With the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) nomination secured, Billy Payne, Andrew Young and the Georgia Amateur Athletic Foundation (GAAF) turned their attention to the international bid. In May of 1988, Payne learned his competition for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bid:  Athens, Greece; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Manchester, England; Melbourne, Australia; and Toronto, Canada.

Early in the international bid, Atlanta had two issues against them.  The first was that many Olympic officials felt it was too soon to award the Olympics to another American city since Los Angeles  hosted the Games in 1984.  The second issue was that the 1996 Games would be the centennial of the modern Games and many officials believed the natural host should be Athens.

Payne and his team quickly developed a plan to counteract these issues.  The plan centered on the diversity of the American population, the country’s regions and overall size, and the number of times the Games had been hosted on American soil—three (1904, 1932 and 1984) versus fourteen in Europe.  Also, Los Angeles was the only city in the world to bid on the 1984 Olympics and Payne argued that the IOC had not actually selected an American city for almost 60 years.

With the plan finalized, Payne reverted back to his personal touch strategy that worked so well in capturing the USOC bid.  Charles Battle and Robert Rearden Jr. began traveling to IOC members and international sports officials around the world to deliver personally Payne’s plan. Early visits were to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Ecuador, Canada, Malta, and Mexico.  With Young’s participation in Atlanta’s bid and his international reputation, doors were opened to the GAAF volunteers that may not have been without his involvement.

As Atlanta’s international bid process unfolded, the GAAF began to receive support from various sources.  Federal, state, and local government began to provide financial support.  The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce offered the full support of its Atlanta Sports Council group to host amateur athletic events to strengthen a weakness noted by the USOC.  Atlanta would host over 30 such amateur events by the time the IOC awarded the Games to the city.

A group of 20 Atlanta officials attended the Seoul Olympics in 1988 in order to meet additional IOC members and garner further information about hosting an Olympics.  Once again, Payne employed his personal touch strategy by converting a traditional Korean house into an Atlanta home complete with a staff and southern menu. The house entertained IOC members daily for lunch and intimate dinners with the goals of developing friendships and strengthening communication.

While in Seoul, Payne and Young gave their first official presentation to the IOC Executive Board.  Payne emphasized that Atlanta felt an obligation to bring the Games to the east coast of North America and near the Caribbean, which had never hosted the Olympics.  Young spoke about Atlanta’s abilities as a potential host city and stressed that the most essential reason that he wanted the Games in Atlanta was to inspire youth.  The Atlanta contingent left Seoul having spoken to 88 out of the 90 IOC members and obtaining valuable information necessary to prepare the official IOC Bid.

Samaranch agreed to visit Atlanta in February 1989 and before his visit the GAAF met to assess its organizational structure, goals and strategies.  This meeting prompted the formation of a 14-member Executive Board and a new name, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG).  Andrew Young became ACOG’s chairman; Billy Payne, the president and chief executive officer; Gerald Bartels, the president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, was named secretary; and Bob McCullough of Arthur Andersen Company took the title of treasurer.  An Advisory Council was also formed, representing a wide range of Georgians, to support the ACOG.  Not long after, the group announced its official Olympic theme, “Atlanta and the Olympics: Yes! Partners with the World!”

Samaranch’s visit to Atlanta went well and he praised Atlanta’s Olympic team for their work while speaking before the Georgia General Assembly.  He encouraged the ACOG to host as many IOC members as possible so that they could see first-hand Atlanta’s preparation for the Games.

As Samaranch flew back to Lausanne, the ACOG stepped up their efforts.  The group opened an office in midtown where they began the preparation of the Bid documents to the IOC that would be due in one year.  Through local sports experts, volunteer committees began to document how the city would handle the international requirements for each Olympic sport.

The Atlanta business community began to step up by offering free services to the ACOG and over 100,000 people expressed interest in volunteering for the Games even though the Games were still seven years away.  Atlantans began to embrace the Games in earnest.

Playing off the excitement, the ACOG began a public awareness campaign in July 1989. Billboards and banners sprang up all around the city.  With the international press in attendance, the ACOG implemented the Olympic Mile run during the annual July 4 Peachtree Road Race.  More than 40,000 people ran the in the mile run.

With Andrew Young’s words to the IOC Board in Seoul in mind, the ACOG focused on the city’s youth.  After the Road Race, the ACOG introduced the Olympic Day in the School (ODIS) Program.  The program offered curriculum guides to aid teachers with incorporating Olympic values into all subject areas.  The following spring the Georgia Olympic Day provided the opportunity for students from across Georgia to participate in academic and athletic competitions in the style of the Olympics.  Over the seven years of the program, more than one million students participated in the program.  ACOG members encouraged these students to write to IOC members detailing what the Olympics in Atlanta would mean to them.

In late August and early September of 1989, the ACOG unveiled their high-tech presentation tool at the IOC meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Developed with resources from Georgia Tech, the ACOG presented an interactive video that allowed IOC members to fly through three-dimensional areas of Atlanta with computer-generated models of existing and future venues.  This tool would later be credited as one of the reasons Atlanta secured the IOC nomination.  Also in San Juan, the ACOG presented a book to IOC members and the press that offered a description of Atlanta’s strengths, including details of each venue.  The book known as the XXVI Book (because the 1996 Games would be the 26^th of the modern era) impressed the international contingent with its quality of design and information.  Payne and company began to produce a “wow” factor that other cities could not imitate.

After San Juan, the unprecedented number of 24 IOC members came to Atlanta to see what the ACOG was touting.  Atlanta volunteers ensured IOC members would not leave Atlanta without positive impressions.  The volunteers led the international delegates on facility tours, to dinners in private homes, to amateur sports competitions, to a cultural festival and to the 5K Run for the Bid. The brainchild of Payne, the 5k event began with IOC members riding an express MARTA train to the starting point.  Upon exiting from the train tunnel, 7,500 runners regaled the members with chants of “We want the Games.”  Most of the IOC members appeared emotionally touched by Atlanta’s enthusiasm for the Games.  The members gave the city high praise for its preparations to date and the overall enthusiasm of the city’s residents.

The ACOG and its volunteers continued to prepare the final Bid document and by February 1990 the completed Bid arrived in Lausanne.  The Bid came in five volumes all describing Atlanta as a modern city with lofty goals and expectations.  The high quality design and expert writing also told the story of the history, culture and pride of the South.  Volume I offered greetings from famous Georgians and Americans.  Volume II discussed Atlanta’s and the South’s history, details of the ACOG’s Cultural Olympiad plans, and a proposed torch relay involving all host cities of the modern Games.  In Volume III, detailed answers were given to the IOC’s requisite 19 questions, including the issues of facilities, financing and security.  Volume IV provided details of all of the sports venues and Volume V offered the ACOG’s plans for handling the media.

The ACOG’s Bid announced $1 billion would be spent on the preparation for and management of the Games, including $418 million of construction.  The construction tab would include an 85,000 seat stadium for athletics, a natatorium, a water polo stadium, a cycling venue, a shooting range and a marina in Savannah.  Also, dormitories for the athletes would be built at a cost of $60 million. The Bid also stated that revenue sources would include broadcast television rights fees, corporate sponsorships (think Coca-Cola), ticket sales, Olympic coins and other merchandise sales.  Additionally, the Bid stipulated that no taxpayer funding would be needed.

Over the next three months, the ACOG maintained it efforts to impress the international group of decision makers.  The group hosted the official site inspection visits by the IOC Study and Evaluation Commission, the Association of International Olympic Federations, and the Association of National Olympic Committees.  The ACOG shrewdly invited IOC members to Atlanta during the spring when the city’s natural beauty comes alive.

As summer approached, the ACOG could boast that Atlanta had now hosted scores of international amateur sports competitions over a two-year period, and gained the support and confidence of all levels of government and the city’s business leaders.  The city now had the infrastructure to handle the Games and the needed venues were well on their way to completion.  The IOC’s final decision would come in September, and the ACOG could only wonder if the members had done enough to gain the nomination. A total of 68 IOC members had visited the city and ACOG members had visited 85 IOC delegates in their countries.  What more could the ACOG do?

In mid-September, 1990, over 300 Atlantans and Georgians traveled to Tokyo for the ACOG’s final presentation and the IOC’s decision.  The group included 58 students, ranging in age from 11 to 18, called the Atlanta Dream Team.  Atlanta was the first of the six cities to present.  The hour long presentation included a film and original song, “The World Has One Dream,” and talks from Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, Governor Joe Frank Harris, Andrew Young, and Billy Payne.  The consistent message was that Atlanta wanted and was ready to host the Centennial Olympic Games.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the IOC members cast their initial ballot.  Belgrade dropped out of the running after the first ballot, Manchester fell out of the running on the second ballot, Melbourne went home after the third, and Toronto failed to make the cut after the fourth.  That left Athens and Atlanta, and of course, Atlanta won the nomination after the fifth ballot.

Payne, Young and the GAAF/ACOG team of volunteers had achieved their goal:  obtaining the 1996 Olympics for Atlanta.  Payne’s personal touch strategy combined with Young’s influence and the meticulous attention to detail by GAAF/ACOG members could not be overcome by the other cities hoping to host the Games.  The Georgia Tech presentation technology and support from Atlantans from all walks of  life provided the icing on the proverbial cake.  Payne’s dream became a reality and the provincial town that embodied the New South would earn the right to sit in the pantheon of international cities.