The other candidate cities were Athens (Greece), Toronto (Canada), Melbourne (Australia), Manchester (United Kingdom) and Belgrade (Yugoslavia).

[4][5] Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxas demanded that it be named as the site of the Olympics because of its "historical right due to its history," which may have caused resentment among delegates.

[4] The Athens bid was described as "arrogant and poorly prepared", being regarded as "not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza" of the current Games.

Athens faced numerous obstacles, including "political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about $3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities.

[9] A year later, an article appeared in the German periodical Der Spiegel accusing the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) of bribing IOC members with up to $120,000 in cash, gold credit cards and college scholarships for their children.

[14] People had gathered throughout the city hoping for a 21-gun salute to kick off the celebrations and upon hearing the announcement, reacted with shock, anger, and dismay.