Atlanta 1996 Tennis Venue Gone But Not Forgotten

(ATR) Officials hope demolition will give new life to an orphaned Atlanta 1996 Olympic venue.

Demolition of the Stone Mountain Stadium in Gwinnett County - tennis venue of the Atlanta Games - officially began Aug. 1 with a crowd of more than 50 people on hand for a commemorative ceremony hosted by Gwinnett County, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and local development group Evermore CID.

Demolition of #Atlanta1996 #Olympic tennis venue in Stone Mountain begins. City sad to see venue leave but excited about new opportunities pic.twitter.com/LYwxSuh3oa

While there was a large turnout for the ceremony, no one from the Atlanta 1996 Organizing Committee attended despite invitations sent to three stadium operators. The primary attendees of the event were Gwinnett County employees, police and journalists, with camera crews on hand. Georgia State Senator Gloria Butler also attended and participated in the symbolic demolition event.

In January, the remaining pieces of memorabilia from the stadium were removed by the Gwinnett County Sports Commission in order to be preserved in a mobile display.

ATR is told the 24-by-24 foot commemoration will feature the original net from the stadium, uniforms worn by players, tennis rackets, balls and the commemorative bench that sits outside the stadium. The display will likely also pay tribute to the last time two Americans won tennis gold in the same Olympics, Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport.

A notable absence in the future display is the bronze Olympic commemorative plaque. Gwinnett County Sports Commission chairman Stan Hall tells ATR the plaque was stolen approximately four years ago by looters. The stadium has also been stripped of all of its copper wiring, one of the reasons for its decommission.

While optimistic for what the future of the site holds for a private development, the county administrators lamented that the venue never found an adequate use following the conclusion of the Games in the summer of 1996.

District 2 Commissioner Lynette Howard blamed the venue’s lack of sustainability and legacy on the hastiness with which it was built.

"In the enthusiasm of having the Olympics here, Atlanta had all these different venues that they got together, but they built them fast so we could get them done but they weren’t built to be sustaining future life," said Howard.

Now, Gwinnett County hopes to turn the 7,000 seat stadium and 15-court complex into the "Southern Gateway to Gwinnett" and give it a second life.

"It’s a little bit sad to see a facility like this that was an important part of the Olympics in ‘96 that it’s at the time to take it down and do something else, but that’s just the circle of life," said Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners chairman Charlotte Nash.

Nash and her fellow commissioners said they had received plenty of proposals to revitalize the 24-acre site in the 20 years since the Games, but no one quite understood what it would take to make it fully operational once more.

"Unfortunately, despite the best intentions, this venue never took off following the Summer Games," said District 1 Commissioner Jace Brooks. "As chairman Nash said, it’s just the circle of life, and now we’re offering a new lease on life for the property."

"Few people know Gwinnett County was even involved in the ‘96 Olympics, but we were," said emcee and Evermore CID executive director Jim Brooks. "Once tennis left here, nothing else happened. But it’s not going to be forgotten."

Reported by Kevin Nutley

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