As Atlanta residents begin to collectively reflect
on their memories of the Centennial Olympic Games, the Emory community will
boast a unique set of Olympic
stories--Olympic Gold Medal gymnasts,
Estonian athletes at Oxford College,
synchronized swimmers in the P.E. Center,
visitors in search of Thornton Dial's art,
international journalists in Cox Hall, . . .
Here, Emory Report and University
Photography offer some of those stories.
International media rely on Cox Hall Center
Vladimir Dedic, sports editor for Politika, a weekly Yugoslavian newspaper,
works on a story at 10:30 p.m. one night during the Olympics. "My impression of
Emory is nice," Dedic said. "This is my first trip to America, and I notice
that everyone smiles and says `hello.'" Dedic is one of 300 members of the
international print media who used the Press Center in Cox Hall to work on
their Olympic-related stories.
Emory students, alumni step out to Opening Ceremonies
Most metro Atlantans had to rely on their television sets to witness the
pageantry and splendor of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies on July 19. A
group of Emory students and alumni not only got to see the ceremonies live, but
also performed a step show as part of the festivities. The Emory steppers
included (front row, from left) Lamar Bryant Jr. '97C, Christian M. Gibbs '96C,
Brittany Cunningham '97BBA, Danyelle Fredrick '96C, Matheau Julien '96C,
Aniefiok Uyoe '94C; (back row) Tonia Tillery '96MPH, Kealin Culbreath '96C,
Reginald Warren '96C, Nicola Dawkins (sociology doctoral student) and Wenona
Wood '98C.
Synchronized swimmers train at P.E. Center
The Olympic Synchronized Swimming Team from Mexico (above) is one of several
swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo teams that trained in the
Woodruff P.E. Center pool during the Olympics. The Atlanta Committee for the
Olympic Games (ACOG) leased most of the P.E. Center from July 5-Aug. 5 to
provide athlete training for six sports. The P.E. Center was not available to
members during that period. Members were offered a refund for their lost time
or the option of contributing their refund to an equipment fund.
Welcome Center directs Olympic visitors
Catherine Morrison (seated), a student from Druid Hills High School who helped
staff Emory's Olympic Welcome Center, helps direct Olympic visitors to points
of interest on campus such as the Carlos Museum. Located in front of the
Administration Building, the Welcome Center was sponsored by the University
Relations Department in the Institutional Advancement Division. Five local high
school students staffed the Welcome Center from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. from July
15-Aug. 4. One of those students was Daniel Mistretta, son of Susan Mistretta,
indirect computing support coordinator in the Information Technology
Division.
Employees urge spectators
to recycle
Charlie Scott, Elaine Gosset, Karen Lo and Tom Pruett (L-R) are four of the 25
faculty, staff and students who served as Olympic recycling volunteers through
RDC, the company contracted by ACOG to handle recycling at the various Olympic
venues. "It was a lot of hard work, but it's been worthwhile," said Gossett,
who serves as recycling coordinator in Facilities Management.
Athletes prepare for Olympic moments on Emory track
Before Olympic track and field athletes could go downtown to Olympic Stadium to
compete in medal races, they had to prepare themselves for the big event by
training at a number of local venues. The Nigerian athlete pictured above is
one of many Olympic track and field athletes who trained on the Woodruff P.E.
Center track prior to and during the Olympics. Athlete training at Emory, which
ended Aug. 2, brought more than 200 Olympic athletes per day to campus for
two-hour training sessions at the track, P.E. Center and Chappell Park.
Bomb victims treated at Crawford Long Hospital
Crawford Long Hospital, the host hospital for the Olympic Games, treated five
injured victims from the July 27 pipe bomb explosion at Olympic Centennial
Park. According to Debra Bloom, Crawford Long's director of Institutional
Advancement, the five patients had only minor injuries and were released in a
matter of hours. After the night of the explosion, however, the hospital
received several other patients who were transferred to Crawford Long for
specialty care. "We've had a couple of meetings on the hospital's response to
that tragedy, and our administration and safety officers were very
complimentary of the quick reaction on the part of our staff and our
physicians," Bloom said. "There were quite a number of staff and physicians who
were watching TV or heard of it and came in without getting the disaster
page."
Fans get to meet gymnast Dawes at Emory
Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes (left) adds her name to the autograph book of
Special Olympian Kelly Kettles at a July 27 reception for the U.S. women's
gymnastic team held at Carlos Museum. Dawes helped the U.S. team win the gold
medal for overall performance. She also won a bronze medal for her individual
performance in the floor exercises.
Oxford hosts Estonian athletes, coaches
The Estonian track and field athletes, coaches and staff pictured above are
part of a larger contingent of about 60 Estonian athletes and staff who stayed
at Oxford College during the Olympics. Oxford faculty and staff were able to
meet the Estonian group at a picnic held at the College. Host families from the
nearby city of Social Circle also attended the picnic. The Estonians spent time
in the homes of local residents in the Oxford and Covington area and as a
result, according to Oxford Dean of Campus Life Joe Moon, received "a real
taste of the South."
Competition officials fuel up at Dobbs Center
Although the Dobbs Food Plaza is normally closed in the summer, the facility
was open for business each morning of the Olympics to serve breakfast to nearly
1,200 competition officials staying in Emory residence halls. The food plaza
opened at 4 a.m. to allow officials and journalists to get an early start.
University Apartments is Olympic housing for alumni
A total of 600 alumni (300 per week) stayed at the University Apartments during
the Olympic Games. Shown here moving in for the first week of the Olympics are
(from left) Ryan McInerney '93C and Melissa Hawkins '93 C, with friends
Kratzchencka Miller and Michael Selmon. In addition to alumni in town for the
Olympics and current students attending summer school, Emory residence halls
also housed nearly 1,200 Olympic competition officials; 300 members of the
print media from 81 countries; 150 press chiefs, photo chiefs and information
managers; 90 language services trainees; and more than 500 staff and volunteers
with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
Emory provides Atlanta street scenes on-line
Through a joint effort by Apple Computer and Emory's Information Technology
Division, surfers on the World Wide Web were able to access "Atlanta '96 Street
Scenes" during the Olympics. Devoted to covering the sights, sounds and people
of Atlanta during the Games, the cutting-edge "Webcast" technology project
broadcast daily over the Internet July 19-Aug. 4 with the intent of capturing
the street scene in Atlanta during the Olympic Games through QuickTimereg.
images, spy cams, top-10 lists, trivia, polls, electronic postcards and daily
on-line chats.
Compiled by Dan Treadaway