Muhammad Ali lights the torch at the 1996 Olympics after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984. The torch lighter was kept a secret until Ali appeared, shocking everybody.
Muhammad Ali lights the torch at the 1996 Olympics after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984. The torch lighter was kept a secret until Ali appeared, shocking everybody.
They built stairs up for the torch to be lit and came up with an accommodation for Ali to light it. After the games were over nobody wanted the torch and it was moved somewhere. Last time I was downtown and saw it rust had run rampant.
fishshake on
I remember watching this on TV as the games opened.
watermanatwork on
I was there. Watched opening ceremony from a friend’s apartment. Bombing a couple days later.
TravelingGonad on
Step 1. Make the torch super complicated to light.
Step 2. Find someone with Parkinson’s to light it.
Step 3. ?????
PwntIndustries on
I was about to start high school when these Olympics were happening. It was the first time I really got into watching them, as I had my own 13 inch TV in my room that got 3 channels (NBC, ABC, and sometimes Fox, which was only ever watched for Saturday morning cartoons.) That summer I played a shitload of video games in the morning/early afternoon since there wasn’t a whole lot of daytime coverage here on the west coast. It would generally start around prime time, and I’d watch it all. Then Leno came on and did a quick monologue, then it went right back into the late night broadcasts for things like track & field, volleyball, beach volleyball which would go until like 4am. Fall asleep, wake up at like 9-10am, rinse/repeat.
When the Centennial Park bombings happened, I was up all night watching the news broadcasts.
The day the 96 Olympics ended, I woke up early, walked to a local coffee shack, picked up a large mocha, walked back home, watched the marathon, and all the recap stuff they played prior to the closing ceremony. Since my sleep schedule was so borked by that point, I got into watching Leno/Conan and Saturday Night Live for the rest of the summer.
7 Comments
he is a strong man
They built stairs up for the torch to be lit and came up with an accommodation for Ali to light it. After the games were over nobody wanted the torch and it was moved somewhere. Last time I was downtown and saw it rust had run rampant.
I remember watching this on TV as the games opened.
I was there. Watched opening ceremony from a friend’s apartment. Bombing a couple days later.
Step 1. Make the torch super complicated to light.
Step 2. Find someone with Parkinson’s to light it.
Step 3. ?????
I was about to start high school when these Olympics were happening. It was the first time I really got into watching them, as I had my own 13 inch TV in my room that got 3 channels (NBC, ABC, and sometimes Fox, which was only ever watched for Saturday morning cartoons.) That summer I played a shitload of video games in the morning/early afternoon since there wasn’t a whole lot of daytime coverage here on the west coast. It would generally start around prime time, and I’d watch it all. Then Leno came on and did a quick monologue, then it went right back into the late night broadcasts for things like track & field, volleyball, beach volleyball which would go until like 4am. Fall asleep, wake up at like 9-10am, rinse/repeat.
When the Centennial Park bombings happened, I was up all night watching the news broadcasts.
The day the 96 Olympics ended, I woke up early, walked to a local coffee shack, picked up a large mocha, walked back home, watched the marathon, and all the recap stuff they played prior to the closing ceremony. Since my sleep schedule was so borked by that point, I got into watching Leno/Conan and Saturday Night Live for the rest of the summer.
A bad, bad man.