Centennial Olympic Stadium-Turner Field
N 33° 44.090 W 084° 23.400
16S E 741806 N 3735814
Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. It is now Turner Field, home of the major league baseball team Atlanta Braves.
Waymark Code: WM1MFQ
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 06/02/2007
Views: 231
Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Construction of the stadium began in 1993, and it was complete and ready for the Opening Ceremony in July 1996.
During the week-long athletics program, the stadium bore witness to Donovan Bailey of Canada winning the 100 m in a world record time of 9.84 s; Michael Johnson winning both the 200 and 400 metres titles, breaking the 200 m world record in the process; and France's Marie-José Perec also winning the 200/400 double. Meanwhile, Carl Lewis won a Olympic title, in the long jump.
After the closing ceremony of the 1996 Paralympics, reconstruction began to turn the stadium into a new home for the Atlanta Braves baseball team; the southwest corner of the stadium was prebuilt and configured to accommodate the baseball infield and seating, and this is easily seen in aerial views and diagrams of the stadium in its Olympic configuration. The track was removed, and the north half of the stadium demolished, reducing the capacity to 45,000.
Also controversially, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games gave the USD $207 million stadium to the Braves rather than to the city, which owned the stadium it replaced. The stadium was renamed Turner Field, for the then-owner of the Braves, Ted Turner.
Turner Field is a baseball stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium was originally constructed as the 85,000-seat Centennial Olympic Stadium and used for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics. Immediately after the 1996 Summer Paralympics, which followed the Olympics, much of the north end of stadium was removed in order to convert it to its permanent use as a 45,000-seat baseball park. The stadium has hosted the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball since 1997, following a multimillion-dollar renovation to retrofit the stadium for baseball by removing the temporary stands that had made up nearly half the stadium and building the outfield stands and other attractions behind them. It was the site of the 2000 MLB All-Star Game. Because of the need to fit a track within the stadium in its earlier incarnation, the field of play, particularly foul territory, while not large by historical standards, is still larger than most new MLB stadiums.
Turner Field, also known as The Ted, was named after the then owner, Ted Turner. The stadium was a $200 million "gift" from the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), paid for by revenue from the Olympics. Some questioned the huge gift to the Braves, as well as the wisdom of demolishing nearly half of the stadium, making it useless for other world-class track and field and other large events.
Olympic Games: Atlanta Summer 1996
Sport held at venue: Athletics - Multiple
Start and/or Finish: Not Aplicable
Web Address with Additional Details: [Web Link]
Reference Supporting Olympic Use: Website
Details of Reference Supporting Olympic Use:
Most of the text for this waymark was copied from Wikipedia. Reference to Centennial Olympic Park being used as an olympic venue can be found on http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1996
Current Use: Major League Baseball-Atlanta Braves
Parking Area: N 33° 44.431 W 084° 23.389
Olympic Games No 2: Not listed
Olympic Games No 3: Not listed
Sport held at venue No 2: Not listed
Additional sport(s) held at venue: Not listed
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