The Churn

A History of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics

Butter ATLJuly 23, 2021

Atlanta's Olympic Rings

As the Tokyo Olympics begin, Butter.ATL remembers the 1996 Olympic Games, which helped establish Atlanta as a world-class city on the global stage.

The 1996 Olympic Games are known for kicking off a wave of change in Atlanta that continues today, and can easily be understood as the critical point of distinction between what is called “Old Atlanta” and “New Atlanta.” And the Games were widely considered a success.

But not everyone in Atlanta today knows enough about what happened in the Atlanta of yesterday to get us here. That’s why we asked Twitter threadmaster Donovan Reynolds to put together one of his brilliant historical compilations of factoids to help guide you to an easy understanding of the timely topic.

Start by clicking the tweet below, and check out the whole thread to learn more about how we thankfully turned “Hotlanta” into “ATL.”