1996 Summer Paralympics

The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship,[1] and had a budget of USD $81 million.[2]

X Paralympic Games
Host cityAtlanta, Georgia, United States
MottoThe Triumph of the Human Spirit
Nations104
Athletes3,259 (2,469 men, 790 women)
Events508 in 20 sports
OpeningAugust 16
ClosingAugust 25
Opened by
Vice President Al Gore
Cauldron
Mark Wellman
StadiumCentennial Olympic Stadium
Summer
← Barcelona 1992 Sydney 2000 →
Winter
← Lillehammer 1994 Nagano 1998 →
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It was the first Paralympic Games where International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability athletes were given full medal status.[3]

Symbol and mascot of the games
1996 Paralympic Mascot, Blaze the Phoenix

The mascot for the Paralympic Summer Games in Atlanta 1996 was Blaze. Blaze was created by Trevor Stone Irvin of Irvin Productions in Atlanta.

Blaze is a phoenix, a mythical bird that rises from ashes to experience a renewed life. The phoenix appears in Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Arabian, Chinese, Russian and Native American folklore and in all instances symbolizes strength, vision, inspiration and survival. The phoenix was an ideal mascot for the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and later for BlazeSports America, a nonprofit organization that is the direct legacy of the Games. The phoenix has long been the symbol of Atlanta's rebirth after its devastation in the American Civil War. But most importantly, it is the personification of the will, perseverance and determination of youth and adults with physical disability to achieve full and productive lives. Blaze, with his bright colors, height and broad wing span, reflects the traits, identified in a focus group of athletes with disability, as those they believed best represented the drive to succeed of persons with physical disability who pursue sports as recreation and as a competitive endeavor. Today, Blaze is the most recognizable symbol of disability sport in America.

Sports
Eila Nilsson of Sweden celebrating her 50 m freestyle B1 gold with Janice Burton of Great Britain and Tracey Cross of Australia.

The games consisted of 508 events spread over twenty sports, including three demonstration sports.[1]

A group of Australian supporters at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games

Venues

In total 11 venues were used at the 1996 Summer Olympics and five new venues were used at the Games in Atlanta.[4]

Olympic Ring
  • Centennial Olympic Stadium – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics
  • Alexander Memorial Coliseum – standing volleyball
  • Georgia Tech Aquatic Center – swimming

Metro Atlanta

Another Venues

Medal count
Main article: 1996 Summer Paralympics medal table

A total of 1577 medals were awarded during the Atlanta games: 518 gold, 517 silver, and 542 bronze. The host country, the United States, topped the medal count with more gold medals, more bronze medals, and more medals overall than any other nation. Germany took the most silver medals, with 58.[5]

In the table below, the ranking sorts by the number of gold medals earned by the top ten nations (in this context a nation is an entity represented by a National Paralympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.

  Host country (United States)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States (USA)*474666159
2 Australia (AUS)423727106
3 Germany (GER)405851149
4 Great Britain (GBR)404241123
5 Spain (ESP)393136106
6 France (FRA)35293195
7 Canada (CAN)24232471
8 Netherlands (NED)17111745
9 China (CHN)16131039
10 Japan (JPN)14101337
Totals (10 nations)314300316930

Attendance and coverage

For the first time the Paralympics were being televised on American TV. This has now led to each following Paralympic games being televised.

Germany was the second largest contingency of spectators apart from America, which is highlighted in their 149 medal tally, only second to the USA.

Participating delegations

A total of 100 nations were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 3,260.

Participating National Paralympic Committees
  • Wheelchair tennis
  • Welcome home parade
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See also

References
  1. "Atlanta 1996 – General Information". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  2. Ian Brittain (2009). The Paralympic Games Explained. Taylor & Francis. p. 83. ISBN 0-415-47658-5.
  3. Robert Daniel Steadward; Elizabeth Jane Watkinson; Garry David Wheeler (2003). Adapted physical activity. University of Alberta. p. 577. ISBN 0-88864-375-6.
  4. "Tickets". Atlanta Paralympics Organizing Committee. 1996. Archived from the original on February 6, 1997. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  5. "Medal Standings – Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
Preceded by
Barcelona–Madrid		 Summer Paralympics
Atlanta
X Paralympic Summer Games (1996)		 Succeeded by
Sydney
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