The 1996 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from April 27 to July 19, leading up to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The route covered across the United States and featured a wide variety in the methods of transport used, including bicycles, boats, and trains. The National Pony Express Association participated in the journey, with riders carrying the torch for over 56 continuous hours. The torch was taken on board a replica of a 19th-century packet boat and pulled for along the Erie Canal by mule. The torch was also carried into space for the first time, with astronauts taking an unlit torch with them aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as part of STS-78. The relay involved over 12,000 torchbearers, including Muhammad Ali, who was chosen to ignite the Olympic cauldron.
Organization Planning for the torch relay began in 1993. From the beginning of the planning process, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) worked closely with the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) to organize the handover of the Olympic flame from Greece to the United States. The last such event in the United States, the 1984 Summer Olympics torch relay, had been the subject of controversy: Greek organizers opposed the decision to allow anyone who gave money to the relay's charitable sponsors to carry the torch, and had threatened not to light the flame at Olympia. Additionally, Athens had narrowly lost to Atlanta in its bid for the 1996 Olympics, which many Greek officials believed belonged to them because it marked the 100th anniversary of the first modern Olympics in Athens. Atlanta organizers sought to minimize the impact of these events on Greek–American relations by ensuring that the HOC was always included in their plans.MacAloon, John J. "This flame, our eyes: Greek/American/IOC relations, 1984–2002, an ethnographic memoir", Bearing Light: Flame Relays and the Struggle for the Olympic Movement, Routledge, 2013. As a result of these discussions, ACOG agreed to "refrain from selling the honor of carrying the Olympic flame, to control and minimize commercialization of the flame or relay imagery, to prohibit any sponsor identification from appearing on the torch or torchbearer uniform, and to protect and acknowledge only one Olympic flame."
Within those constraints, the relay still relied substantially on corporate sponsorship as opposed to public funding. Most of these sponsorships were value-in-kind, with sponsors providing free products and services to the relay organizers rather than paying money to ACOG. The Coca-Cola Company was the presenting sponsor of the relay, and was the only company permitted to create relay-related merchandise and advertising. Coca-Cola was also responsible for selecting 2,500 of the torchbearers. The company gave nomination forms away as part of a promotional deal with 12-packs of their cans, with the entries largely being selected at random. Revenue from the drinks sold from the travelling party were donated to charity.
Transportation services, both for the flame itself and for relay organizers making preparations along the route, were provided by Delta Air Lines, Union Pacific Railroad, and BMW, with Texaco providing fuel for the motor vehicles used in the relay. Communications and technology services were provided by BellSouth, Motorola, and IBM. The torchbearer uniforms were designed and manufactured by the Sara Lee Corporation, which then owned the Hanes and Champion clothing brands. Holiday Inn provided accommodations and meeting spaces for organizers along the route. Troopers of the Georgia State Patrol accompanied the flame along the entire route and guarded it overnight."Carrying a Dream: The Pre-Olympic Event; The Flame Arrives in Upstate New York", The New York Times, June 17, 1996, Web. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
In planning the flame's route across the United States, organizers drew on the successful experience of the 1984 relay as well as the 1992 relay in Spain, which had used a wider variety of means of transportation in addition to runners on foot. Combining elements of these two past events would allow for a "celebration of Americana" that would visit significantly more towns and famous locations than the 1984 relay, done solely by runners, in almost exactly the same span of time. For the first time, logistics and planning for the relay was handled by Além International Management, which has been responsible for almost all Olympic torch relays since 1996 and has followed the same model each time. A preliminary route had been decided by early 1994, and organizer Rennie Truitt was tasked with driving its entire length that summer to choose specific roads and landmarks that would be visited.Pousner, Howard. "Coming to America", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 26, 1996, page H10.
The route of the torch relay was announced on July 23, 1995, in a televised special on NBC hosted by Bob Costas and ACOG president Billy Payne. It was the longest Olympic torch relay route that had been staged up to that time, covering a distance of , visiting 42 of the 50 states, and lasting for 84 days. The length was chosen so that the Olympic flame would burn in the United States for a total of 100 days from its arrival in Los Angeles to its extinguishing at the closing ceremonies, representing the Centennial Olympics. The flame was to be carried by 10,000 torchbearers. 5,500 of these torchbearers were chosen by local affiliates of the United Way of America, with another 2,500 chosen through a sweepstakes held by Coca-Cola, and the remaining 2,000 selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee and ACOG.Pousner, Howard. "Torch's trip to Atlanta a 42-state extravaganza", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 24, 1995, page C4.
Torch
The torch was designed by Greek-American Peter Mastrogiannis of Malcolm Grear Designers. The Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering and Atlanta Gas Light turned the design into a reality. It featured 22 aluminum "reeds", representing the number of times that the Games had been held. A gold-plated band towards the base of the torch features the names of all 20 host cities up to and including Atlanta, while the logo is etched into another band near the top. The handle, made of Georgia hardwood collected by the Georgia Forestry Commission and manufactured by Hillerich & Bradsby, maker of Louisville Slugger bats, is found near the center of the torch. In total it weighed . Torchbearers were allowed to purchase for $275 the torch that they had carried.
During the initial leg of the torch relay in Greece, hasty modifications were made to the design of the torch. It was found that the reeds could melt while the flame was lit, requiring engineers to design a screen which could protect the reeds from the flame without affecting the performance of the torch. The propane used to fuel the torch was replaced with propylene so that it would burn brighter, requiring the thousands of torches already made to be disassembled in order to replace the fuel inside.
Relay Greece In keeping with tradition, the flame was lit at the Temple of Hera in the Greek city of Olympia on March 30, 1996. First Lady Hillary Clinton headed the American delegation at the lighting ceremony. Greek long jumper Kostas Koukodimos was the first torchbearer.Cheakalos, Christina. "Sacred ceremony sparks flame's trip", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 31, 1996, page B12. Over 800 people carried the torch a distance of across Greece, the most extensive in the history of the Games, to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1896 Olympics in Athens. The Greek leg of the relay culminated on April 6, when the torch arrived at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.Wilson, Rusty. "An Olympic Fairy Tale: The 1996 Olympic Flame Relay in Greece", Journal of Olympic History 6.1, Winter 1998, pages 10-13.Cheakalos, Christina. "Centennial glory: Competition reveals Greek pride, anger", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 7, 1996, page H1. The flame was carried through Athens by representatives of every country which had hosted an Olympic Games in the past century."Torch for Tewksbury", Montreal Gazette, April 4, 1996, page C1.
DateLocationsCheakalos, Christina. "Greek legends, history inspire torchbearers", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 4, 1996, page B4.MapInset map March 30 Olympia, Pyrgos, Kalamata March 31 Kalamata, Taygetus, Sparta, Tegea April 1 Tegea, Tripoli, Nafplio, Argos, Corinth April 2 Corinth, Patras April 3 Patras, Missolonghi, Navpaktos, Galaxidi, Itea, Amfissa, Delphi April 4 Delphi, Parnassus, Thebes, Vergina April 5 Vergina, Naousa, Pella, Thessaloniki April 6 Thessaloniki, Marathon, Athens (Panathenaic Stadium)
United States
After burning in Athens for three weeks, HOC president Antonios Tzikas formally handed the flame to ACOG president Billy Payne on April 26. A lantern containing the flame was loaded onto The Centennial Spirit, a specially painted Delta Air Lines McDonnell Douglas MD-11, at Athens' Ellinikon International Airport early on the morning of April 27. The flight from Athens to Los Angeles International Airport lasted 14 hours, departing Athens at 4 a.m. local time and arriving in Los Angeles by 9 a.m. local time.Pousner, Howard. "Passing the torch: Payne will accept Olympic flame in a ceremony today in Greece", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 26, 1996, page H1.Turner, Melissa. "Excitement builds as Atlanta delegation awaits flame", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 26, 1996, page H12.
From the airport, the flame was carried in a helicopter to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of the 1984 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, for a nationally televised ceremony to mark the beginning of the relay. ACOG attempted to arrange for the nude statues in front of the Coliseum to be covered during the event,Harvey, Randy. "Nude Statues Fail to Qualify for Torch Relay", Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1996, page A23. but the statues ultimately remained uncovered. Billy Payne lit the first torch from the lantern before passing it to Rafer Johnson, who had lit the cauldron in 1984, to run the first leg. Johnson passed the flame to Gina Hemphill Tillman, granddaughter of Jesse Owens, who had been the first torchbearer on the 1984 relay. Tillman passed it on to swimmer Janet Evans."Symbolizing the Spirit: Flame Arrives to Ignite Olympic Torch", Associated Press, via The Oklahoman, April 28, 1996, Section B, page 9.
Leaving the Coliseum, the torch was carried through Los Angeles to Santa Monica Pier, then along the Pacific coast.Simon, Stephanie, and Henry Weinstein. "L.A. Kicks Off Olympic Torch Run Across U.S.", Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1996, pages A1 and A22. At one point in Los Angeles, the torch was carried by Robert Zemeckis.Downey, Mike. "He Carries the Torch, by 'Gump'", Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1996, pages C1 and C11. The first day of the relay continued until 4:59 a.m., when the run stopped for an hour in Huntington Beach before continuing on its way to San Diego. Notable torchbearers in San Diego County included Wheel of Fortune hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White in Oceanside"TV notables to gather in Oceanside for torch run", North County Times, April 25, 1996, page B1. and 1936 Olympic athlete Kenny Griffin in Carlsbad.