1996 Summer Olympics
The stadium played host to the Olympic medal competition of men's and women's Olympic football (soccer) at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Because the required dimensions of a soccer field are wider than those of an American football field, the hedges surrounding the field needed to be removed. This proved to be a controversial measure, as it had not been general public knowledge that the hedges would have to be removed to accommodate the Olympic football competition. In preparation for this necessity, cuttings were taken from the original hedges, 3 years prior to the Olympics, and cultivated at a secret, off-campus site. It was later discovered that this 'secret site' was 70 miles away at R.A. Dudley Nurseries in Thomson, Georgia. During the Olympics, Nigeria and the United States would win the men's and women's football gold medals, respectively, at the hedge-less stadium. Once the Olympics were over, the newly-grown hedges were transplanted from Dudley Nursery to the stadium. Sanford Stadium told the United States Soccer Federation it would not be interested in holding a possible World Cup match if the US gets the nod.
Read more about this topic: Sanford Stadium
Famous quotes containing the word summer:
“Lancaster bore him such a little town,
Such a great man. It doesn’t see him often
Of late years, though he keeps the old homestead
And sends the children down there with their mother
To run wild in the summer a little wild.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)