saeedahmed.com

The Centennial Park Bombing

thomson network; 07/27/96; rbm; for: all papers

UGLY REALITY HAUNTS OLYMPICS

By SAEED AHMED

ATLANTA -- Downtown Atlanta wore a somber look and mourned in eerie silence Saturday.

The streets, which had been filled with reveling fans since the start of the Games, were quiet. And the corporate tents in the area -- usually crowded hubs of round-the-clock festivity -- were empty.

For the city, the celebration of the century came to a premature halt when a deadly explosion ripped through Centennial Olympic Park -- the principal gathering place for athletes and fans -- early Saturday morning.

The crude pipe bomb detonated at 1:25 a.m. in the northern part of the park, killing two people and injuring more than 100. It was the first terrorist attack in Olympics history since the 1972 Munich Games, where 11 Israeli athletes were massacred by Palestinian terrorists.

``My first thought was 'why God, why?'" said Marietta native Nydia Beckles. ``The Games were going so well -- why did you have to bring our worst fears to life?'"

Meanwhile, as investigators sifted through the rubble to learn more about the bomber, multiple bomb threats around the city of Atlanta added to anxieties. Bomb disposal teams were dispatched to more than 35 locations, without incident.

The city's jittery nerves were on display on one shuttle bus carrying reporters. When an alarm went off after a foreign reporter accidentally hit the emergency exit release on one of the windows, other passengers didn't know what to think.

``Oh my God," said one of the volunteers. ``Not something else."

Eva Cronin, of Marietta, was sitting in the food court of the Peachtree Center mall when a man from Mexico City asked her to watch his bag as he went and go a drink of water.

``I said `OK,' and then I thought about it and got a little nervous," she said. ``Then I think he realized what he'd done and he came back and apologized."

Outside of the International Sports Plaza, U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler Matt Ghaffair told reporters he had urged his wife and daughter, in Atlanta to watch him compete, to return home to Colorado Springs, Colo.

``I'm safe in the Olympic Village. I don't have to worry," Ghaffair said. ``But my family can't be in there with me. I'm not telling other people they should leave, but I'd like to see my wife and daughter go home."

Some claim the park was inviting trouble by not requiring security checks at its entrances -- the only official venue not to do so.

Most, however, gave Atlanta security high marks and said the crowds the Olympics bring together makes it impossible to stop such an act.

``'You're going to find loonies all around the world," said Blakely, Ga., resident Tony Gilbert. ``'What happened last night could've happened at any street corner or any mall."

The confidence displayed by visitors and residents is good news for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. The organizers initially feared the blast would affect event attendance and scare away volunteers.

But with 90 percent turnout at venues Saturday and the majority of volunteers staying on, ACOG is optimistic the high morale of the city will see it through the trauma of the blast.

``'People are saying we're not going to let this get us down and dampen our spirit and our commitment," said A.D. Frazier, chief operating officer for ACOG. ``'All of our volunteers have received expressions of support all day. To hear some of the comments, and I wish you could, it would put a lump in your throat."