Centennial Olympic Stadium
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| Centennial Olympic Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Image:Atlantaolympicstadium.JPG | |
| Location | 755 Hank Aaron Drive SE Atlanta, Georgia 30315 |
| Broke ground | July 10, 1993 |
| Opened | July 19, 1996 |
| Closed | August 27, 1996 |
| Demolished | August 27, 1996 (Reconfigured as Turner Field) |
| Owner | Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | $207 million |
| Architect | Heery International; Rosser International; Williams-Russell and Johnson; Ellerbe Becket |
| Tenants | 1996 Summer Olympics |
| Capacity | 85,000 (49,000 Post Olympics) |
Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Construction of the stadium began in 1993, and it was complete and ready for the Opening Ceremony in July 1996.
During the week-long athletics program, the stadium bore witness to Donovan Bailey of Canada winning the 100 m in a world record time of 9.84 s; Michael Johnson winning both the 200 and 400 metres titles, breaking the 200 m world record in the process; and France's Marie-José Perec also winning the 200/400 double. Meanwhile, Carl Lewis won a Olympic title, in the long jump.
After the closing ceremony of the 1996 Paralympics, reconstruction began to turn the stadium into a new home for the Atlanta Braves baseball team; the southwest corner of the stadium was prebuilt and configured to accommodate the baseball infield and seating, and this is easily seen in aerial views and diagrams of the stadium in its Olympic configuration. The track was removed, and the north half of the stadium demolished, reducing the capacity to 45,000.
Also controversially, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games gave the USD $207 million stadium to the Braves rather than to the city, which owned the stadium it replaced. The stadium was renamed Turner Field, for the then-owner of the Braves, Ted Turner.
After reconstruction was complete in 1997, the 1960s-era Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, whose south parking lot the new stadium was built in, was imploded.
The Georgia Dome was also a major stadium used at these Olympics.
[edit] See also
- Turner Field: The post-Olympic legacy of the Centennial Olympic Stadium.
[edit] External links
Summer Olympic stadia |
|---|
| Athens, 1896 • Paris, 1900 • St Louis, 1904 • London, 1908 • Stockholm, 1912 • Antwerp, 1920 • Paris, 1924 • Amsterdam, 1928 • Los Angeles, 1932 • Berlin, 1936 • London, 1948 • Helsinki, 1952 • Melbourne, 1956 • Rome, 1960 • Tokyo, 1964 • México City, 1968 • Munich, 1972 • Montréal, 1976 • Moscow, 1980 • Los Angeles, 1984 • Seoul, 1988 • Barcelona, 1992 • Atlanta, 1996 • Sydney, 2000 • Athens, 2004 • Beijing, 2008 • London, 2012 |
de:Centennial Olympic Stadium fr:Centennial Olympic Stadium he:האצטדיון האולימפי סנטניאל la:Stadium Olympiae Atlantae ja:センテニアル・オリンピックスタジアム pt:Centennial Olympic Stadium
