Games of the XXVI Olympiad

Atlanta (USA), 19 July – 4 August 1996

The 1996 Games got off to a great start when the cauldron was lit by boxing legend Muhammad Ali. A record-setting 79 nations won medals and 53 won gold.

The heat and humidity expected in Atlanta led to extensive research and measures. It was found that horses needed three weeks of acclimatisation – seven days to recover from the effects of transport and 14 days of passive acclimatisation to the new climatic conditions. The major measure was the installation of 85 misting fans throughout the venue, of which 60 were at the halt boxes during endurance day.

The years leading up to the Atlanta Games saw extensive changes made to the competition formats for of Dressage and Eventing as well as the creation of an elaborate qualifying system in all three disciplines.

Following the IOC’s reasoning whereby two sets of medals could not be distributed for the same effort which would have seen Eventing barred from the Games as of 1996, the FEI came back to the table in 1994 and proposed to split Eventing at the Olympics into two competitions: team and individual. The IOC accepted.

For the first time quotas were established in the three Olympic disciplines, jumping had 75riders with 105 horses (17 teams); dressage 50 riders with 50 horses (11 teams) and eventing 100 riders with as many horses (16 teams). The defending team champions and the host country were pre-qualified in all three disciplines. The remaining starting places had to be earned at the FEI World Championships of 1994, the FEI European Championships of 1995 and the Pan American Games of 1995. For the countries of Africa, Asia and Oceania special qualification procedures were established.

Key Figures (general):

•  197 nations
•              10,318 athletes (3,512 women; 6,806 men)
•              26 sports
•              47,466 volunteers
•               15,108 media (5,695 written press, 9,413 broadcasters)

For the first time in Olympic history, all 197 recognized National Olympic Committees were represented at the Games.

Key figures (equestrian)

•  28 nations (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherland, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA)
•  228 entries (82 in Jumping; 49 in Dressage; 97 in Eventing)

JUMPING (82 riders from 24 nations)

Linda Allen was the course designer, the first woman to provide the Jumping courses at an Olympic Games. Inspired by the visually pleasing obstacles of Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and the WEG of Stockholm 1990, she chose different themes for the three competitions. The first qualifying competition had the theme “Natural beauty of the Deep South”. The team competition figured as “Go West” and for the individual final, she combined the best from the first two competitions with obstacles expressing the Olympic spirit.

Nineteen countries took part in the team competition, and all went to the second round. Already after round one, Germany were in the lead. In the second round there were only time faults and Germany finished in first place ahead of USA and Brazil.

In the individual competition, Germany’s Ulrich Kirchhoff double his winnings and took the gold medal. Seven riders, with 4 points each, had to jump off for silver and bronze. Alexandra Ledermann, first to go, went clear in 41.46 sec. The next three riders, Simon, Billington and Miranda, all had knock-downs before Willi Melliger on Calvaro bettered Ledermann’s time with a clear round in 38.07 sec. The remaining two riders, Fäh and Tops, had knock-downs. Thus, it was silver for Melliger and bronze for Alexandra Ledermann.

DRESSAGE (49 riders from 18 nations)

In the Grand Prix Isabell Werth and Gigolo took an early lead over Anky van Grusven on Bonfire. In the Grand Prix Special, with 25 starters, the Dutch rider reversed the order; she won with 48 points over the German. The Kür to Music was left as the ultimate decider: Werth, with 83.01 percentage points clearly outshone van Grunsven with 79.60 points. The bronze medal went to Sven Rothenberger, born German but after marrying a Dutch woman, Gonnelien Gordijn (who finished 16^th in Atlanta), changed nationality. They were both members of the Dutch silver medal team, behind Germany, but ahead of the United States.

EVENTING (97 riders from 19 nations)

The strict IOC policy of not allowing two medals for the same effort, forced the FEI to change the format of Olympic Eventing, as follows:

                                    Team competitions        Individual competition
 Dressage                             21 July                           23 July
 Dressage                             22 July                           24 July
 Endurance                           23 July                           25 July
 Jumping                               24 July                           26 July

A Roads and tracks         3,520 m               same (identical)
B Steeplechase               2,760 m               same (identical)
C Roads and tracks         7,700 m               same (identical)
D Cross-country               5,715 m              5,757 m (different course)

Because of the heat and humidity, the distances were greatly reduced. Instead of the normal total for A-D of 26.950m the total distance in Atlanta was 19,695m. Among the competitors were three children of riders who had competed in the same discipline 24 years earlier, in Munich: Alfie, son of Bill Buller, Virginia McGrath, daughter of Patirck Conolly-Carew and Fredirik, son of Jan Jönsson.

Sixteen countries, all with four riders, took part in the team competition. After dressage the USA was in the lead, ahead of Great Britain and New Zealand. At the end, it was Australia who took gold for the second time in a row, ahead of the United States and New Zealand. In the individual competitions, partly with the same riders but with different horses, 34 riders took part. Blyth Tait on Ready Teddy, 15^th after dressage, but with only 5.2 time penalties in the cross-country and clear in the jumping, won gold, ahead of fellow countrywoman Sally Clark and Kerry Millikin of USA. Not many were happy with the two competitions. The 1996 format was repeated in 2000, before, in 2004, the solution of having two jumping competitions was introduced.

To find out more about the equestrian events includes ,  to see the medallists and full results of 1996 Olympic Games. click here.

The medallists and full results can be found here.