Museum Honors Atlanta Olympics

[Fiona]

After a three-and-a-half year quest to host the Centennial Olympic Games by Atlanta real estate attorney Billy Payne and his close circle of devoted believers, a delegation from Atlanta waited in Tokyo, Japan for the decision. And when that decision came, the world said "yes" to Atlanta.

The quest to bring the Olympics to Atlanta is a compelling story. It's a story that's about to be told at the Atlanta History Center. Opening July 15, the Centennial Olympic Games museum will tell that story through artifacts, memorabilia and pictures. Billy Payne thinks the museum succeeds in telling that story.

"I think they'll be able to see it, touch it, and feel it again, hopefully in a very positive way", he told 11Alive's Marc Pickard.

The focus of the museum is not just on Atlanta but also on how those games fit into Olympic history. Curator of the museum, Don Rooney explained, "There were games that were interrupted due to World War I and World War II but Atlanta marked the centennial of the modern Olympic movement."

The museum will have a complete set of Olympic torches including one of only eight remaining solid silver torches from the 52 Helsinki games.

"If they want to see such a collection of medals and torches other than Atlanta," Rooney said proudly, "they'd need to travel to Lausanne, Switzerland to the international Olympic museum."

This museum will take people through the 10 years of planning for the Atlanta games: The people, the landmarks, the torch relay, even the volunteers. There’s an electronic ticker that contains the names of all approximately 50,000 people who volunteered for the Centennial Olympic Games and they're in alphabetical order. So, if you were a volunteer and you're looking for your name, or the name of somebody else who volunteered, it won't take you more than 12 1/2 hours to find it.

There is a capsule of every day of competition, even day eight, the day of the Olympic Park bombing. The museum acknowledges the controversies of the centennial games as well as the triumphs. Remember Izzy the mascot?

"Much loved by many, much hated by others," museum curator Rooney admits.

To acknowledge the Atlanta Olympics, its importance to this region, its place in Olympic history, is to acknowledge the man whose dream it was and those who shared it.

"I was worried about making it through the next day on most occasions," said Billy Payne. "But, there were always people very mindful that future generations would want to recall this very important moment in our city's history."

That was the moment that the world came to Atlanta and changed this city and the people in it forever.

11alive.com