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
Canoeing at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's C-2 500 metres to the final. The final was held on August 4. Juravschi, in his third Summer Olympics with his third different country, convinced his old partner Reneysky, who he won gold with in this event at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in 1994 to compete with him. The pair lost to the gold-medal winning Hungarians in a photo-finish by less than two centimeters (0.75 inches). Prior to that Reneysky was a coach for Belarus Canoeing at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's C-2 500 metres The men's C-2 500 metres event was an open-style, pairs canoeing event conducted as part of the