Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main
stadium of the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
and
Paralympics in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Construction of the stadium began in 1993, and it was complete and ready for the
opening ceremony in July 1996, where it hosted
track and field events and the
closing ceremony. After the Olympics and Paralympics, it was reconstructed into the baseball-specific
Turner Field
Turner Field was a baseball stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1997 to 2016, it served as the home ballpark to the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium in 1996 to serve as the c ...
, used by the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
of
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
for 20 seasons (1997–2016). After the Braves departed for
Truist Park
Truist Park (originally SunTrust Park) is a baseball stadium in the Atlanta metropolitan area, approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in the unincorporated community of Cumberland, Georgia, Cumberland, in Cobb County, ...
, the facility was purchased by
Georgia State University
Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the largest institution of hig ...
, which rebuilt the stadium a second time as
Center Parc Stadium
Center Parc Stadium (formerly Georgia State Stadium) is an outdoor stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is the home of the Georgia State University Panthers football team as of the 2017 season, replacing the Georgia Dome which had served a ...
, designed for
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
.
History
During the week-long athletics program, the stadium bore witness to
Donovan Bailey
Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian ...
of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
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
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
's
Marie-José Pérec also winning the 200/400 double. Meanwhile,
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996 ...
won his fourth consecutive Olympic title in the
long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...
, becoming only the second person, after
Al Oerter
Alfred Oerter Jr. (September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic Champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Ga ...
, to win the same athletics event at four consecutive Games.
After the closing ceremony of the
1996 Paralympics, the stadium was officially leased by the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
. Private entities, including
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
and other Olympic sponsors, agreed to pay a large sum of the cost to build Centennial Olympic Stadium (approximately $170 million of the $209 million bill). The
Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games
The Atlanta Committee for the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, or ACOG, also known as the Atlanta Committee, was an informal name for the Atlanta Committee for the Games of the XXVI Olympiad. The President of ACOG was Billy Payne.
References
1996 ...
(ACOG) sought to build the stadium in a way that it could be converted to a new baseball stadium, and ACOG paid for the conversion.
This was considered a good agreement for both the Olympic Committee and the Braves, because there would be no use for a permanent 85,000 seat
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
stadium in
Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county ...
since the 71,000 seat
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...
had been completed four years earlier by the state of Georgia and became the home of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
's
Atlanta Falcons. The Braves had already been exploring opportunities for a new venue to replace
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, often referred to as Fulton County Stadium and originally named Atlanta Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in the southeastern United States, located in Atlanta. The stadium was home of the Atlanta Braves of th ...
.
The southwest corner of the Olympic Stadium was built to accommodate the future baseball
infield
Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used.
Baseball
In baseball, the diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, usually grass-c ...
and seating; in the Olympic configuration of the stadium, the seats are not placed next to the
oval running track. The southwest part of the stadium also had four tiers of seats,
luxury box
The luxury box (or skybox) and club seating constitute the most exclusive class of seating in arenas and stadiums, and generate much higher revenues than regular seating. Club ticketholders often receive exclusive access to an indoor part of t ...
es, a facade facing the street, and a roof, whereas the north half of the stadium used a simpler two-tiered seating configuration. During reconstruction, the
athletics track was removed and relocated to
the field hockey stadium located at
Clark Atlanta University, which uses it for athletics and
football, and the north half of the stadium was
demolish
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a bu ...
ed, reducing the capacity to 49,000. Because of the need to fit a track within the stadium in its earlier incarnation, the field of play, particularly foul territory, while not large by historical standards, was nonetheless larger than that of most MLB stadiums built since 1990. Reconstruction was complete in 1997, and the facility was renamed
Turner Field
Turner Field was a baseball stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1997 to 2016, it served as the home ballpark to the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium in 1996 to serve as the c ...
. Afterward, Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, the Braves' previous home and the venue for the Olympics baseball events, was
imploded and the site became a parking lot for Turner Field. The Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority owned Turner Field, and the Atlanta Braves occupied the revised stadium until the expiration of their lease in 2016; the Braves moved to
Truist Park
Truist Park (originally SunTrust Park) is a baseball stadium in the Atlanta metropolitan area, approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in the unincorporated community of Cumberland, Georgia, Cumberland, in Cobb County, ...
in
Cobb County
Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta, Georgia, Mar ...
in the following year.
Georgia State University acquired Turner Field and its surrounding parking lots in January 2017 for a mixed use expansion of the Georgia State campus, which includes private and student housing, academic, retail, and office space in addition to the redevelopment of the former ballpark into
Center Parc Stadium
Center Parc Stadium (formerly Georgia State Stadium) is an outdoor stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is the home of the Georgia State University Panthers football team as of the 2017 season, replacing the Georgia Dome which had served a ...
.
The
Atlanta Track Club
Atlanta Track Club is a non-profit, running organization for the Atlanta metropolitan area in Georgia, United States. It hosts over 30 events a year including the Thanksgiving Day Atlanta Half Marathon/5K and the AJC Peachtree Road Race. Atlan ...
's annual Father's Day four-mile (6.4 km) road race ends inside the stadium near the warning track where the finish line was located for the Olympics.
References
External links
Interactive diagram at Clem's Baseball site showing both Olympic and Braves configurationsAerial View of Olympic Stadium
{{coord, 33, 44, 08, N, 84, 23, 22, W, region:US_type:landmark, display=title
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
Athletics (track and field) venues in Georgia (U.S. state)
Venues of the 1996 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletics venues
Defunct athletics (track and field) venues in the United States
Sports venues in Atlanta
1996 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
1997 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Defunct sports venues in Georgia (U.S. state)
Sports venues completed in 1996