ATLANTA — Thirty years ago today, Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta reopened, days after the deadly Olympic Park bombing.
Before the reopening, one of the champions of the games delivered a speech that unified the world.
Channel 2’s Karyn Greer spoke with former Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young to learn more about his address.
He was one of the driving forces to bring the Olympic Games to Atlanta, but 11 days into the games, on July 30, 1996, he had to return to his roots as a pastor, to deliver a message of healing and hope.
“We are here to proclaim a victory. We are here not to wallow in tragedy, but to celebrate a triumph, a triumph of the human spirit,” Young said during the speech.
“The celebration that we see here this morning, we have been wonderfully blessed by our presence together,” Young said.
In an unscripted and heartfelt address, he spoke to the world to mark the reopening of Centennial Olympic Park just three days after the deadly bombing.
“We are here to remember the lives of Alice Hawthorne and Melih Uzunyol, two wonderful citizens, one from America and one from Turkey, who sought to come here to celebrate with 197 nations of the world — the possibilities of this planet living together into the 21st century, with a new measure of peace and prosperity,” Young said.
Young has done hundreds of speeches, but this one has really stood in people’s minds.
Thirty years ago, Young reflected on the unscripted nature of the speech.
“I have never spoken from notes. And it’s scary because I’m never sure what I’m going to say, but it always comes out right,” Young said.
“Do you remember the pain you felt when the bombing happened? In your city, something like this could happen during the game that everyone around the world was watching?” Greer asked.
“I ran quickly. I had been at that spot an hour or so before, and I had just gone to go home, and when I heard the bombing, I came right back,” Young said.
“I went straight to the hospital. But the thing about going to the hospital, everybody was joyous, and they were not afraid. They really praised Grady. People were proud and only anxious to get up, get out, and get back to the games. And I think that the Olympic spirit once again triumph.”
Visitors can pay their respects to the victims of the bombing at the “Quilt of Remembrance” at Centennial Olympic Park.
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