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
Vietnam at the Olympics its first medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney, when Trần Hiếu Ngân took home a silver in Taekwondo in the Women's -75 kg category. Vietnam would win its first gold medal at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, when shooter Hoàng Xuân Vinh was victorious in the Men's 10m air pistol event. Vietnam at the Olympics Vietnam first competed in the Olympic Games in 1952 as the State of Vietnam. After the Partition of Vietnam in 1954, only the Republic of Vietnam competed in the Games, sending athletes to every Summer Olympics between 1956 and 1972. Since the