Atlanta 1996: The Summer the World Finally Watched

Thirty years ago this month, the Olympic flame arrived in Atlanta for the Centennial Games; Muhammad Ali, his hands trembling, lit the cauldron on July 19, 1996, and the world held its breath. 🔥

What stays with me is what unfolded on the fields and courts over those sixteen days. The United States won the first Olympic gold medals ever awarded in women's soccer and women's softball; our women also took gold in basketball and in team gymnastics. The soccer final drew more than 76,000 fans. Reporters called it the year women's sport arrived. I saw it differently: it was the year the world finally watched.

None of it happened by accident. It grew from Title IX, and from generations who insisted that girls deserve a field, a coach, a chance. When I raced in the women's eight at Montréal in 1976, women's rowing was brand new to the Olympic program; every step forward since has kept a promise made to someone who was once told to wait.

Now we carry that promise toward Los Angeles. In two years, LA28 is set to become the first Olympic Games with more competition places for women than for men. Sport belongs to everyone; Atlanta showed us what that looks like when we truly mean it. 🥇

Who did you cheer for in 1996?