Atlanta snubbed in Olympics telecast?
Observant viewers of Friday evening’s Opening Ceremony telecast noticed something missing in a tribute to past games: Atlanta.
The apparent snub occurred during a film which kicked off the quirky, four-hour extravaganza, produced by British director Danny Boyle of “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Trainspotting” fame. So far there’s been no official explanation as to why a montage featuring the logos of previous Olympics didn’t include Atlanta.
ESPN notes that a famous Atlantan also was slighted during the telecast: “An entire tribute to the history of British pop music, right down to an East London rapper, and no mention of Elton John? Maybe he’s been disowned because he lives in Atlanta now?”
And who could forget the snub by then-International Olympic Committee czar Juan Antonio Samaranch, who declared Atlanta’s 1996 effort “most exceptional” during that year’s Closing Ceremony? At previous games Samaranch, a former top official under Spain’s fascist dictator Francisco Franco, had congratulated the host city for holding the “best Olympics ever. “
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229 comments Add your comment
Lion Heart
July 28th, 2012
11:09 pm
So Lulu, where were you in Vietnam? Learn how to use a comma, why don’t you? You won’t look so stupid when you try to make a point, despite how stupid it may be.
Lion Heart
July 28th, 2012
11:12 pm
My head is held high, Lulu. Now go away and stay away you freakin’ D.B.
scott
July 28th, 2012
11:13 pm
ATLANTAS biggest problem..too many folks from the slums of the north with ghetto mentality,no direction,thug mentality…moved here during and after the olympics with no skills and nothing more then criminal intent….
MiltonMan
July 28th, 2012
11:25 pm
Who gives a rip? Nothing like seeing a grumpy grandma known as the queen grace the TV. Hey Britain: Take your Royal Monarch & shove it!
Atlanta the best
July 28th, 2012
11:28 pm
Atlanta may not have had the best Olympics, but at least it’s got a world class public school system it can be proud of, and that’s more important than any sporting event.
Gee
July 28th, 2012
11:33 pm
Atlanta was snubbed by the London Olympic games because they were an utter embassrassment of olympic promportions.
barbuck
July 28th, 2012
11:43 pm
The London opening ceremony actually reminded me a lot of Atlanta’s, more so than any of the Olympics in between. Both cities highlighted the local angle in their productions. My only gripe is (as always) the ponderous parade of teams. They’re supposed to be athletes; have them all run in! Should be able to get them in place in 15 minutes! haha
Come on
July 29th, 2012
12:13 am
Billy Payne will botch The Masters just as he did the Olympics.
Great job, Atlanta
July 29th, 2012
12:18 am
I didn’t read all the comments, but what sticks out in my head is how our venues have held up over the last 16 years. So many articles on the Internet about how so many Olympic venues have fell into disrepair (even some from the Olympics only 4 years ago,) yet all our buildings are still going strong. Atlanta got a nice park and the track and field facility was converted into Turner Field. It even makes me happy to drive through Atlanta and see the torch next to the interstate.
jlmdra
July 29th, 2012
12:23 am
Atlanta’s Olympic games like Atlanta were mediocre.
Great job, Atlanta
July 29th, 2012
12:28 am
…but after going back and reading most of the comments, why does everyone hate Atlanta so much? It just seems that people like to complain, but they don’t like to do anything about it. If you don’t like Atlanta, you’re free to move somewhere you will enjoy living. Honestly, you’re stupid for staying if it’s so miserable. If you have already moved away from Atlanta, stop commenting on AJC articles! I’m sure your wonderful new city has a paper of its own.
jlmdra
July 29th, 2012
12:33 am
Atlanta is a great city for people who are oblivious to the concept of greatness. Cube steak tastes great if you never tasted filet mignon.
banned poster
July 29th, 2012
12:48 am
Atlanta’s Opening Ceremony montage was shown with Ali lighting the caldron. So we got more pub that many of them.
jlmdra
July 29th, 2012
1:04 am
Atlanta’s greatness is like the CRCT scores of kids in Atlanta Public Schools: bogus.
Praveen
July 29th, 2012
1:05 am
The Atlanta Olympics were not grand. But you know what it was? Self sufficient. Unlike other Olynmpic cities, Atlanta didnt bankrupt itself to host the games. And the Olympic Games organizers are some of the snobbiest people around. For a game that claims to value human values , they sure turn their noses down at street vendors and other hawkers and want everything about the Olympics to be this posh affair. It’s freaking athletics, not the opera.
I thought the London opening cereomonies were just fine. Better than the ATL ones. But you know what, I don’t understand why they chose Muhammad Ali again, even if it wasn’t for the final moment. Why borrow an Atlanta type moment? There are enough famous guys in England. They didn’t need to reuse a moment.
A Very Brundij
July 29th, 2012
2:12 am
The Olympics kowtowed to the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. That forever damns the Olympics. They were ashamed to acknowledge Munich 1972. Double damned!
Kirk
July 29th, 2012
3:02 am
Look Samaranch is dead, so whats the point in slamming that guy every four years? And as Chevy Chase used to say in the old Saturday Night Live “Francisco Franco is still dead” , so what’s the purpose of bringing him up? Gee whiz. Move along…nothing to see here.
Detlef
July 29th, 2012
3:53 am
I was born and raised here and have lived and worked in multiple cities around the world, including London. Atlanta is as “world class” as any most any other top-50 city on this planet. I’ve chosen to settle permanently here.
That said, our Olympics are still a painful embarrassment, and they are remembered as such by people overseas. Fortunately, though–and perhaps in part because of our hosting the Olympics–we’re now known internationally much more as “A-T-L,” capital of hip-hop, center of all that’s cool in American urban life. I repeatedly saw young people in Europe wearing Braves baseball caps. That’s our Atlanta. We blundered badly in 96, but that’s just a part of a much bigger, better story.
Lukewarm
July 29th, 2012
4:20 am
The olympic games also transformed the airport concessions from a generic abundance of snackbars, lounges, and caferteria style units. How can you forget hopping off a plan and grabbing a nice cold sandwich and a knudsen juice out of ice surrounded by a glob of kale, and a dunkin donut to boot. So yes the olympics not only transformed Atlanta politics, it also ushered in a era of hope and vitality for what could become a global Airport and city as well as state. Now only if we could pull the old demons out of the Airport concessions contracts, then and only then will we will win the trust of our citizens and eventually win their vote (tsplost). Sorry Mr. Mayor, try using some of that vigor you are showing now for tsplost to aggressively clean up the mess at the Airport in regards to concession contracts, and transparency, until then no we don’t trust the bureaucrats to get it right.
1996
July 29th, 2012
6:38 am
Atlanta ‘96 was certainly missing and so was Los Angeles ‘84? Perhaps others too? Somebody did a sloppy job I am guessing. Or perhaps Romney made them so hopping mad that they left out the ones from the United States Summer Olympics.
ls1z28chris
July 29th, 2012
6:45 am
Atlanta is a small second rate town pretending to be a world class city. Coke bought those Olympic games. Period. Stop pretending to be something you’re not.
Oh look, another bank failed.
AtltoHNL
July 29th, 2012
7:01 am
Atlanta is to divided and not diverse enough to be thought of as world class city. A great deal of black people in Atlanta here walk around around with their noses stuck in the air and will not speak unless you are part of some fraternity,sorority, secret group or appear to have money or famous also blacks and whites really don’t socialize together that much only really when its work or bussiness related. Transportation in Atlanta is a joke and also traffic. Peolpe come to Atlanta because of cheaper home cost as compared to LA, Chicago or NYC
Donna P.
July 29th, 2012
7:12 am
I wouldn’t worry about the “snub” because the opening ceremony was terrible!!
Moon Mullins
July 29th, 2012
7:52 am
I’ve lost interest since professionals began participating. I don’t watch the NBA, so why should I want to see them during the Olympics? The Olympics were intended for amateurs not showboating professionals.
fair and balancec
July 29th, 2012
7:56 am
Here’s what remember of the Bubba games in Atlanta:
1. Excellent infrastructure and venues, weird chrome pickup trucks at the opening; Muhammad Ali wowing everyone at the opening ceremony, 9-11 operator who had no idea where Olympic Park was, bus drivers for the press who could not find Lake Lanier, Celene Dion flying characters and symbolic moths flying around the stadium, vendors everywhere trying to make a buck, Michael Johnson and gold shoes and Coke signs everywhere.
Jay
July 29th, 2012
7:57 am
Atlanta was not prepared to hold The Olympics. And Willie Boy Campbell, who was just as unprepared to be a mayor, embarrassed the city with the tacky vendors exhibits. Consequently, Georgia and Atlanta’s economy got a short boost but the state/city’s lack of strong leadership, its redneckness and corruption stemmed any long-term gains that could have been made. We’ve become number one or two in just about everything undesirable: bank failures, foreclosures, children’s diabetes, illiteracy, sex trafficking,illegal arms sales, poverty, joblessness, lack of ethics in the state house and elsewhere, severe conservatism, and so on. Yep, we screwed our opportunities The Olympics could have brought.
Christopher
July 29th, 2012
8:01 am
I worked for the Atlanta games for two years and still have numerous contacts within the Olympics. Those of us who worked hard to make the Games happen were appalled that a bunch of political hacks were milking the Games and City of Atlanta for their own monetary gain. Mayor Bill Campbell and his cronies were selling vending space on the streets, charging exorbitant fees for licenses, selling “ambush advertising” space in clear violation of the contract with the Olympic sponsors . . . i.e. they turned it into the world’s largest street festival. Everywhere you turned when walking through Olympic HQs in the Inforum building were faces from the Atlanta political and government scene . . . definitely not the best and the brightest, but certainly the best-connected.
RobbE33
July 29th, 2012
8:24 am
What do you expect when we commercialized their precious games with streets lined with licensed merchandise vendors, an antiabortionist’s bomb downtown and too little payola leftover for the committee?
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 29th, 2012
8:33 am
The IOC rapes every host city. Atlanta however left them sore. Thanks and great job Billy.
Mark
July 29th, 2012
8:44 am
I blame Chik fil a.
OldGold1964
July 29th, 2012
8:46 am
Get over it, people. If you attended and enjoyed the 1996 Summer Games, then you have memories of your own, and it doesn’t matter what others think. Watch the2012 Games and events, if you are interested, for the competition itself and forget self-promotions. (RE: Elton John, GB knows you cannot recognize two “queens” at the same time.)
Ronnie Fowler
July 29th, 2012
8:47 am
I hope none of them dang, rude foreigners from 1996 ever come back here.
vladimir sonovabitch
July 29th, 2012
8:51 am
The problem with Atlanta is that it is like a child eating at the grown-up table when it really needs to stay at the kiddie table. As far as being an “International city”, it isn’t and it never will be, so it needs to stop pretending. If London, Paris, Madrid, New York, etc…. had public transportation equal to Marta, they would cease to function.
The ONLY reason Atlanta thinks it can compare it’self to other International cities is becasue of the airport, just becasue it’s been designated as the worlds largest/busiest…. Well, duh…. all of those other International Cities, the big boys that Atlanta wants to play with; they all have multiple airports to spread out the traffic. Again, Atlanta brings a knife to a gunfight when wanting to compare itself to a REAL international city.
jopar
July 29th, 2012
8:51 am
If one constantly looks for slights and snubs he will not go unrewarded.
Oh my, you are cruel
July 29th, 2012
8:54 am
Stop badgering Lulu. She has as much right to post her opinion here as any of the rest of you. Unless you have been appointed AJC editor, or are an English professor, proper punctuation and grammatically correct syntax are not an internet requirement.
3d
July 29th, 2012
9:22 am
The blue line on Peachtree faded away years ago..
The only other thing they could have shown is that ugly cauldron down the street from the Varsity.
Ronnie Fowler
July 29th, 2012
9:24 am
IOC = Penn State University Assistant Coach
Host City = Trusting 8-year-old Boy
Mayor of Host City = Joe Paterno
Mark
July 29th, 2012
9:32 am
Speaking of those vendor spaces..I was living in NC at the time..A friend of mine and his brother had been sold by the pitch of buying a vendor spot to sell a product and turn a great product many times over because of the consumer traffic that would past buy their space..They were going to sell food at a reasonable price…Long story short..They were not given the space they were shown..turned out everyone else was on their row was shown the same spot…Traffic was blocked from them the first few days..And only Coke products were to be sold….Were not told that till they got here..Had to pay Coke..then buy Coke products from Coke..They lost all they had invested and then some..The officials who sold them and others this bag of goods..no where to be found.
Jim
July 29th, 2012
9:38 am
The reasons Atlanta was omitted include:
the STUPID and embarassing truck parade during the opening ceremonies
the STUPID Izzy mascto
the overwhelming commercialization of the Olympic–everything had a sponsor
the bombing and the death
Motocross Survivor
July 29th, 2012
9:38 am
The only thing I got from the ‘96 Olympics was a free little flag I picked up (I think off the ground) when I walked over to Peachtree and Hermance to watch the marathoners go by (hey I did it for both the mens and womens race). I also walked up to Roswell Rd and Glenridge just before the Opening to watch the torch go by on a motorbike. The stupid thing was so small that hardly anybody could tell when it went by as in was in a group of bikes buzzing by. I tell my wife that I plan to head to the Antiques Roadshow to get an estimate on the flag. What do you think? Is it worth more than 10 cents?
native atlantan
July 29th, 2012
9:40 am
Dont let those tsplost proponents make you believe we need to spend billions and tax us even more to be some sort of world class city. VOTE NO ON THE TSPLOST ON TUESDAY !!!
Coming back home
July 29th, 2012
9:42 am
Atlanta’s Olympics were great for the athletes and fans. The media and Olympic officials didn’t get all of the special perks they felt they deserved and they pouted publicly. The athletes and fans gave the Olympics high praise.Certainly Atlanta’s Olympics were about money – all of the Olympics are.
Don’t like Atlanta? Try living somewhere else. I did and I’m ready to come back home!
RixOlympixTraffixFix
July 29th, 2012
9:45 am
The traffic was bad when I moved here 26 years ago, and is even worse now after adding a couple million more people. When was the ONLY time it was not bad? During the Olympics!!
The people supporting TSPLOST now should THINK about why traffic was non-existent during the Olympics. I wrote a letter a few months ago to that was in the AJC pointing out that the cure for Atlanta traffic is NOT new taxes, or tolls, or more roads. It is TELECOMMUTING!! Hello??? Employers? Do you realize that if people (those that can) worked from home, there would be fewer cars, fewer accidents, reduced insurance rates, less money spent on gas, less pollution, more lives saved, fewer repairs required on roads and bridges that would last longer, less stress, reduced medical bills, etc.?????
Wake up, people, and start using your brains and stop acting like a bunch of bleating sheep. I have worked from my house for 10 years. It is time your employers moved their companies into the 21st Century and start using the technology available to make their workers more productive, their businesses more efficient, and our traffic problems a thing of the past.
Atlanta is not taken serious because...
July 29th, 2012
9:46 am
The FAILCANTS can’t win a SB…..lmao…ringless in da ATL…
Saints > FAILCANTS.
Jay
July 29th, 2012
9:53 am
The opening ceremonies in London were the worst that I have ever seen, and I’ve seen eight. What a sloppy mess.
marcus
July 29th, 2012
9:59 am
what “great” school system are you referring to? not the one where the teachers and administrators have been accused of cheating, i hope? or maybe the private, parochial schools around the city, but atlanta is a national educational joke. with schools like spelman, morehouse, cau, tech. oglethorpe, gastate and emory, you’d think they could contriubute to programs that fostered and nurtured inner city schools. cathy of chic filet fame has a statue dedicated to education in downtown atlanta, that statue should be a beacon for all who come and reside here, not some crap about atlanta being snubbed by the british. whoever wrote this crappy article should be doing fashion tips. atlantan’s should stop worrying about britain, new york or los angeles and start educating their children. atlanta could be a great city of it was not so sensitive and feminine in scope.
Obvious
July 29th, 2012
10:00 am
What is Atlanta full of that Sydney, Bejing, Greece, London,etc…are not? Pretty obvious why Atlanta gets a bad mention.
John Hall
July 29th, 2012
10:06 am
I was born and raised in Atlanta. The 1996 Olympics were an affront to me and an embarrassment. Instead of choosing a mascot that meant something, Billy Payne and bunch came up with a nasty critter that nobody could even give a proper name to. Brer Rabbit would have been perfect. So no mention of the Atlanta Olympics is fine with me.
catlady
July 29th, 2012
10:07 am
I did notice Atlanta was left out. However, our OOC did allow a pretty ratty assemblage around the event, and everyone with pull was allowed to try to cash in. Forget about it, move on. Atlanta is not generally ready for the big time.
scott
July 29th, 2012
10:16 am
Atlanta =the Most SEGREGATED CITY IN THE COUNTRY..Atlanta also a great pretender that needs to stay in its lane..it cant and never will be able to hang with the big boys (Seattle,Vancover,Los angeles,ROME,SYDNEY,TORONTO,PARIS,CHICAGO,PORTLAND, San francisco,Atlanta much too divided and is Jackson,mississippi on steriods…its only a slight step up from 3rd tier cities..can you think of anything metro Atlanta does well???not much..no1 in all things just about negative…Atlanta had no business with the olympics period..