1996 Summer Olympics in the context of "2004 Summer Olympics"

The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the Kingdom of Greece, and the most recent was held in 2024 in Paris, France. This was the first international multi-sport event of its kind, organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded by Pierre de Coubertin. The tradition of awarding medals began in 1904; in each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals for second place, and bronze medals for third place. The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympic Games, which are regarded as the largest and most prestigious multi-sport international event in the world.

The Summer Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition programme in 1896 with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations, to 339 events in 2021 (2020 Summer Olympics) with 11,319 competitors (almost half of whom were women) from 206 nations. The Games have been held in nineteen countries over five continents: four times in the United States (1904, 1932, 1984, and 1996), three times in Great Britain (1908, 1948, and 2012) and in France (1900, 1924, and 2024), twice each in Greece (1896 and 2004), Germany (1936 and 1972), Australia (1956 and 2000), and Japan (1964 and 2020), and once each in Sweden (1912), Belgium (1920), the Netherlands (1928), Finland (1952), Italy (1960), Mexico (1968), Canada (1976), Russia (1980), South Korea (1988), Spain (1992), China (2008), and Brazil (2016).

Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996.

Winning the Olympics is considered to be the highest honor in international beach volleyball, followed by the World Championships, and the World Tour of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) for men and women.

Cycling has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics, at which a road race and five track events were held. Mountain bike racing entered the Olympic programme at the Atlanta Olympics, followed by BMX racing in 2008 and freestyle BMX in 2020. Before the 2020 Summer Olympics, all events were speed races, but the 2020 programme featured BMX freestyle for the first time.

Women's road events were introduced to the Olympic programme at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Women's track events were added in 1988, and both types of events have been featured since then.

Softball was on the Olympic program from 1996 to 2008. It was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016, but was added for a one-off appearance, along with baseball, for the 2020 Summer Olympics (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Olympic softball is governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 25 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States. This event was officially included to the women's swimming program for the first time in Olympic history.

The United States (USA) was the host nation for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 646 competitors, 375 men and 271 women, took part in 263 events in 31 sports.

With a total of 44 gold, 32 silver, and 25 bronze medals, the United States returned to the top spot in the medal standings for the first time since 1984, and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics.

The 1996 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, were an international summer multi-sport event held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from July 19 to August 4, 1996. A total of 10,318 athletes representing 197 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated. The games featured 271 events in 26 sports across 37 disciplines, including the Olympic debuts of beach volleyball, mountain biking and softball. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 former Soviet republics participating for the first time as independent nations.

79 nations received at least one medal, with 53 of them winning at least one gold medal, both of which were new records.Armenia, Belarus, Burundi, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Slovakia, Syria, Thailand, and Ukraine won their nations' first Summer Olympic gold medals. They were also the first Summer Olympic medals of any kind for Armenia, Belarus, Burundi, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Mozambique, Tonga, and Uzbekistan won their first Summer Olympic medals.