1996 Summer Olympics

As part of the countdown to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, a chronological look at past Olympiads will appear each Sunday. If the 1900 Olympics had been made into a movie, the title would've been "Forget Paris." French baron Pierre de Coubertin, who had launched the Olympic movement in 1896 with the Summer Games in Athens, was ashamed at how poorly his hometown handled the Games. "We have made a hash of our work," he said.Coubertin had envisioned a gala Olympic setting for Paris, complete with new stadiums and parks, and classic Greek architecture.

Atlanta -- His home was picketed by community activists, his name taken in vain by labor leaders and his work hours extended from pre-dawn to past midnight in a quest to extract millions of dollars from recession-wracked U.S. corporations.Meet Billy Payne, deep into the mean season of organizing the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.Seated on a sofa in his office overlooking downtown Atlanta, Payne, 45, is rubbing his eyes, trying to wipe the signs of fatigue from his face. It's noon, but he already has been on the job since 4:30 a.m.And the Olympics are more than 1,200 days away.

TOKYO -- Atlanta won a final-round showdown with Athens, Greece, yesterday to be the site for the centennial staging of the modern Olympic Games, which were born in the Greek capital in 1896.In five rounds of elimination voting here by the International Olympic Committee, Atlanta's $7 million, three-year campaign won in what many considered the strongest field of would-be host cities ever to confront the governing body.IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who unsealed an envelope to read the decision before a worldwide television audience, had scarcely finished uttering the city's name when the huge Atlanta delegation here burst into a long, loud demonstration.

Maryland women's basketball coach Chris Weller has been named to lead the 1994 U.S. women's select team, by the USA Basketball Staff Selection Committee, a move that could be a springboard toward coaching the national entry in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.Weller, who has won 385 games and eight Atlantic Coast Conference titles at Maryland in 19 years, was coach of the 1992 USA select team that won the gold medal at the Jones Cup competition in Taiwan.The select team is made up mostly of college players who have little international experience.

IVAN "PUDGE" RODRIGUEZIvan "Pudge" Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers is a force on and off the field. He is a seven-time All Star and has won seven Gold Glove awards for fielding. He helps needy kids and kids with cancer.Ivan's idol growing up in Puerto Rico was Hall-of-Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente. Roberto also did a lot of volunteer work."Roberto spent a lot of time helping people," says Ivan. "I want to do the same things."ATHLETES vs. ANIMALSSwimmer Amy Van Dyken won four gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Many Mini-WordsPitcher William Joseph VanLandingham has one of the longest full names in major league history (26 letters). How many three-letter words can you come up with by using the letters of his last name? We found 29, but you may find more!ANSWERS: aid, ail, aim, and, dam, dig, dim, din, gad, gal, gam, gin, had, hag, ham, hid, him, inn, lad, lag, lam, lid, mad, mag, man, nag, nil, van, vimKerri StrugGymnast Kerri Strug was a shining star of the 1996 Summer Olympics. She also shines with kids.

With the World Cup field expanding from 24 teams to 32 teams, FIFA yesterday increased the number of berths for Africa from the three that took part in the United States this past summer to five for the 1998 tournament in France.FIFA, soccer's world governing body, also increased by one entry the berths of four of the other five confederations and maintained the number for Oceania, which still must earn a spot by a playoff against a country from another continent.Besides the three spots for the North and Central American region and the five for Africa, Europe has 15 spots, including one for France as host nation; Asia has 3, plus a possible playoff winner with Oceania.

NEW YORK -- One month after losing the TV rights to pro football to the Fox Network, CBS will announce today its victory over Fox in securing the rights to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, for an estimated $375 million.Winning the Nagano rights provides a crucial jolt of adrenaline and good news to CBS Sports by providing a major event to look forward to so quickly after its failed football negotiations. And last year, CBS lost a last-ditch bid to renew its deal with Major League Baseball and was greatly outbid by NBC for the rights to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer is expected to be named today to coach a soon-to-be-formed United States team that will play together for over a year in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.VanDerveer, who won national championships in 1990 and 1992 and guided the Cardinal to the Final Four last weekend and coached the U.S. team to a gold medal at last year's Goodwill Games, is to be named today at a news conference in Palo Alto, Calif., according to a source familiar with the selection.

Readers sometimes complain that newspapers only report the bad, never the good; that people who work hard for their communities and excel at work or in school don't make headlines because they aren't exciting enough. As a matter of fact, they do. This week, five Anne Arundel County residents made news for their extraordinary talent and contributions:* Meredith Reffner, 17, an Old Mill High graduate, was honored by President Clinton as a Presidential Scholar of the Arts at the White House Wednesday.