SPORTS WATCH : Good Luck to Atlanta

The South shall rise again.

Indeed it has. Any lingering doubts were eliminated when the International Olympic Committee surprised almost everybody--except the confident citizens of Atlanta--and on Tuesday awarded the South’s most vibrant city the 1996 Summer Games.

The decision was a surprise not just because there was deep sentiment on the IOC to allow Greece to host the Games on the centennial anniversary of their revival in Athens in 1896, but also because another American city--which one was it again?--hosted the Summer Games just six years ago.

But Atlanta beat the odds. And we’re certain that it will be able to overcome all the other doubts, questions and criticisms that will surely emerge over the next few years. Whenever they do, Atlantans should remember Los Angeles’ experience with the Olympics.

It’s easy to forget, in the fond afterglow of those two wonderful weeks in the summer of 1984, how much we all fretted and worried about the Olympics and what they would do to life here.

In fact, when the IOC first approved Los Angeles’ 1978 bid, the City Council came within one vote of turning its back on the whole thing. The council didn’t, thankfully. Nor did the rest of the people of Los Angeles and its far-flung environs. And years later we are all better for the experience.

So congratulations, Atlanta. You’re off on a marathon race that will have many ups and downs. But the great reward will come when you reach the finish line and the whole world sees what you can do.