ATLANTA 1996 :: The Legacy Institution of the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Olympic Games

ATLANTA 1996, The Legacy Institution of the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Olympic Games
Since July 2012
ATLANTA DITC, The Legacy Institution of the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Olympic Games
From October 2007 to July 2012
DeKalb International Training Center (DITC), The Legacy Institution of the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Olympic Games
From September 2001 to October 2007

May 6, 2002: Inauguration of the ATLANTA 1996 (From left to right) DeKalb County Government CEO Vernon Jones, HE Sylvie Kinigi Former Prime Minister and President of Burundi, Mr. Ignace Beraho President, National Olympic Committee of Rwanda, Dr. Marc-Daniel Gutekunst Co-Founder & CEO of the ATLANTA 1996, Mr. Blagoje (Banné) Vidinic two time Olympic medallist—Melbourne 1956 Silver and Rome 1960 Gold in Soccer and ATLANTA 1996 Founding Board Member.
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The mission of the ATLANTA 1996 is to provide first class training to enable participating athletes to compete in the US and internationally while furthering their education to graduate with either a high school, a vocational school, or a university degree. Athletes in training at the ATLANTA 1996 prepare for the Olympic games and proudly represent their countries of origin and win Olympic Medals for their homeland.

Upon completing their stay at the ATLANTA 1996, athletes will be returning to their home country with at least one medal (a high school or college/university degree), and in the best of cases with two medals, a degree and an Olympic medal.

The ATLANTA 1996 promotes peace and reconciliation, and fosters exchanges between people and nations while respecting the socio-cultural and religious identity of each and every athlete in training and competing with us. Thus the ATLANTA 1996 mission statement: "Peace & Reconciliation Through Sports and Education (PARSE) ."

A Vision of Momentous Proportions

On July 30, 1996, during the 26th Olympiad in Atlanta, Forging New Tomorrows (FNT), an international Atlanta based organization, together with former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson and Martin Luther King III hosted a reception for the National Olympic Committee of Burundi. At that time, FNT announced that it was adopting the Burundi Olympic Team for the 1996 Atlanta Games. A few days later, on August 3, 1996, Burundi track athlete Vénuste Niyongabo won a Gold medal in the 5,000 meter race. This was the first Olympic medal ever won by a citizen of Burundi, not to mention that Burundi was participating in the Olympic Games for the first time. The medal was presented to Niyongabo by Prince Albert of Monaco, Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The following day in a meeting between Prince Albert II of Monaco and Dr. Marc-Daniel Gutekunst the concept of the 1996 was established. However, it took 6 years of hard work to make the 1996 concept a reality thanks to the partnership between FNT and DeKalb County. On May 6, 2002, Ambassador Andrew Young, former Atlanta Mayor and Co-Chair of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, inaugurated the 1996 in the presence of representatives of 8 countries and officials from Georgia. On September 20, 2002, the 1996 was officially opened by its Co-Founder Prince Albert of Monaco. ATLANTA 1996, The Legacy Institution of the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

Since June 2002, the ATLANTA 1996 has been fully operational and has trained athletes from Europe, Africa and the Americas. Eight (8) training disciplines are currently offered: Cycling, Modern Pentathlon (Track & Field, Swimming, Fencing, Shooting and Ridding), Swimming, Team Handball, Tennis, and Track & Field (Athletics). Since 2002, over 2,000 athletes from 53 nations trained and competed with ATLANTA 1996. ATLANTA 1996 trained athletes competed and achieved Olympic glory at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games, and competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

From 2002 to 2007, ATLANTA 1996 was known as the DeKalb International Training Center (DITC). When on June 2007 the DITC became USOC's designated training site for USA Team Handball's Men Team, it changed its name to ATLANTA DITC. On July 1, 2012, the ATLANTA DITC became ATLANTA 1996, and Forging New Tomorrows (FNT) -- the partner non-profit organization of ATLANTA 1996 -- became the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Foundation (ATL96 Foundation).