20 years later: How the Atlanta Olympics affect L.A.'s 2024 bid

As we get ready to sit on our couches and watch hundreds of hours of Olympic coverage while supporting American athletes in sports we typically never care to watch, we are reminded of games of the past. The Olympic Games are one of sport's great events that can be used as markers of time, where heroes can be frozen in place and we have those "where were you" moments.

This is also the 20th anniversary of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the last time the Summer Games were held in the United States. Just getting those Olympics was a miracle for the Georgia capital. This was the 100th anniversary of the first Olympic Games in Athens, and the Greek capital was the sentimental favorite to win. Toronto had been a finalist multiple times but failed to win, and the success of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics was fresh in the IOC's minds. So was the amazing way the Los Angeles Games in 1984 were so financially successful, and Atlanta flew to a serious contender by flaunting the same model. A great victory for a Southern American city that has since been forgotten over time.

It wasn't like there was a lack of memorable moments at the Atlanta Olympics. One of the most indelible moments was recently deceased Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic torch. An Olympic legend himself, Ali trembled with his Parkinson's disease but stood in front of the world and lit the Olympic flame.

There were also Michael Johnson's gold shoes, Amy Van Dyken's domination in swimming, Kerri Strug sticking the landing on a bum leg and the Magnificent Seven winning team gold, and the women's Dream Team basketball squad.

There was also the Olympic Park bombing, where one person died directly and another died of a heart attack, followed by the messy search for the suspect that ruined security guard Richard Jewell's life. There was the sponsorship-heavy feel to the games that turned people off. Even the mascot, the drop-of-toothpaste-looking Izzy, was being slammed.

At the closing ceremony, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch neglected to declare the games "the best Olympics ever" as he had done for every Olympics before and after the 1996 Olympic Games. The American games were too ... "American."

These were the games that seemingly everyone would like to forget, and that's a shame since the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Falcons haven't won a title in the 20 years since while the NHL's Thrashers came and went with hardly any fanfare. The Braves did reach the World Series in 1996 and 1999 (losing to the Yankees both times) and Georgia Tech got to the NCAA Tournament championship game in 2003, but the Olympics were the last great moment in A-Town.

Like with any Olympics, there are financial albatrosses laying around. Venues sit there unused. Atlanta actually doesn't have many of those. Most were already there, upgrades to existing facilities or are being used in another way. However, just 20 years after the Olympics left Atlanta, the Olympic Stadium is scheduled to be demolished. That stadium, which was repurposed for the Braves and renamed Turner Field, will be destroyed when the team moves to a new ballpark in the suburbs next year. The last Olympic Stadium to be destroyed was Tokyo's (used in 1964), which is being rebuilt to host the 2020 Olympic Games. The only others are the original Wembley Stadium (1948) that was replaced and London's White City Stadium (1908). Those three stadiums stood for at least 50 years. Atlanta's lasted 20.

Go to the ATL and you won't see a tremendous amount of reminders that it ever was an Olympic city, save for Centennial Park, where the bombing took place.

Since those games, New York City failed miserably to get the 2012 Olympics that went to London, Chicago's favorable bid was dismissed for these Rio Olympic Games and no American city even bothered to bid for the 2020 Olympics. Los Angeles is, however, considered a strong candidate for 2024. There has been a feel that the IOC is turned off by the United States after Atlanta and the bribery scandal of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Obviously, there is also the nation's standing in the world that has taken a hit.

Still, the Los Angeles, Atlanta and Salt Lake City Olympics were all wildly successful financially and at a time when money still rules and is so sought-after, the allure of coming back to the States may give us a look-see.

Los Angeles 2024 will assuredly be another financial success if given the chance. L.A. would use the current Coliseum, which housed L.A.'s two other games, as the Olympic Stadium again. The new City of Champions Stadium being built to house the NFL's Rams could be used for a variety of events, and there are numerous places in the city already available to house events (Staples Center, Galen Center, Convention Center, Rose Bowl, The Forum, LAFC Stadium). UCLA's campus would be the Olympic Village, while USC's campus would be the media center. There would be little infrastructure needed to build to host the Olympics.

Three European cities are L.A.'s competition: Budapest, Rome and Paris. According to Gordon Crawford, chairman of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, the biggest threat is Paris:

"We’re also the most multicultural city in the world, we have great weather, we’re the home of the entertainment business, and we made money in ’84. So yeah, we have a very strong bid. Realistically our competition is with Paris. I mean, Rome is a mess, and Budapest, with a right-wing guy running the country, doesn’t have a prayer. It’s Paris or L.A. The disadvantage we have is that out of 100 IOC members, almost half are European, so it’s still an old boys’ club."

Maybe, but with France's security issues a main concern, Los Angeles could be the safer choice. Of course, as with everything, our next president could also make or break the L.A. bid. Crawford continues:

"[Donald Trump] would hurt us. Look, the vote is in Lima, Peru, in 2017, so who knows what intangibles might come into play. Who knows what will be going through the minds of the IOC members who are voting. If Donald Trump has said a bunch of outrageous things about different countries, you may lose their votes. If Hillary’s in, maybe a little bit of the Bill Clinton pixie dust gets spread around. He’s a big international figure—maybe he throws his weight in."

Possibly, but how much would the bad taste of Atlanta also mix in there? Twenty years later, it's hard to say — just as it's difficult to even notice that an Olympics ever took place in the ATL.