Zach Nunn: “over the course of recent weeks, there has been growing interest and excitement in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games. This…”

“over the course of recent weeks, there has been growing interest and excitement in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games. This has been highlighted by the Olympic torch relay across the country and here at the U.S. Capitol last week. It was further enhanced by the electrifying record-breaking runs at the Olympic trials held this past weekend. The Centennial Olympic games begin in less than 4 weeks and will be held principally in Atlanta. However, additional venues are scattered throughout the State of Georgia as well as Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. All in all, more than 10,000 athletes and 2 million spectators from around the world will participate in the games, making this event the largest peacetime gathering in history. By comparison, the Atlanta games will be approximately twice the size of the Los Angeles Olympics in terms of the number of participants and spectators. In addition, Atlanta will host athletes from 197 countries around the globe. That is an additional 57 countries from those 140 which participated in the 1984 games. To give my colleagues a point of reference, particularly for the football fans among them, the Atlanta Olympic games will be the equivalent of one city hosting six Super Bowl games each day for 17 days straight. So it is a Super Bowl times six each day for 17 days. That is quite an undertaking.…”