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Centennial Olympic Park

One-line summary: The 22-acre legacy park built as the central gathering place for the 1996 Summer Olympics in downtown Atlanta — Fountain of Rings, Quilt of Remembrance, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing memorial (Eric Robert Rudolph attack, July 27, 1996), and the anchor of a downtown cluster that includes the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, College Football Hall of Fame, and CNN Center — all walking distance from each other.

Centennial Olympic Park

One-line summary: The 22-acre legacy park built as the central gathering place for the 1996 Summer Olympics in downtown Atlanta — Fountain of Rings, Quilt of Remembrance, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing memorial (Eric Robert Rudolph attack, July 27, 1996), and the anchor of a downtown cluster that includes the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, College Football Hall of Fame, and CNN Center — all walking distance from each other.

Scope note: this template covers steps 1–3 of the adventures pipeline (identify, support Maxine's research, shape goals). The deliverable webpage

  • video at step 6 is Maxine's own work — don't scaffold it here.

Links & Maps

Official:

Maps:

Reference & background:

Must-See / Big Items

  1. Fountain of Rings — five interlocking Olympic rings spelled out in 251 jets, choreographed to music four times daily. Kids run through it. The single most-photographed feature of the park.
  2. Centennial Olympic Park Bombing memorial — Quilt of Remembrance, plaque marking where Alice Hawthorne was killed and 111 were injured on July 27, 1996. The park's most serious feature; sit and read it.
  3. The Olympic torch / cauldron monument — replica of the cauldron lit by Muhammad Ali at the opening ceremony (the actual cauldron is at Georgia State University stadium nearby).
  4. The Quilt of Nations / commemorative bricks — engraved donor bricks paving the central plaza. Look for international and personal inscriptions.
  5. The four Hermes statues at the corners — each corner of the park has a symbolic gate.
  6. SkyView Atlanta — 200-ft Ferris wheel on the SE corner; not original to the park but the standard "downtown view" anchor.
  7. The view of the surrounding skyline — Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, AmericasMart, CNN tower visible. The park is a piece of urban planning, not just a square of grass.

Stretch goals (do if time allows):

  • MARTA ride — even just one stop. The MARTA system was massively expanded for the 1996 Olympics; it's part of the Olympic urban legacy.
  • Atlanta Streetcar / Olympic Loop — the 2.7-mile streetcar loop opened in 2014 traces parts of the Olympic footprint.

Research angles for Maxine

The research is hers — list questions to investigate and sources to start from, not answers. Pitch above grade level.

Hook into Maxine's current interests: (ask before finalizing — what is she into right now? bend the questions to that.)

Questions worth chasing:

  • History: The 1996 Olympic bid surprised everyone — Atlanta beat Athens (the centennial of the modern Games, 1896 → 1996). How? Read about Billy Payne and the bid campaign. What did Atlanta have to promise the IOC?
  • Urban planning: Centennial Olympic Park was built on a previously condemned section of downtown. What was bulldozed, what was preserved, and who was displaced? Compare to Olympic legacy parks in Barcelona (1992), Sydney (2000), London (2012) — which Olympic redevelopments have aged well, and which haven't?
  • Writing: Read coverage of the July 27, 1996 bombing — same-day news vs. the eventual Eric Rudolph capture (2003). Compare the original Richard Jewell coverage (he was wrongly suspected) to the correction. This is a journalism-ethics case study.
  • Math / engineering: The Fountain of Rings has 251 jets controlled by a computer. Watch one show; map the choreography over the music — what's the time signature of the spray patterns? How does it sync to the audio?
  • Art: Photograph the four corner statues and the bombing memorial; compare commemorative-design language across these very different functions.

Starting sources (not exhaustive — she'll find more):

  • Andrew Young / Billy Payne 1996 Olympic memoirs.
  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution archive — 1996 bombing coverage + Richard Jewell story.
  • Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, The Power and Passion of M. Carey Thomas — not directly relevant but a model of place-based archival writing.

Observable field goals

  • Watch one full Fountain of Rings show; document the audio + spray sync.
  • Find and photograph the bombing memorial; transcribe the plaque.
  • Photograph each of the four corner gates; identify the symbolic figure at each.
  • Count how many countries are represented in the brick inscriptions in a 20-foot section; extrapolate.
  • Take a MARTA ride one stop and back; document the train station signage — it's full of 1996 Olympic references.

Suggested itinerary

1.5-day downtown cluster anchor:

  1. Day 1, 9:30 a.m. Park: orient, walk perimeter, bombing memorial.
  2. 10:30 a.m. Cross to Georgia Aquarium.
  3. 1:00 p.m. Lunch in the Pemberton Place plaza.
  4. 2:00 p.m. World of Coca-Cola.
  5. 4:30 p.m. Fountain of Rings show; let her get soaked.
  6. Day 2, 9:30 a.m. National Center for Civil and Human Rights — anchor of day 2.
  7. 12:30 p.m. College Football Hall of Fame.
  8. Or: Imagine It Children's Museum on the north side.

Family roles:

  • Chris leads: Olympic-bid history; bombing/Jewell case study.
  • Heather leads: the day-to-day logistics across the cluster.
  • Maxine drives: the journalism-ethics case study; the Fountain choreography mapping.
  • Solo vs. both parents: fine with one; downtown Atlanta is straightforward MARTA-walkable.

Connections

Combines well with:

Feeds into home projects / future adventures:

  • An Olympic-legacy urban-planning project — Atlanta + Barcelona + Salt Lake City + Los Angeles 2028 case studies.
  • A Richard Jewell media-ethics essay.

Open questions / still to research (Chris's side)

  • Whether the Fountain of Rings is running the week we visit.
  • Best MARTA station for our hotel base.
  • Whether any park sections are closed for events.