Terror strikes the Olympics Games in Atlanta

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics marked the 100 year celebration of the Olympic Games. The event, unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was marred by a terrorist bomb explosion. This was the first of four bombings, carried out by Eric Robert Rudolph, a former explosives expert for the United States Army. It is said to have been the largest pipe bomb in American history- which killed 2 people and injured 111. The motive for the attack, according to Rudolph, was to publically disapprove of the Olympic Games as a platform for the celebration of global socialism. After this attack, the Atlanta Games continued without further incidents. Rudolph, however, proceeded with his with terrorist attacks in 1997, targeting an Atlanta lesbian nightclub and an abortion clinic. As for South Africa's participation in the 1996 Olympic Games, swimmer Penny Heyns won two gold medals in the woman's 100 and 200 metres breaststroke. South Africa had previously been banned from participating in the Games due its policy of apartheid. References: 1996 Summer Olympics [online] Available at: wikipedia.org [Accessed 21 July 2009] News 24 -July 27 [online] Available at: news24.com [Accessed 21 July 2009]