1996 Summer Olympics Basil Poledouris. Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic cauldron and later received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the 1960 Summer Olympics. For the torch ceremony, more than 10,000 Olympic torches were manufactured by the American Meter Company and electroplated by Erie Plating Company. Each torch weighed about and was made primarily of aluminum, with a Georgia pecan wood handle and gold ornamentation. The 1996 Summer Olympic programme featured 271 events in 26 sports. Softball, beach volleyball and mountain biking debuted on the Olympic program, together with women's football and lightweight rowing. In women's gymnastics, Lilia Podkopayeva became
Long Service Medal, Gold Medal, Gold remained unchanged, as it was in April 1996, when a new set of honours was instituted on 27 April 2003. The Long Service Medal, Gold is silver-gilt medallion, 38 millimetres in diameter, depicting the . The suspender is in the form of a pair of crossed elephant tusks and is different on the full size and miniature medals. On the full-size medal, depicted at the top, the ends of the tusks reach to approximately the ten-thirty and one-thirty clock positions on the medallion, while on the miniature medal, as depicted alongside, they reach to approximately the nine-thirty and