OLY’28 1000 Days
Olympic Stadium weather monitoring with David Martin, PhD
October 20, 2025, marked the 1000 days out from the Los Angeles (Oklahoma City) Olympic Games. I recall the countdown for my initial Games, Atlanta!
The 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta featured 26 sports, 29 sport competition venues, and approximately 10,320 athletes from 197 nations.
Total Athletes: About 10,339 athletes participated.
Sports: There were 26 sports included in the 1996 Olympic program.
Sport Competition Venues: The Games used 29 different competition venues, some of which were pre-existing, some newly built, and a few temporary.
Competition venues: Four different states: Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee
Practice Venues: The exact number of practice venues is not specifically detailed in official post-Games summaries accessible to the public; the focus was on the 29 competition venues.
I shared the ACOG (Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games) position of Manager, Athlete Care alongside Bill Whitehill, who recently passed in 2024.
As I reflect upon the 1996 Games, I focus upon the pre-work of writing healthcare Policy & Procedures for spectator medical stations, competition venues, practice sites, and the Village. Developing P&P to the standards of the International Olympic Committee, jurisdiction of four (4) States, oversight from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) was a lengthy passion project.
Early morning meetings that lasted to the late evening hours, infinite re-writes, cross checking sources and collaboration across disciplines was the norm for 16 months.
Today those three-ring binders reside in my possession as a reminder of the pre-electronic era as well as a symbol of learning and accomplishment.
2025 - 1996 = 29 Years
As I steady my professional focus upon 29 years post Centennial Games, I use the learnings to advance the education of managers in athletics to ensure Policies are meaningful, accurate, and living documents.
Register by sending an email to ralph@ralphreiff.com
