That retained the city’s architectural eyesight modest.

Organizers razed or painted blighted some houses inside of sight of Olympic venues. They made use of current venues, like the Georgia Planet Congress Centre and Omni Coliseum. And the place new facilities ended up created, planners took into account how they would be made use of properly soon after the Olympic cauldron was extinguished.

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The Olympic Cauldron was lit by Muhammad Ali through the opening ceremonies for the 1996 Summer months Olympic Games at Centennial Olympic Stadium (witnessed in this article throughout the closing ceremonies on Aug. 4, 1996). The stadium was later on reconfigured as Turner Subject, the home of the Atlanta Braves, until the ball club moved to Truist Discipline in Cobb County in 2017. The cauldron moved as well, one particular block north to the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Fulton Road. The stadium, now called Heart Parc Credit Union Stadium, is the property of the Georgia State College Panthers soccer crew. (Renee Hannans, Curtis Compton / AJC)

Credit history: Renee Hannans

Credit score: Renee Hannans

In the conclusion, Atlanta, one particular of the last towns to privately finance its video games, invested $3.8 billion in 2009 dollars to develop venues and operate the show, in accordance to an Oxford College study. Barcelona had expended $11.4 billion. And a lot of of the facilities constructed for the Atlanta Olympiad are even now in use, in contrast to numerous venues in Athens, Rio de Janeiro and Beijing.

Some of the most significant winners from Atlanta’s Olympic constructing growth ended up neighborhood universities. Sporting amenities found new existence as dorms, apply fields and sport day venues. The outdated Olympic Village along the Downtown Connector, very first employed by Ga Condition College as dormitories, then offered to Georgia Tech, is credited with serving to GSU transform all over its status as a commuter university.

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Site visitors flows alongside the downtown connector in between a part of the Olympic Village on the right and the town skyline in 1995. The village is nevertheless currently being employed as university dormitories.

Credit history: LEITA COWART

Credit score: LEITA COWART

But potentially the greatest beneficiary was the Atlanta Braves. The group obtained its 30-calendar year-outdated digs at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium replaced with the point out-of-the-artwork Olympic Stadium. The transformed facility however stands and is utilised by GSU.

Here’s the position of some of the other venues applied in the Atlanta ‘96 Game titles:

Even now in use

Ga International Horse Park: The Conyers facility hosted equestrian fulfills in 1996, as very well as two events from the modern pentathlon. The park now involves a 173-acre mother nature preserve and levels horse demonstrates, festivals, concerts and weddings. In the future two months, it has a barrel racing celebration and a 5K obstacle race on the calendar.

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The Ga International Horse Park in Conyers started growth in 1991 and hosted the equestrian events for the 1996 Summer months Olympic Games. The park continues to run as a multi-use location for horse demonstrates, festivals, concert events and other non-equestrian sporting situations. At suitable, an Olympic ring produced from horse jumps sits in Bald Rock Meadows. (Curtis Compton / [email protected])

Credit rating: Curtis Compton

Credit score: Curtis Compton

Lake Lanier: The reservoir has been all around because the 1950s, but during the Online games it was the web-site of rowing, canoe and kayaking activities. The Gainesville-place Olympic venue was lately renovated to make it handicap obtainable, and now it offers a butterfly garden and rowing club.

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Two folks row earlier the Olympic Tower at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville on August 7, 2021. STEVE SCHAEFER FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-Constitution

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Credit score: Steve Schaefer

Ga Tech Aquatic Middle: Developed for the Video games, the outside venue staged swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and drinking water polo. The web-site was transferred afterward to Ga Tech, which enclosed the facility. The venue is dwelling to the school’s swimming and diving teams and is employed for recreation by learners.

Teetering or Transitioning

Stone Mountain Tennis Heart: Due to the fact the Games, supervisors experimented with to entice main tennis functions and concerts to the location but were being unsuccessful. The 26-acre, 8,000 seat web site has been demolished. In December, Gwinnett County Commissioners agreed to negotiate with Fuqua Progress to make a mixed-use heart on the land.

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The Stone Mountain Tennis Heart was crafted to host the tennis events for the 1996 Summertime Olympic Video games. The stadium, which sat 12,000 fans all through the Games, was surrounded by 15 outer courts. Just after the Olympics, the stadium was reconfigured to 7,200 seats and continued to host tennis activities. Over time, it fell into disuse and was demolished in 2017. The land has been cleared. (Phil Skinner, Tyler Estep / AJC)

Credit rating: Phil Skinner

Credit rating: Phil Skinner

Atlanta Seashore: Made for seashore volleyball, the Jonesboro facility has struggled to uncover its economic footing. A water park at the site closed in 2018 for renovations. Neighborhood officers are preparing to insert facilities these types of as a lazy river, board walk and foodstuff truck location.

Alonzo Herndon Stadium: Morris Brown University’s aged stadium was overhauled into a 15,000-seat location to host discipline hockey. For a time the college or university utilised the stadium for soccer video games, but dollars woes led Morris Brown to offer off the stadium to shell out debts soon after submitting for bankruptcy. The stadium is now included in graffiti and weeds.

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Alonzo Herndon Stadium was at first constructed on the Morris Brown University campus in 1948 and received a key overhaul to come to be a 15,011-seat field hockey location for the 1996 Summer season Olympic Games. Soon after the Olympics, the stadium hosted the Georgia Mustangs softball and Atlanta Conquer soccer groups. Now, the closed stadium is a graffiti-covered spoil. (John Bazemore / AP Curtis Compton / AJC)

Credit score: John Bazemore

Credit score: John Bazemore

Demolished

Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, house of baseball events, and the Omni Coliseum, which hosted indoor volleyball matches, have been both developed prior to the Games and demolished in 1997. The Georgia Dome, which staged basketball, handball and gymnastics, was in use right until demolished in 2017. A short term velodrome was created at Stone Mountain during the Olympics to host monitor biking, but it was despatched to Quebec afterwards.

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Framed between the transplanted Olympic Caldron, right, and the Brave’s new home, Turner Field, the continues to be of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium lies in a heap of rubble right after the implosion. Demolition crews imploded it down with a series of 1,200 successive detonations. (AJC Staff members Picture/Kevin Keister)

Credit rating: KEVIN KEISTER

Credit rating: KEVIN KEISTER