July 14, 1996: Visitors to Centennial Olympic Park watch lights and water shows in the middle of the park in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
While the world is watching athletes participate in the Tokyo Olympics, many people in Georgia are reflecting on the memories of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
From Mohamed Ali lighting the Olympic torch, to sprinter Michael Johnson winning multiple gold medals, and gymnast Kelly Strugger's foot injury winning gold medals, countless unforgettable moments defined the Atlanta Olympics.
Many people will not forget that another memory 25 years ago was the moment when the bomb destroyed the Centennial Olympic Park.
At around 1:20 am on July 27, an explosion shook the park, and the audience was enjoying the festive atmosphere. Two people died and 110 others were injured.
On July 27, 1996, a TV picture of a bomb exploded in the Centennial Olympic Park. (Robert Gee from CNN)
The convicted bomber, Eric Robert Rudolph, used a bomb hidden in his backpack to aim at the park.
Security guard Richard Jewell, who was dealing with a group of noisy college students, went to find Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Tom Davis as backup. When they returned to the place where the students had been, Jewell found an abandoned backpack.
The bomb experts they had called to dispose of the backpacks took a look and ordered them to evacuate the area immediately. Jewell, Davis and other law enforcement officers cleared the area, including the nearby TV camera tower.
Just then, the bomb exploded.
"This is just a huge explosion," Davis told the Atlanta Constitution in 2016. "A very loud explosion and a lot of heat. It forced me to fall to the ground. I just saw people lying everywhere, many of them screaming and hurting badly."
Georgia Commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the Centennial Olympic Park Bombing July 27, 1996: Debris surrounds the bottom of the Sound Tower. The explosion site-suspected to be a bomb-in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park near the AT&T Pavilion in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. (Grey Morty Moore/Getty Images)
Davis was one of more than 100 people injured by bomb shrapnel. Nearby, he could see the body of Alice Hawthorne. She was a 44-year-old mother from Albany. She took her daughter to Atlanta to watch the Olympics.
The second person who died that night was Melih Uzunyol, a Turkish journalist who had a fatal heart attack when he rushed to the scene.
Jewell is now considered the hero who saved the lives of more than two dozen people and was initially considered the suspect in the case. Although he was cleared about three months after the explosion, a dark cloud of suspicion hung over his head until Rudolf was arrested.
Jewell died of a heart attack in 2007 at the age of 44.
Among the people at Centennial Olympic Park on that decisive night was Mark McKay, a traffic anchor/reporter for the 95.5 WSB in Atlanta.
In an interview with CNN in July 1996, McKay told Nicole Bennett of the Cox Media Group that when the bomb first exploded, he thought it was the sound of a concert in a park.
Bennett recently interviewed McKay about a segment of "The Power Pod", which was broadcast on 95.5 WSB and WGAU radio stations in Athens, Georgia.
>>Listen to the full interview originally broadcast on WGAU radio:
Olympic swimmer Janet Evans also talked to 95.5 WSB, reflecting on the Atlanta Olympics, and especially recalling her confusion and shock immediately after the bomb exploded in the Olympic Park.
"As a kid who grew up in California, I once thought it was an earthquake," she explained. "The building I'm in shook."
Evans added: "I don't think you would think that such a thing would happen in the Olympics. In Atlanta, this is a very tragic day and a very dark day."
However, Evans said that she and her athletes refused to let bombing define the rest of the Olympics:
"We say to the world,'There are more Olympics, and the Olympics bring people together.' We will not let it ruin the spirit of the Olympics. I think the athletes have done a good job of paying tribute to the victims and paying tribute to the spirit of the Olympics. "
>>Read more here.
© 2021 Cox Media Group. The radio station is part of Cox Media Group TV. Learn about Cox Media Group's career. By using this website, you accept the terms of our visitor agreement and privacy policy, and understand your choice of advertising options. Manage Cookie Preferences | Do not sell my information