Talk about your Mission: Impossible. After a year and a half of planning (and spending) we loaded up the whole troop into the Family Truckster and set out for Atlanta. The following is a brief description of the trip along with some of the pictures we took. . .

Sunday, July 21st, 1996 

Orange Bowl, Miami FL
Sometimes it pays to plan (and buy tickets) ahead! On our second round of buying tickets by mail, we decided to take in a soccer game in advance of our trip to Atlanta. Not knowing who is playing in the early rounds, you pay your money and you take your chances.
In this case, we lucked out... We had mid-field, front row tickets for an exciting match-up between Brazil (early Gold medal favorites) and Japan. What was expected to be a rout by Brazil turned into a hard fought game that went to Japan 1-0. With South Florida's substantial Brazilian population, the crowd went in with plenty of drums, noise and samba but came out of the stadium quietly.

Thursday, July 25th

Atlanta, Ga

After driving most of the night, we had our first exposure to the Atlanta crowds at an early round of the Handball competition. Fast paced and physical, with aspects of basketball, soccer and hockey, Handball is easy to understand and fun to watch. 

We spent the afternoon in the downtown Atlanta area, checking out the Centennial Park and surrounding areas.

Friday, July 26th 
Spent the morning at swimming and got to see most of the premier women swimmers (Angel Martino and Amy VanDyken of the US and Michelle Smith of Ireland) and some of the men.

That evening, Carly and I hung out at Underground Atlanta while the rest of the family took in a Track & Field session at the Olympic Stadium

Saturday, July 27th

We started our day early in order to drive to the Rowing events, and got the early news about the bombing in Centennial Park in the early morning hours. It was sobering news considering we had been in that area only a couple of hours before the blast.

Because of the increased security, we were late getting into the venue, but did get there in time to see the medals rounds. 

That night, Carly and her Mom got to see the US Women's Basketball team play Australia, while the rest of us went to Boxing (after having to endure a shutdown of the Marta system and a long walk to the Georgia Tech Boxing venue).

 

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The Happy Sportsters!

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Last Updated 09/29/03 by Jonathan Bales