Centennial Olympic Park bombing

The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia on July 27 during the 1996 Summer Olympics. The blast claimed 1 life and injured 111 people, while another person died of a heart attack.

It was the first of four bombings committed by Eric Robert Rudolph. Security guard Richard Jewell discovered the bomb before detonation and cleared most of the spectators out of the park.

Rudolph, a carpenter and handyman, had detonated three pipe bombs inside an ALICE Pack. Motivated by "abortion on demand," Rudolph wanted to force the cancellation of the Olympics.

After the bombings, Jewell was implicated as a suspect by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The news media focused aggressively on him as the presumed culprit. However, in October 1996, Jewell was cleared of all charges. Following three more bombings in 1997, Rudolph was identified by the FBI as the suspect.

In 2003, Rudolph was arrested and tried before being convicted two years later. Rudolph was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his crimes.