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The 1996 Summer Olympics, formally known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and informally known as the Centennial Olympics, were held in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Atlanta was selected in 1990 above Athens, Belgrade, ManchesterThis article is about the city in England. For alternative meanings, see Manchester (disambiguation). Manchester is a city in North West England, which in 2002 had a population of approximately 422,302. The city is situated in the centre of the large metr, MelbourneAlternate meanings: Melbourne (disambiguation Melbourne is the capital and largest city of the state of Victoria, and the second largest city in Australia, with a population of 3,366,542 (census 2001). The city's name is pronounced "MEL-buhn" ( SAMPA: ["m and Toronto. Athens had hoped to organise the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic GamesOlympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. The Olympic Games or Olympics are an international multi-sport event taking place every fourth year. Originally held in ancient Greece, they were revived by a French nobleman, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coub. The IOCAlternative meanings at IOC (disambiguation The International Olympic Committee is an organization created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 to reinstate the Ancient Olympic Games held in Greece, and organize this sports event every four years. The IOC recei's vote for Atlanta was therefore slightly surprising, however the reasoning was that Athens' infrastructureInfrastructure is the set of interconnected structural elements that provide the framework for supporting the entire structure. The term is often used very abstractly. For instance, software engineering tools are sometimes described as part of the infrast could not be improved enough in time to successfully host the Games. It was later claimed (but never substantiated) that several of the IOC's key voters were bribed by pro-Atlanta executives with considerable amounts of moneyGeneral definition of money Money is an agreement, between a community, to use something as a medium of exchange, which acts as an intermediary market good. It can be traded and exchanged for other goods. The agreement can either be explicit or implicit,, expensive luxury cars, and even prostitutes in order to quash the other candidates' chances for the hosting bid.

It was regarded by some as one of the least successful of the modern games. The problem of traffic congestion sometimes made travel between venues difficult. There were complaints at how omnipresent the advertising was, with Coca-Cola especially being marketed on every available surface. Also during the games, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing took place on July 27, 1996 killing Alice Hawthorne and wounding 111 others, and eliciting the death of Melih Uzunyol by heart attack. In his closing speech, Juan Antonio Samaranch, head of the IOC, for the first time did not describe the games as being the "best ever."