Turning the pages back... July 19, 1996 (07/15/01)

Turning the pages back...

July 19, 1996

A news story describing Ukraine's first ever appearance in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games as an independent nation was featured five years ago in The Weekly. Following are excerpts from the article headlined "Ukraine makes historic debut at Olympic Games" written by Roman Woronowycz.

* * *

Ukraine marched into history at precisely 11:30 p.m. on July 19, 1996, as the first Summer Olympic squad of independent Ukraine entered Olympic Stadium in Atlanta during the opening ceremonies of the Centennial Games.

The Ukrainian flag gently flapped in the humid Atlanta night, perched atop the stadium along with the colors of 196 other nations competing in the XXVI Summer Olympiad.

The Summer Olympic Games were probably the last international forum in which Ukraine had not yet participated as a separate nation. That is now history.

The team had waited in the adjoining Atlanta Fulton County Stadium with the other 10,624 competitors for more than an hour and a half as 182 of a total of 197 squads debuted before it. Pole vaulter Sergey Bubka carried the blue-and-yellow banner at the head of the delegation (the 14th largest in size), an honor reserved for athletes who are highly respected or have extraordinary achievements to their credit.

Source: "Ukraine makes historic debut at Summer Olympic Games," by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, July 28, 1996.

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