ACOG - Venues - IBM

Overview of Venues for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games

ACOG is contributing almost one-third -- or $47 million - of the cost of building new residence halls and housing at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) that will be used in the summer of 1996 as part of the main Olympic Village. As many as 14,000 athletes and officials will live in the Olympic Village during the Games.

In addition to the facilities in which ACOG is investing -- totaling some $500 million -- several other entities also are building new venues that will be used for the 1996 Olympic Games. These new complexes -- such as Golden Park in nearby Columbus, Georgia, where softball will be played, and the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Polk County, Tennessee, where the slalom events of canoe/kayak will be held -- plus the stadiums and centers being developed by ACOG will contribute to establishing this region as one of the premier sports centers of the United States.

The city of Atlanta also will benefit for years to come from the creation of Centennial Olympic Park -- a 21-acre (8.5 hectares) green space in the heart of downtown -- that has been inspired by the 1996 Olympic Games. The $50 million park is being constructed by the state of Georgia with funds from private sources, including some $15 million that ACOG expects to raise through the sale of commemorative bricks that will pave walkways and other facilities.

The remaining sports venues for the 1996 Olympic Games will be adaptations of existing facilities -- such as the Georgia Dome, home of the National Football League Atlanta Falcons, which will be altered to accommodate Olympic gymnastics and basketball and the men's finals of handball.



Olympic Factoid
The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.