With the US Olympic gymnastic trials starting tonight I have been thinking back to Atlanta 1996. A fantastic experience. The Atlanta community was great- it was an Olympic community. People on the public transport were very friendly and people talked about what sports they were seeing/had seen. Security was very high. You went through at least one checkpoint into every venue (more if the US president was going to be there), and time a car pulled over to park inside the Olympic area, it was immediately searched before being allowed to park. The garbage cans were all disposable and the crews went around frequently replacing them. In spite of this, a bomber managed to get through. But that didn't touch us as we were about an hour out of Atlanta at the time and left at 4am heading back to Canada without even hearing the news. The Olympic park that he hit was a beautiful place - I hope they restored it after.
The events themselves were very well run with excellent gymnastics, it is hard to describe.
I loved walking in Atlanta, it was steaming hot but fascinating. As there was a lot of time in between events we did lots of sightseeing, all over the downtown Olympic area, Stone Mountain, Marietta and a plantation.
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