The Nineties in America - Salem Press (2009)

U.S. and Canadian Successes For the first time, ice
hockey allowed professionals to participate in the
Olympics. Both Team USA and Team Canada were
made up of National Hockey League (NHL) profes-
sionals, and one of the teams was expected to win.
However, Canada was eliminated during the semifi-
nals, and the United States lost to a brilliant team
from the Czech Republic, many of whose players
were also from the NHL. In women’s ice hockey, the
United States beat Canada in the final game.
In figure skating, U.S. success was concentrated
in the women’s event, where Michelle Kwan went
head-to-head with fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinsky.
Many felt that Kwan was unlucky to have to skate
first while Lipinsky skated last, which may have
tipped the scales in Lipinsky’s favor. She thus be-
came the youngest figure skater in Olympic history
to win a gold medal. In men’s figure skating, Rus-
sian Ilia Kulik just edged out Elvis Stojko of Canada
and Todd Eldredge of the United States for the
gold.
Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati won the
gold in the men’s giant slalom, had it denied to him
by failing a drug test, then had it reinstated on ap-
peal. Other Canadian victories were in the women’s
curling event, in which Denmark was defeated in the
final. The men’s team, however, lost to Switzerland
in the final. Catriona LeMay Doan won the 500-
meter speed skating, breaking the Olympic record.
In the bobsleigh, Canadian Pierre Lueders shared
the gold with Italy, the first time a gold had been
shared in the event.
For the United States, Picabo Street won the
women’s super giant slalom, quite unexpectedly
beating the Europeans. She then confirmed her
skills by winning the gold medal in downhill. The
United States won golds in both the men’s and the
women’s aerial freestyle skiing.

Impact The most successful country in the unoffi-
cial medals table was Germany, with twelve gold
medals and twenty-nine total, even though the Ger-
mans did not have any of the most successful ath-
letes. This showed the broad range of skills the coun-
try still possessed even after the dissolution of the
communist East German sports machine. Canada
did very well, as did the Netherlands.
The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) alone
paid $375 million for a major share of the television
rights to the Olympics, but the huge audience gener-

ated by the ice hockey events and the women’s figure

skating justified the scale of such expenditure and

ensured the continued economic viability of the

Games.

Further Reading

International Olympic Committee.The Official Olym-

pic Games Companion: The Complete Guide to the Olym-

pic Games, 1998.Drexel Hill, Pa.: Brassey’s, 1997.

The official pre-Games guide.

Wallechinsky, David.The Complete Book of the Winter

Olympics, 1998.New York: Little, Brown, 1997.

One of a series of pre-Games guides.

Wukovits, John.The Encyclopedia of the Winter Olym-

pics.New York: Franklin Watts, 2002. A full ac-

count of all the Winter Games.

David Barratt

See also Hockey; Olympic Games of 1992; Olym-

pic Games of 1994; Olympic Games of 1996; Salt

Lake City Olympics bid scandal; Sports; Stojko, Elvis.

 Olympic Park bombing

The Event A terrorist bombing at the 1996

Summer Olympics kills one and injures 111

Date July 27, 1996

Place Atlanta, Georgia

The Centennial Olympic Park bombing, a terrorist act com-

mitted by Eric Robert Rudolph, shocked America and in-

creased concern about domestic terrorism and security.

In the early morning of July 27, 1996, about fifty

thousand people were gathered at AT&T’s Global

Village in Atlanta to hear the band Jack Mack and

the Heart Attack when an explosion occurred.

Shortly before the explosion, a backpack placed un-

derneath a bench was discovered by thirty-three-

year-old security guard Richard Jewell, who warned

authorities and also called 911 before he and fellow

officers began clearing the area for federal explo-

sives experts from the Bomb Management Center at

Dobbins Air Reserve Base. Although attempts were

made to evacuate the noisy crowd, the bomb, made

up of three separate pipe bombs surrounded by

nails, exploded and killed a forty-four-year-old Geor-

gia woman, Alice Hawthorne. A Turkish camera-

man, Melih Uzunyol, suffered a fatal heart attack as

he ran to capture the action.

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