It was the home city for the centennial games of the modern Olympics

The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta marked the 100-year anniversary of the 1896 Olympics in Athens — the first of the modern era. Atlanta's opening ceremony featured Muhammad Ali, who lit the Olympic cauldron and received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory at the 1960 games — he'd thrown the first into the Ohio River. After winning gold, Ali returned home to his highly segregated hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Upon being refused service at a local restaurant, he hurled the medal into the Ohio in anger.

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