It just may be man's oldest sport. At first it was a tool of war, but today archery, shooting with skill with the bow and arrow is an Olympic event for both men and women. The sport consists of shooting at a target 70 meters away, and the archer receives points depending on how close the arrow comes to the bull's eye.
Archery was first made an Olympic sport in 1900, and was re-instituted at the 1972 Olympic Games. Archery has come a long way since its ancient beginnings, and today is an exciting sport of precision and skill.
In 1996, 128 athletes will compete in the archery competition.
ATHLETICS
It's officially called athletics in the Olympic Programme, but most everyone in the United States knows it as track and field. Athletics actually is a composite of track and field, race walking and the marathon. And many of our memories of the summer Olympic Games are of the excitement of the 100 meter dash, the 400 meter relay, the long jump, the hurdles, and more.
It was the first Olympic sport and it's a demanding series of events, showcasing both the strongest and the fastest from around the world. Historically the ancient Olympic Games featured a number of track and field events, and they have been a staple of athletic competition ever since.
Over 1800 individuals will compete in the athletics competition in the 1996 Games. The events will be held at the Olympic Stadium.
BADMINTON
When you think of the world's fastest racket sport, what do you think of ? Tennis ? Table tennis ? Well, it's badminton, a sport as old as the fifth century BC and one where the velocity of the bird (also known as shuttle or shuttlecock) has been measured at 200 miles per hour.
Badminton became a full Olympic sport at the Barcelona Games in 1992. It is played by men and women in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles and promises to be one of the most exciting events of the 1996 Games.
In 1996, 192 athletes will compete at Georgia State University.
BASEBALL
Though there is some belief that it has English origins, baseball is a uniquely American sport that is now played throughout the world. It combines the very best of team and individual achievement, and is the only major sport that is played without a time limit, apart from Cricket.
Although baseball has been included as a demonstration sport since 1912, it was played for the first time as an official medal sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. For millions of fans around the world, that means aspiring major league hitters and pitchers can dream of Olympic gold as well as a place in the Hall of Fame.
In 1996, twelve teams of 20 players-a total of 240 athletes will compete for the gold medal at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
BASKETBALL
Thirteen years after it was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, basketball was included as a demonstration sport in the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games. The game quickly became part of the fabric of life in America and became an official Olympic sport in 1936 at Berlin, where it was played outdoors on a clay tennis court.
Women's play began in 1976. In 1992, acknowledging the realities of Olympic competition, the United States Olympic Committee sanctioned participation by professional players. It was then that basketball caught the imagination of the entire world as the Dream Team made up of both professional and collegiate players from the USA faced the best players from other countries at Barcelona.
The game requires quickness, skill, amazing speed and unselfishness. When played at its Olympic best, it is poetry in motion.
In 1996, 24 teams (12 men; 12 women) will compete at the Georgia Dome and Atlanta University Center.
BOXING
The Olympic Games have been the starting point for many of the world's greatest boxers. Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier, Mohammed Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Evander Holyfield. The first boxing match, many believe, was in 1681, and boxing became part of the Olympic Games at St. Louis in 1904.
Today Olympic boxing is a sport conscious of safety and endowed with skill, athleticism and drama. It is the beginning for thousands of young men who seek the ultimate Olympic gold.
Boxing competition for the 1996 Games will take place in Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech, where 364 boxers are expected to compete for gold medals in 12 divisions.
CANOE/KAYAK
There was a time when the canoe was the symbol of a lazy afternoon on a quiet lake. No more. Today canoes and kayaks are streamlined racing boats for some of the most exciting events in the Olympic Games.
Canoes and kayaks originated with various native tribes, and it wasn't until 1856 that they were first used for organised racing. There are two categories of racing, sprint and slalom.
Canoe/kayak was added to the Olympic program in 1936 at Berlin, and women first competed in 1948.
In 1996, nearly 500 competitors will compete for 16 gold medals in these demanding events. Sprint competition will be held at Lake Lanier near Gainesville, Georgia, and slalom competition will take place on the Ocoee River in Tennessee.
CYCLING
The bicycle we know today has its ancestry in France in the late 1800's. And it was not long after the invention of the bicycle that formal racing competition began. By the end of the 19th century there were racing tracks all over Europe.
The Games of the 1st Olympiad featured cycling, but cycling for women was not added to the program until 1984 in Los Angeles. The 1996 Olympic Games will feature competition for men and women on an oval racing track with banked sides called a velodrome. Mountain bike racing, held outside on a natural course, has been added as another discipline for the 1996 Olympic Games.
Cycling features three events: track cycling, road cycling and mountain bike racing.
In 1996, track cycling will be held at the Stone Mountain Velodrome, mountain bike racing will take place at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Georgia, and road cycling will take place in Metro Atlanta.
DIVING
In ancient times, Greeks dove from their fishing boats only when their survival was at stake. It was hardly competition. It was not until German and Swedish gymnasts of the last century placed their equipment over the water that diving became a sport. In 1904, diving became an official part of the program of the Olympic Games.
We've come a long way from diving off fishing boats and gym bars. Today's divers compete from both the springboard and the platform, and from a variety of heights. It is one of the Olympic Games' most demanding sports, blending incredible beauty and grace with incalculable peril.
In 1996, the diving competition, one of four aquatic events, will be held at the new Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
Divers will compete in 4 medal events men's and women's 10 meter platform and men's and women's 3 meter springboard.
EQUESTRIAN
Showcased initially as a military sport, equestrian competition was one of the most compelling sports at the ancient Games in 680 B.C., especially the careening frenzy of the chariot races. Seemingly a natural choice for the modern Games, only the long jump and high jump were staged in Paris in 1900 while the events contested today were added 12 years later.
The equestrian competitions include jumping, dressage, and the three-day event. In jumping, the horse and rider must navigate and jump a number of stadium obstacles, including broad water.
Dressage tests the skill of the horse and rider in performing a series of movements in absolute harmony. The three-day event tests the horse and rider in competition including dressage, endurance, and jumping. Equestrian competition is the only Olympic sport where men and women compete head to head.
In 1996, 225 equestrian athletes will compete in 6 medal events at the Georgia International Horse park in Conyers.
FENCING
The use of the sword has been a part of our culture since the Bronze Age, and sword fighting for sport or fencing, has been part of the Olympic Games since 1896 in Athens. The first women's fencing event was introduced in 1924.
Today's sport, of course, is perfectly safe. Olympic fencers operate within tightly prescribed areas and under rigid rules. But the formality of the sport does nothing to distract from its elegance, as you shall see in Atlanta.
The three weapons used in fencing competitions are the foil, the pe, and the sabre. Points are scored by touching the opponent's target area. The competition is intense, the action swift, and the movements precise and perfectly balanced.
In 1996, fencing competition is scheduled for the Georgia World Congress Center, where 220 fencers will compete for 10 gold medals.
FOOTBALL
Its origins are on the playing fields of Greece and Rome, and it has grown to be the most popular sport in the world. In the United States the sport is referred to as "soccer", while in most countries it is known as "football".
It was the first team sport added to the Olympic program, debuting in 1908 and except for the 1932 Los Angeles Games has been on every Olympic program since.
It is played on a regular field, 11 players on each side, in what appears to be constant motion.
It is a game that brings out strong emotions in fans everywhere, and it will attract more fans than any other sport on the 1996 Atlanta Games program.
In 1996, 16 men's teams will participate in preliminaries to be held in Miami and Orlando, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama, and Washington, D.C Finals will be held at Sanford Stadium on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Also, in 1996, look for the inaugural women's Olympic football tournament with the eight best teams in the world competing.
GYMNASTICS
Gymnastics is a sport synonymous with the summer Olympic Games, and its competitors are more well known than many movie stars.
Though losing the all-round competition to a team-mate in 1972 at Munich, 17 year old Olga Korbut captured the imagination of the American public. She won the gold medal for both the balance beam and the floor exercise. Today, she is a resident of Atlanta. In 1976, in Montreal, it was Nadia Comaneci in 1984 in Los Angeles, Mary Lou Retton.
There are numerous events for men and women, and the competition is inevitably tense and compelling. Once again, in Atlanta, gymnastics will be in the Center ring, and a host of new heroes and heroines will emerge from the competition to capture our hearts and our imagination.
A total of 304 athletes are expected to compete at the Georgia Dome and the University of Georgia Coliseum in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics.
HANDBALL
The Olympic event of team handball is a hybrid sport that appears to combine soccer and basketball.
Handball first appeared in the Olympic Games as a demonstration sport in 1928. It was officially added to the Olympic program at the 1936 Games in Berlin as an outdoor game with 11 players on a side. However, it was not played again until the 1972 Games in Munich where, in a new version, it was played indoors with seven players on a side. Women's handball was first played at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.
Played in two 30 minute halves, the ball is moved down the court as in basketball, but scoring is accomplished by throwing the ball past a goalkeeper into a net rather than shooting through a hoop.
Team handball will feature 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams competing for the gold at the Georgia World Congress Center.
HOCKEY
Many of us might think that hockey had its origins on a frozen pond. But, in reality, hockey began in ancient Egypt on land, not ice. Today, hockey played on a grass or synthetic surface is a popular collegiate and Olympic sport. It is essentially soccer with a stick, played by two opposing teams of 11 men or women.
Hockey was first introduced at the Olympic Games in 1908 and gained permanent status as an Olympic Sport in 1928. Women began to play in 1980, when a team from Zimbabwe won a boycott-depleted event in Moscow. Historically, teams from India and Pakistan have dominated men's play. In 1996, this fast-paced, highly physical contest will come to Atlanta with all of its historical legacy and intense competitive spirit.
In 1996, twelve men's teams and 8 women's teams will compete in hockey at Morris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University.
JUDO
Judo is the Japanese word for "gentle way", and it was developed from a sport called jujitsu.
The Japanese sanctioned it as a sport in the 1880's, and its popularity quickly spread around the world.
The sport, which combines strength, agility and cunning, was first contested at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and permanently added to the Olympic program in 1972. Judo is often confused with karate, but judo is a grappling art. Hitting and kicking are not allowed.
The match takes place on a 20 foot square mat, and each combatant follows a prescribed series of rules that makes judo almost a formal event. It is intensely physical with dramatic moments of peace between moves. Women first competed in a demonstration event at Seoul in 1988.
In Atlanta, the judo competition featuring 400 men and women will take place in the Georgia World Congress Center.
ROWING
Rowing is one of the oldest sports in the Olympic Games. Rowing at first was simply a means of transportation, but, by the 15th century, it had become a sport of the wealthy. Today rowing is an Olympic event for teams of both men and women.
The teams sit in shells and propel the craft over the finish line using one or two oars. Men's and women's events cover a 2,000 meter course. One of the United States' two members on the International Olympic Committee, Anita DeFrantz, of the USA, won a bronze medal in Olympic rowing at Montreal in 1976.
In 1996, the rowing events will take place at Lake Lanier, near Gainesville, Georgia.
SHOOTING
This is not a sport for the easily distracted. And it is more than merely aiming at the target and pulling the trigger. Olympic shooting is one of the more rigorous of all sports requiring both stamina and concentration. The result of the shooters' intense practice is a precision and a skill that is the envy of sports enthusiasts the world over.
Shooting has been a part of the Olympic program since the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. It has attracted shooters from all over the world. Olympic shooting is actually a number of events for men and women, and includes competition featuring pistols, rifles and shotguns.
In 1996, the shooting competition will be held at the Wolf Creek Shooting Range where 430 athletes are expected to participate in 15 medal events.
SOFTBALL
Fast Pitch Softball will make its first Olympic appearance ever at the 1996 Atlanta Games. The sport will be awarded full medal status, one of the few times a new Olympic event has been so honoured.
In fast pitch softball, the pitcher may throw the ball as hard and as fast as ability permits, so long as the ball is released underhand, from below the hip level. Otherwise the rules and terminology are similar to baseball.
In 1996, the softball competition, featuring 8 women's teams, will be held at Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia.
SWIMMING
Past Olympic medalists in swimming include cinema Tarzans Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe. More recently, Olympic swimmers who have become celebrities include Janet Evans, Matt Biondi, the near legendary Mark Spitz and Atlanta's own Steve Lundquist.
Swimming for sport has been popular since Roman times, but it wasn't until 1837 that the British formed the first National Swimming Society and a true championship was held. Swimming was included as a full medal sport for men in the inaugural Olympic Games in 1896. Women first competed in swimming at the Olympic Games of 1912.
In Atlanta, swimming will be held on the Georgia Tech campus where 32 medal events will be contested at the new Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING
Imagine performing gymnastics under water or swimming a 400 meter freestyle without breathing.
Synchronised swimming is a sport that combines the skill of a dancer, the lung capacity of a long distance swimmer, and the strength of a bodybuilder.
The sport began in the United States in 1930, and formal competitions were being held by 1947. Synchronised swimming became a part of the Olympic program in 1984 at Los Angeles.
In Atlanta, synchronised swimming will be held at the new Aquatic Center on the Georgia Tech campus, where eight women's teams a total of 80 swimmers will compete for the gold medal.
TABLE TENNIS
Though table tennis originated in the late 1800's, it wasn't until 1926 that an international federation was formed and competition began. By the 1950's the popularity of the game had spread around the world, and the Asian competitors were the clear masters of the game.
In 1988 in Seoul, Korea, table tennis moved to the world stage of the Olympic Games as a full medal sport for men and women. In Olympic competition the action is swift and points are made in seconds. It is an exciting game of speed, concentration and skill.
In Atlanta, approximately 192 athletes will compete at the Georgia World Congress Center.
TENNIS
Tennis is one of those games that you can learn in minutes but takes determination and skill to master. On the Olympic level, tennis is a game of speed, co-ordination, dexterity, and endurance. It has been said, in fact, that tennis played well is more of an art than a sport.
The game was founded in England in the mid 1850's, and a lawn tennis championship was held some 20 years later. By 1895, the first international matches were held.
Tennis was included in the Olympic agenda at the first games in 1896, but was discontinued after the Paris Games of 1924. Tennis returned to the line-up in Seoul in 1988. Events include men and women's singles and double, and the action is fast, exciting, and skillful.
In Atlanta, tennis competition will take place on a hard court surface at a new tennis center in Stone Mountain Park. Gold medals will be awarded in men's and women's singles and men's and women's doubles.
SPORTS INFORMATION--VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball is a true team sport. It was invented in 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, by a physical training director. He was looking for an alternative to basketball for middle aged men. By 1918, the game had become a world-wide sensation.
Volleyball was added to the Olympic program in 1964 in Tokyo where both men and women competed, and it has brought some of the most exciting moments to recent Olympic Games. In 1996, beach volleyball will be added to the program for the Atlanta Centennial Games.
24 teams will compete in indoor volleyball at the University of Georgia coliseum and the Omni in Atlanta, while the beach volleyball competition will feature 40 teams (2 athletes per team) volleying for gold on the lakeside beach at Clayton Country Centennial Park, just south of Atlanta.
WATER POLO
Probably the most physically demanding, and potentially exhausting, Olympic event is water polo. Two teams of seven players each play a game of four periods, and the action is fast-paced and exciting.
Water polo was invented in the mid 1800's by the British. The name polo comes from the early days of the game, when players rode wooden barrels painted to look like horses. It became an Olympic event in 1900. For years the Hungarians dominated this sport, winning five of seven competitions between 1932 and 1976.
In Atlanta, water polo will be played in the new Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on the Georgia Tech campus.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Weightlifting has its origins in ancient times when men were constantly looking for ways to battle for the control of tribes or territory. And one of the ways used was to see which tribe member could lift the heaviest object usually a stone. This lifting of stones remained a test of strength and demonstration of manhood through the Middle Ages.
The advent of barbells and dumbbells ushered in competition, and weightlifting was included in the Olympic Games in 1896. After that single appearance, though, it was not featured again until 1920. But it has remained an Olympic sport since.
The weightlifting competition in Atlanta will take place at the Georgia World Congress Center where 230 athletes will compete in 10 body weight categories.
WRESTLING
Wrestling is a primitive and ancient form of combat. History tells us that organised wrestling events were held in the Nile Valley as far back as 3400 BC. In fact, you'll find paintings of wrestling holds on the walls of Egyptian tombs.
Today, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling are the only two styles of wrestling permitted in the Olympic Games. Both forms are fought on a raised platform. A match lasts for five minutes.
Wrestling was first included in the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. Both Greco-Roman and freestyle became Olympic medal events in 1920. In Atlanta, 360 athletes will wrestle for Olympic medals in the Georgia World Congress Center.
YACHTING
Sailing vessels have been a part of the world's landscape since the earliest times. And, no doubt, the first sailors couldn't resist the chance to see which boat was faster.
It was the Dutch, though, that gave us the word yacht, the term for a boat that is specially designed for chasing or hunting. In Olympic competitions, yachts race against each other, as they cut through the water in hopes of bringing home the Olympic gold.
Yachting has been included in every modern Olympic Games except St. Louis in 1904. There are separate men's and women's events, and there are various classes and sizes of yachts. It is a demanding and precise sport which combines skill, endurance, and a sure sense of the ocean and her variables.
In 1996, the yachting competition will be held off the Georgia coast, near Savannah where over 400 yachting competitors will compete in 10 medal events
