Atlanta will be first U.S. stop for 2028 Olympic torch relay

More than three decades after Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympic Games, the flame will return to the city.

Local leaders and Olympic committee members for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles announced Tuesday that Atlanta will be the first U.S. stop for the famed torch relay.

For the first time in Olympic history, the relay will pass through every U.S. state on its way to the Games, officials said.

Coca-Cola CEO Henrique Braun (center) speaks during the LA28 Olympic torch relay announcement Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, at City Hall in Atlanta. When Atlanta hosted the Games in 1996, the U.S. portion of the torch relay began in Los Angeles. (Abbey Cutrer for the AJC)

“What a great day to be in a city that knows a little something about the Olympic Games,” Mayor Andre Dickens told a packed atrium at Atlanta City Hall. “Atlanta was proud to carry the flame in 1996. We will be proud to welcome it back.”

Those in attendance included former Olympians and several people who helped bring the Games to Atlanta in the summer of 1996.

When Atlanta hosted the Games 30 years ago, the U.S. torch relay began in L.A., Dickens told the crowd. Now, it’s Atlanta’s chance to return the favor.

The Clark Atlanta University marching band performs during the LA28 Olympic torch relay announcement Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, at City Hall in Atlanta. (Abbey Cutrer for the AJC)

The mayor was joined by four-time Olympic gold medalist and Atlanta 1996 torchbearer Janet Evans, who is serving as chief athlete officer for the upcoming Games. Lonnie Ali, wife of the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali, also spoke.

The women recalled the electric atmosphere surrounding the 1996 Games. Evans, a champion swimmer, climbed the steps and handed the torch to Ali before he lighted Atlanta’s famed cauldron during the internationally televised event.

It was a moment he would remember fondly forever, Lonnie Ali told the crowd. Her husband often said lighting that cauldron in Atlanta was one of the “great moments of his life,” she said.

“I have never forgotten what Atlanta gave him that night, gave our family that night — a chance to remind the world that strength isn’t just what you can do with your body,” Lonnie Ali said. “It’s the courage to keep showing up.”

Mayor Andre Dickens said during the LA28 Olympic torch relay announcement Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026: “Atlanta was proud to carry the flame in 1996. We will be proud to welcome it back." (Abbey Cutrer for the AJC)

LA28 Olympics Chair Casey Wasserman said the lead-up to the 2028 Games would be the “most ambitious relay this country has ever seen.”

“There is no more powerful symbol of what the Olympic Games represents than the torch relay, a flame passed from hand to hand, from community to community, uniting the nation,” Wasserman said.

There’s a controversial plan underway to relocate the cauldron from Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood to Centennial Olympic Park. That plan is opposed by Dickens and many Summerhill residents, who argue it’s part of their neighborhood’s history and should remain in place.

Cheron Pitchford, executive director of the Summerhill Neighborhood Development Corp., said the community’s Olympic legacy has become a central part of its identity over the past 30 years. Nearly two dozen former Olympians have signed a petition to keep the cauldron, the top portion of the Olympic flame tower, where it is.

She said Tuesday that if the torch relay is coming back to Atlanta, it should pass through Summerhill to celebrate the neighborhood’s Olympic legacy.

“If there is a relay, it makes sense for Summerhill to be included,” Pitchford said. “If we’re looking at this from a historical standpoint, it should come back there.”

The 2028 Games will mark the first time the Summer Olympics have been held in the U.S. since Atlanta hosted. It also means L.A. will become the third city to host three Olympic Games.