Atlanta Olympics: Souvenirs and artifacts from the 1996 Summer Games

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Atlanta Olympics: Souvenirs and artifacts from the 1996 Summer Games

Along with memories, those who attended the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta also held onto souvenirs. Here are some of the pins, posters, shirts, apparel and other memorabilia from the Games.

Plush versions of Izzy, the mascot of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, sit in a storage facility at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The history center has an ongoing exhibit about the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Izzy, the official mascot of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia on cart waving at crowd, Thursday, July 26, 1996 as he is wheeled through Centennial Olympic Park. (Cox Staff Photo/Rick McKay) 7/96

Blaze was the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Mascot. Photo is from an exhibit about 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

A torch from 1996 Atlanta Olympics from the Atlanta History Center exhibit. Many of the torches carried in the 84-day Olympic torch relay in 1996 became personal souvenirs for those who carrried them. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

A detailed view of three 1996 Olympic torches from a a storage facility at the Atlanta History Center. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Among the most plentiful 1996 souvenirs were Olympic pins. Here are just a few stored in a binder at the Atlanta History Center. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Collections of pins from 1996 Atlanta Olympic are displayed at “Atlanta ’96,” exhibit about 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Pins from the 1996 Atlanta Games (Brian O'Shea / brian.oshea@ajc.com)

Pins from the 1996 Atlanta Games. The one on the left is from the Paralympics. (Brian O'Shea / brian.oshea@ajc.com)

A collectible poster from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution distributed with newspapers on July 19, 1996, the final day of the Olympic torch relay. The relay ended with the start of the Opening Ceremonies that night.

In the run-up to the 1996 Olympic Games, Dick Yarbrough, an Atlanta Olympic official, got to carry the torch near Atlanta.

A sign that was used at the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay in Stockbridge. (AJC Staff Photo/Justin Williams) 8/96

An Olympic torch from the 1996 Atlanta Games was on display at the Georgia Governor's mansion in this photo from 2008.

Here is one of the many pins created for the Olympic torch relay. (AJC file photo)

Pins from the 1996 Atlanta Games (Brian O'Shea / brian.oshea@ajc.com)

For National Weatherman's Day, Xerox issued an Olympic pin with a functioning thermometer. The designer was smart enough to make the top temperature 120, although the temperatures in Atlanta were not quite that high. (Special to the AJC)

A pin from Closing Ceremonies Olympic pin for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

There were even pins for holidays that fell during the countdown to July 1996,. This one was for Feb. 14, Valentine's Day.

Pin traders look over goods in a tent at the downtown Atlanta location of the Varsity restaurant at Spring Street and North AvenueSunday July 28,. 1996 during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. (AJC Staff Photo/Rich Mahan) 7/96

A set of interlocking pins that form the shape of a torch on display at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Each part of the pin set marks 1 day of the 17-day Atlanta Games. Day 9 is missing. That was the pin for July 27, 1996, the day of the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park. The pin set is in the portion of the exhibition that addresses the bombing. A focus of that display was the resilience of the city, the athletes, the volunteers, and attendees, and includes a quote from Andrew Young’s speech at the reopening of the park three days following the bombing. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

More pins on display at the Atlanta History Center Con Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

July 20, 2021 Atlanta - Less plentiful than pins were medals. This is a 1996 Atlanta Olympic Participation Medal displayed at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

06-03-2021 Atlanta, Ga Inside the home of Ambassador Andrew Young we see replicas of the 1996 Olympic medals. (Tyson Horne / tyson.horne@ajc.com)

1996 Atlanta Paralympic Medals (from left) Silver, Gold and Bronze are displayed at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

1996 Atlanta Olympic Gold Medal is displayed at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Silver, gold and bronze medals from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Medals are displayed in an exhibit at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The history center has an ongoing exhibit about the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

The U.S. Postal Service unveiled 20 new stamps celebrating the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. (Photo by Rick McKay/Washington Bureau) 5/96

The U.S. Postal Service unveiled 20 new stamps celebrating the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. When they also put the stamps on a T-shirt, local Olympic officials objected. Because the Postal Service was not an Olympic sponsor. (Photo by Phil Skinner/The Atlanta Journal & Constitution - Cox Newspapers)

The first of many souvenir newspaper front pages from the 1996 Olympics, this one from 1990, when Atlanta was announced as the host city for the Games.

Canvas painting of the world that was painted by the '96 athletes in Olympic Village at Georgia Tech. Photographed at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

President Bill Clinton displays an Atlanta 1996 Olympic sweatshirt (size XXL) that Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell presented to him at a Clinton rally at CNN Center in Atlanta Tuesday, May 3, 1994.
MANDATORY CREDIT: DIANE LAAKSO / THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

Olympic volunteers wearing the popular panama hats. (AJC Staff Photo/David Tulis) 7/96

Atlanta Olympics organizers introduced the Olympic volunteer uniforms at ACOG headquarters. The uniforms, made and donated by HANES, will reflect different looks and styles per venue & volunteer assistance. ACOG hosted a media briefing on 100 days to go. (JOEY IVANSCO/AJC staff) 3/96

After the Games, banners that hung along Atlanta streets came down. Many of them becamse souvenirs. (AJC Staff Photo/Phil Skinner) 8/96

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Plush versions of Izzy, the mascot of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, sit in a storage facility at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The history center has an ongoing exhibit about the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

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