[1] The route covered 26,875 kilometers (16,699 mi) across the United States and featured a wide variety in the methods of transport used, including bicycles, boats, and trains.

Combining elements of these two past events would allow for a "celebration of Americana" that would visit significantly more towns and famous locations than the 1984 relay, done solely by runners, in almost exactly the same span of time.

[9] A preliminary route had been decided by early 1994, and organizer Rennie Truitt was tasked with driving its entire length that summer to choose specific roads and landmarks that would be visited.

[13] The route of the torch relay was announced on July 23, 1995, in a televised special on NBC hosted by Bob Costas and ACOG president Billy Payne.

It was the longest Olympic torch relay route that had been staged up to that time, covering a distance of 15,000 miles (24,000 km), visiting 42 of the 50 states, and lasting for 84 days.

[16] Over 800 people carried the torch a distance of 2,141 kilometers (1,330 mi) across Greece, the most extensive in the history of the Games, to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1896 Olympics in Athens.

A lantern containing the flame was loaded onto The Centennial Spirit, a specially painted Delta Air Lines McDonnell Douglas MD-11, at Athens' Ellinikon International Airport early on the morning of April 27.

[27] Notable torchbearers in San Diego County included Wheel of Fortune hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White in Oceanside[28] and 1936 Olympic athlete Kenny Griffin in Carlsbad.

[3]: 16 [31] The relay proceeded into Las Vegas, Nevada, where it was announced that the casinos would briefly dim their lights to create a more dramatic entrance for the torch, but did not ultimately do so.

[3]: 16 [31] From Las Vegas, the flame was again loaded onto a special Union Pacific train which brought it across California, with occasional stops to run through larger cities, until it reached San Jose.

[34] Dana Lough, a wheelchair-using torchbearer in Seattle, sustained a serious head injury when her chair was improperly secured on a shuttle bus transporting runners after the relay.

[36] The torch then passed through Idaho on its way to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics shortly before the route was announced.

Bart Conner and Nadia Comăneci, Olympic gymnasts who had recently married, carried the torch in Salt Lake City.

At Julesburg, the torch was picked up by riders of the National Pony Express Association, who carried it (along with a bag of commemorative letters addressed to patients at a children's hospital) on horseback to St. Joseph, Missouri.

The relay route, as initially announced, included a stop in Yale, Oklahoma, which organizers described as the "birthplace" of Jim Thorpe.

The relay organizers resisted these requests at first, saying that the route had already been carefully planned and could not be significantly altered,[42][43] but ultimately agreed to visit both Yale and Prague.

A 310,000 US gallons (1,200,000 L; 260,000 imp gal) gasoline spillage in Gramercy, Louisiana, forced the relay to skip the town and take an unexpected 15-mile (24 km) detour along Interstate 10.

Starting from the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the torch was intended to board the American Queen, the recently-built river steamboat which was the largest of its kind in history, to be transported up the Mississippi to Hannibal, Missouri, best known as the boyhood home of Mark Twain.

[51][52] The relay crossed Iowa and reached as far north as Minneapolis in its zig-zagging route, before making another rail journey southeastward across Wisconsin to Chicago, where it was estimated that over 500,000 spectators lined the streets.

However, the torch's passage was controversial among members of the Seneca Nation of New York, as the tribe had not been consulted about the event, and as some were displeased by the Olympics' association with the Atlanta Braves and their "tomahawk chop" ritual.

[61] In Washington, D.C., the torch was met on the steps of the U.S. Capitol by Georgia's congressional delegation, including Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

A helicopter carried it from there to Fort Pulaski National Monument, where it was placed on a replica of the schooner America and sailed into the city of Savannah.

A smaller vessel captained by Olympic sailor Hal Haenel brought it to the Waving Girl Landing along Savannah's River Street, handing the torch to his sailing partner Mark Reynolds.

[80][81] When the torch relay route was later announced, it avoided Cobb County entirely, thus excluding the northwestern suburbs of Atlanta, including Marietta and Mableton, from the event.

[82][83] Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Cobb County's congressional representative, said of the decision that "the homosexual demonstrators blackmailed the Olympic committee".

[84] At the time the resolution was passed, the torch relay was already underway and was scheduled for a major celebration and overnight stop in Greenville on June 25 and 26.

Four-time gold medal-winning discus thrower Al Oerter carried the torch to the stadium, passing it to Evander Holyfield.

Holyfield was then joined by Voula Patoulidou and the pair passed the flame to American swimmer Janet Evans, the penultimate torchbearer, who carried it around a lap of the track and up a long ramp leading towards the northern end of the stadium.

Ali, who had won boxing gold as an 18-year-old at the 1960 Games in Rome and later developed Parkinson's disease, lit a mechanical torch which then travelled along a wire, lighting the cauldron at the top of a 116-foot (35 m) tower.

Genevieve, Crystal City, Festus Iowa: Keokuk, Mount Pleasant (Iowa Wesleyan College), Iowa City (University of Iowa), Coralville, Cedar Rapids Minnesota: Austin Wisconsin: traveling by train, with stops in La Crosse (University of Wisconsin–La Crosse), Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, Watertown, and Milwaukee Illinois: traveling by train, with stops in Waukegan, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Winnetka, Evanston, and Chicago (Chicago and North Western Terminal, Sears Tower, Greektown, Magnificent Mile, Grant Park, Washington Park, University of Chicago) Indiana: Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, Gary (Indiana University Northwest) Kentucky: Louisville (Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory) Ohio: Cincinnati (Riverfront Stadium, Sawyer Point Park) Michigan: Dearborn Ohio: Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hope Memorial Bridge, Jacobs Field) Pennsylvania: Erie (Gannon University) New York: Fredonia, Highland-on-the-Lake, Wanakah, Blasdell, Lackawanna, Buffalo, Kenmore, Tonawanda, North Tonawanda, Wheatfield, Niagara Falls (Convention Center) Vermont: Bennington, Brattleboro New Hampshire: Keene, Nashua Massachusetts: Maynard, Marlborough, Hopkinton (Boston Marathon route), Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Boston (Kenmore Square, Faneuil Hall, Government Center, Massachusetts State House, Boston Common), Roxbury, Canton Rhode Island: Pawtucket, Providence (Rhode Island State House) Connecticut: Storrs (University of Connecticut), Manchester, East Hartford, Hartford (Old State House, Bushnell Park, Connecticut State Capitol), West Hartford, Farmington, New Britain, Meriden, Hamden, New Haven (New Haven Green) New York: Port Chester, Rye, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, New Rochelle, New York City (The Bronx, Central Park, Rockefeller Center) New Jersey: Jersey City (ferry landing at Exchange Place), Union City, Secaucus, Belleville, Montclair, Verona, West Orange, Livingston, Florham Park, Morristown, Princeton (gravesite of William Milligan Sloane[92] in Princeton Cemetery, Princeton University), Lawrenceville, Trenton (New Jersey State Capitol) Pennsylvania: Morrisville, Philadelphia (Rocky Steps, Philadelphia Museum of Art) Delaware: Wilmington (Rodney Square), Newark (University of Delaware) Maryland: Elkton, North East, Perryville, Havre de Grace, Aberdeen, Baltimore (Patterson Park, Johns Hopkins University, Federal Hill) Washington, D.C.: RFK Stadium, Lincoln Park, Supreme Court Building, United States Capitol, Gallaudet University, Howard University, Washington National Cathedral, American University, Mount Vernon College, Georgetown University Virginia: Arlington (Arlington National Cemetery), Marine Corps War Memorial Washington, D.C.: Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, White House Virginia: Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Woodbridge, Fredericksburg (Kenmore), Charlottesville (University of Virginia), Richmond (Virginia State Capitol, Tredegar Iron Works) North Carolina: Henderson, Wake Forest (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary), Raleigh (Peace College) South Carolina: Rock Hill, Ridgeway, Columbia (Benedict College, Allen University, University of South Carolina, South Carolina State Capitol), Union, Spartanburg, Greenville North Carolina: Flat Rock (Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site), Hendersonville, Asheville, Cherokee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Tennessee: Great Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, Knoxville (World's Fair Park) Alabama: Huntsville (Space Camp, U.S. Space & Rocket Center) Florida: Cottondale, Panama City, Panama City Beach Georgia: Fort Pulaski, sailing into Savannah (Forsyth Park) Tennessee: Copperhill, Ocoee Whitewater Center Georgia: Eton, Chatsworth, Dalton, New Echota Historic Site, Calhoun, Rome (Berry College), Cartersville, Rockmart, Cedartown, Buchanan, Bremen, Carrollton (West Georgia College), Franklin