Atlantans Worry City May Embarrass Itself Games Organizers Keep Saying Pre-Olympics On Schedule

Olympics organizers have said it until they’re as blue in the face as their official mascot, Izzy: the 1996 Atlanta Games will be on time, on budget and the best ever.

Their chance to prove it is now just one year away.

Once the improbable dream of Atlanta lawyer Billy Payne and a few of his pals, the moment of truth is finally coming into view. With 85,000 people filling a brand new stadium, and millions more watching live on prime-time television, Atlanta’s torch will be lighted on what figures to be a typically humid evening July 19, 1996.

In turns envied, admired and derided for landing the Centennial Olympic Games, Atlanta has long waited for the opportunity to prove to the world that this Deep South city is not in too deep.

In many big ways, Atlanta looks like it will make good on its promise.

A majestic Olympic stadium and other sports venues across and beyond the city are taking shape, some nearly completed. Television rights have been sold for record sums, and ticket sales are off to a strong start.

The area’s best and brightest have devised a plan they assure will prevent gridlock in this car-crazy town. Jackhammers furnish Atlanta’s summer soundtrack as crumbling bridges and streets are rebuilt.

City leaders brim with confidence.

“Nobody thought Atlanta had a chance of winning the Olympics, and I think it’s that same cynical sense that causes people to doubt our ability to do it,” said Mayor Bill Campbell.

“All you can do is to do the best you can,” he said. “The best revenge is living well.”

If Payne, the president of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, ever entertained doubts that Atlanta’s Games would be a roaring success, he’s never let on.

“I’ve always felt good,” Payne said. “That’s my job.”

Skeptics, he said, will be proven wrong. Yet things keep happening to encourage the doubters:

Hotels are accused of flouting a law designed to bar price-gouging. Rural Barrow County refused to let Somali athletes train, a payback for wrongs against U.S. troops in 1993.

Organizers angered people across the state by giving politicians a break on hard-to-get tickets. Advocates for the poor say the city has blown a once-in-a-lifetime chance to uplift Atlanta’s neediest citizens.

Just last week, it was disclosed that two dormitory buildings for athletes in the Olympic Village are settling excessively, sinking as much as 9 inches into the ground. The state has brought in consultants to figure out why.

And money, always money, stays in the forefront.

Unlike most Olympic Games, Atlanta’s is being financed without major government help.

So even as the pages of the calendar flip toward the final months, ACOG likely will still be searching every nook and cranny to raise enough dollars from corporate sponsors to meet its $1.58 billion budget.

That could mean more deals that make Olympic purists cringe - such as the one that made “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” the official game shows of the Games. After all, the Games have put an “official” stamp on everything from jet planes to pistachio nuts.

What has long made folks in Atlanta cringe is the thought that their city, a mere babe on the international stage, will embarrass itself before the largest audience in history.

The allegations of price gouging by some Atlantans prompted state consumer officials to begin several investigations, although no charges have been brought.

The Somali team quickly found a new training home in Gordon County. And ACOG is playing down the dispute as an isolated incident.

ACOG staunchly defended its ticket policy, even though some lawmakers who were potential recipients denounced it. The plan won praise from Dick Pound of the International Olympic Committee, who said at least the politicians were paying for their seats.

And even if the city shines like none before, to many, the Games have already failed.

“Five years ago, I had high hopes for what the Olympics could do to benefit the community. It’s a dead issue now,” said the Rev. Tim McDonald, who heads the Olympic Conscience Coalition, an advocacy group for poor people in Atlanta. “A few people have benefited - in the construction industry, particularly.”

The huge influx of money into Atlanta for the Games should have created a windfall of job training programs and development in poor neighborhoods, McDonald said.

When the international press comes in, they’re going to be looking for an issue. And we’re going to give it to them on a silver platter,” he said. “I don’t have a monopoly on truth, but there is another side of the story than Billy Payne’s.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ATLANTA OLYMPICS AT A GLANCE

Timeline 1995 July 23: Route of Olympic Torch run to be announced on NBC special “Atlanta 1996.” September: Ticket buyers to be notified which tickets they’ll receive. Sept. 23: 300 days until opening ceremony. Dec. 1: Last day to order tickets by mail. 1996 Jan. 1: 200 days until opening ceremony. Feb. 1: Telephone ticket orders start. April 10: 100 days until opening ceremony. April 27: Olympic torch arrives in Los Angeles to begin cross-country run. May 3: International Track and Field Challenge, test event for Olympic stadium. May 15: Deadline for national Olympic committees to confirm number of athletes coming to Atlanta. July 6: Olympic Village opens. July 19: Opening ceremony. Aug. 4: Closing ceremony.

The numbers Nations invited - 197. New nations - 26 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Comoros, Czech Republic, Dominica, former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Palestine, Nauru, Moldova, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). Athletes expected - Approximately 11,000 (7,000 men, 4,000 women). Sports - 26. Medal events - 271. Medals - 1,879 (605 gold, 605 silver, 669 bronze). New sports - 4 (beach volleyball, women’s softball, women’s soccer, mountain biking).

Tickets A glance at tickets to the 1996 Olympics: Tickets to most of the prime sessions are gone. After VIPs skimmed off the top, a 60-day mail order period allowed the general public to enter a lottery to buy the best of the rest. That period ended June 30. Tickets that remain are available by mail until December. Brochures and order forms are available at Home Depot stores or by calling the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, (404) 744-1996. What’s left: Two-thirds of the sessions are still available, including track and field, shooting, judo, women’s basketball finals, early rounds of women’s softball. Phone orders start in February; box office sales start next spring. Letters confirming ticket purchases will be mailed in September. Tickets will be distributed in spring 1996.