 168 | ||
Table Tennis | ● | ● | 7 | ● | ● | 17 | ● | 4 | 28 | |||
Wheelchair basketball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Wheelchair fencing | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | ||||||
Wheelchair rugby | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Wheelchair tennis | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
Total | 0 | 2 | 43 | 56 | 58 | 52 | 59 | 78 | 54 | 70 | 45 | 517 |
Medal count
A total of 1574 medals were awarded during the Atlanta games: 517 gold, 516 silver, and 541 bronze. The host country, the United States, topped the medal count with more gold medals, more bronze medals, and more medals overall than any other nation. Germany took the most silver medals, with 58.[17]
In the table below, the ranking sorts by the number of gold medals earned by the top ten nations (in this context a nation is an entity represented by a National Paralympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.
Host country (United States)
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 46 | 46 | 65 | 157 |
2 | ![]() | 42 | 37 | 27 | 106 |
3 | ![]() | 40 | 58 | 51 | 149 |
4 | ![]() | 39 | 42 | 41 | 122 |
5 | ![]() | 39 | 31 | 36 | 106 |
6 | ![]() | 35 | 29 | 31 | 95 |
7 | ![]() | 24 | 21 | 24 | 69 |
8 | ![]() | 17 | 11 | 17 | 45 |
9 | ![]() | 16 | 13 | 10 | 39 |
10 | ![]() | 14 | 10 | 13 | 37 |
Totals (10 entries) | 312 | 298 | 315 | 925 |
Participating delegations
A total of 104 National Paralympic Committees were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 3,260.Countries who made their first appearances in the Atlanta Games were : Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Mauritius, Moldova, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Ukraine and Zambia.
Gallery
-
Wheelchair tennis
-
Welcome home parade
See also
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1996 Summer Olympics
- BlazeSports America, the legacy organization of the 1996 Paralympic Games
References
- ^ a b "Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-415-47658-4.
- ISBN 0-88864-375-6.
- ^ "How Buckhead's Shepherd Center saved the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games". Reporter Newspapers. August 3, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ a b "The 10th Paralympic Games and Their Place in Disability History". Atlanta History Center. March 4, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ a b "Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Summer Games". Stoke Mandeville Paralympic Heritage. 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
- ^ "How Buckhead's Shepherd Center saved the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games". Reporter Newspapers. August 3, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ "Sydney 2000 Paralympic Summer Games". Stock Mandeville Paralympic Heritage. April 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
- ^ "Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Paralympics". Stock Mandeville Paralympic Heritage. May 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ "Athens 2004 Summer Paralympics". Stock Mandeville Paralympic Heritage. May 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ "Beijing 2008 Summer Paralympics". Stock Mandeville Paralympic Heritage. May 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ "10 Olympic Games That Nearly Bankrupted Their Host Countries". January 19, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ "Designing '96". Atlanta History Center. July 14, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
- ^ "1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games Standards Manual" (PDF). Atlanta History Center. July 14, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
- ^ "Tickets". Atlanta Paralympics Organizing Committee. 1996. Archived from the original on February 6, 1997. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
- ^ "Results of the 1996 Paralympic Games". Atlanta 1996 Summer Paralympics Official Website. Archived from the original on November 13, 1996. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ "Medal Standings – Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
External links
- International Paralympic Committee
- Official site at the Wayback Machine (archived May 7, 2009)