Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park Bombing: 20 Years Ago Today

The phone rang around 3 a.m. on July 27, 1996. Phone calls at that time of night rarely bring good news, and this was no exception.

The panicked voice on the other end of the line belonged to my mother-in-law in Pennsylvania, who was checking to see if we'd been injured in the bombing.

We didn't know anything about it, but that changed, of course, over the next few days, as we watched an act of domestic terrorism and its aftermath unfold before us.

• Patch Editor Tim Darnell recalls the Centennial Olympic Park bombing of July 27, 1996.

At 1:25 am, a homemade pipe bomb exploded near a trash bin along Centennial Olympic Park's Spring Street sidewalk. One person, Alice Hawthorne of Albany, Georgia, was killed by the explosion, while another, Turkish cameraman Melih Uzunyol, died of a heart attack running to the scene. More than 100 others were injured.

My wife and I had been to several competitions during the games thus far, including the Greco-Roman wrestling finals earlier that day in the Georgia World Congress Center. We thrilled as Russia's Alexander Karelin (dubbed by Sports Illustrated as "the world's scariest humanoid") and American Rulon Gardner had an epic battle for the heavyweight gold medal that brought thousands of people from all over the world to their feet.

When we learned of the bombing, our hearts not only went out to the victims, but also to Billy Payne, the man who'd dared to dream that Atlanta could actually host an Olympics. I'd met and interviewed Payne and his organizers many times, and I admired their steadfast optimism that the city host a successful Games in the face of so much skepticism and ridicule.

Three days after the bombing, Andrew Young reopened the park with a speech that brought tears to thousands. I'd also met Young many times, and the oratorical skills of the minister, former congressman, U.S. ambassador and mayor were unsurpassed. His speech on the morning of July 30 brought to life the heartfelt fears and joys that millions of us shared.

The bombing would claim another victim. Richard Jewell, a security guard, was initially hailed as a hero but soon become a suspect whose reputation was eventually destroyed by an irresponsible media that was only now discovering the pressures of a 24-hour news cycle. Rumors of suspicion began to mount that Jewell had actually planted the bomb instead of discovering it and alerting police. Jewell's apartment that he shared with his mother was within walking distance of my house, and I remember the near-constant presence of news choppers circling the complex.

Eric Rudolph would eventually be convicted of bombing not only Centennial Park, but also of bombing two abortion clinics in suburban Atlanta as well as a bomb in Birmingham, Alabama. Jewell's reputation, however, was destroyed, and even though he was victorious is a libel lawsuit against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his name is irrevocably linked to the tragedy.

Today, Centennial Olympic Park is Atlanta's most visible and permanent reminder of its Olympic past. Its Olympic village, stadium and many of its venues have now found other uses. But the park remains, and inside it is a monument to a crime against humanity that happened 20 years ago today, but an event whose aftermath demonstrated to the world that Atlanta is, indeed, a city too busy to hate.

Image: Tim Darnell