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Fireworks mark the first lighting of the Centennial Olympic Stadium on 17 May. Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, home of the Atlanta Braves, is to the right. | The Centennial Olympic Stadium opening on 18 May 1996. Local Atlanta school children line the circumference of the field carrying the flags of the 197 delegations participating in the 1996 Olympic Games, the IOC flag and the ACOG flag. |
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U. S. Vice President Al Gore cuts the ribbon to officially open the Centennial Olympic Stadium on 18 May 1996. Pictured (left to right): Georgia Governor Zell Miller (third from left); Ambassador Andrew Young; ACOG President and CEO Billy Payne; Vice President Gore; International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch; International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) President Primo Nebiolo (third from right). | The Centennial Olympic Stadium Grand Opening was celebrated on 18 May with music, an Olympic-size ribbon (draped across the field) carried by 197 residents of Olympic Stadium neighborhoods, and local school children carrying flags from the 197 delegations participating in the 1996 Olympic Games. |
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Flags leaving the stadium after a salute to the place where the Centennial Olympic Games will begin in less than 62 days. | The scoreboard in full action. |
| Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park. |