IOC salutes Atlanta Olympics...Sort Of -- July 18, 1997

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - Excellent and historic - but still not the best ever. To mark the 1 year anniversary of the opening of the Atlanta Olympics, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch sent a message of congratulations to organizers of the 1996 Olympic Games. Samaranch saluted the organizing committee, volunteers and spectators for "these excellent and historic games." Despite record crowds and television ratings, the IOC was unhappy over breakdowns in transportation and technology and the commercial excesses that troubled the Atlanta Games.