(ATR) It was on this date 25 years ago that the once improbable bid of Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics triumphed at the IOC.
The atmosphere in the hotel ballroom in Tokyo was electric as we waited for the official word from IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. The tension was impossible to ignore; I was part of a small group of reporters embedded with bid leaders for the announcement ceremony, a practice no longer followed.
Bedlam. Exultation. Tears. Disbelief. Shock.
Samaranch’s proclamation of Atlanta as the winner of the IOC election delivered all of that and more within seconds. The Atlanta delegation convulsed with joy, my tape recorder rolling to record the magic moment. At one point I was crawling on my hands and knees to move about the crush of giddy Georgians.
As I extracted myself from the mob, the realization struck that my life was about to take a new direction. While I had traveled to Tokyo to report on the Olympic bid for public radio in Georgia, I was new enough on the beat not to have any expectations about Atlanta’s prospects of winning. I realized that an incredible world was about to open.
As this was the first IOC Session that I had ever covered, I think I missed quite a bit not knowing who was who or the flow of business and activities at these meetings.
There were clumsy moments. At the party for Atlanta held soon after the IOC announcement, I strode up to bid leader Billy Payne to offer congratulations. As I backed away my elbow struck a drink in the hand of an approaching IOC member, spilling it across the front of his blazer. No wonder Billy keeps his distance from me.
It may not have been the last of my faux pas on the Olympic beat, but I have learned to be more graceful across the past 25 years.
More importantly, for me and for our readers is the legacy created from the Atlanta Olympics that lives every day in Around the Rings. Without the opportunity created 25 years ago, my career would have taken a different path, likely unrelated to the Olympics.
Who is to say whether a publication such as Around the Rings would have come into existence otherwise, but the coincidence of a wide range of factors made it possible to happen in Atlanta. Since then, imitators have followed, with Around the Rings setting the industry standard for news about the business and politics around the Olympic Games.
As a journalist I plan to report later this day about the soirée in Centennial Olympic Park for the 25th anniversary of the IOC vote. While objectivity will rule, another side of me will heartily celebrate what this date has meant to many lives, including mine. Maybe I can say thanks to Billy for the big dreams.
And I’ll watch where my elbow flies.
Written by Ed Hula.
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