Romania
Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games
1996 Proof Silver 100 Lei 36mm (27.60 grams) .925 Silver (0.8178 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 127
ROMANIA 100 LEI 1996, Romania's Coat of Arms, two laurel twigs below.
1996 GAMES ATLANTA U.S.A. XXVI OLYMIPAD, A swimmer in water right, the Olympic flame above. You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 The 1996 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, commonly known as Atlanta 1996, and also referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games, was an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The fourth Summer Olympics to be hosted by the United States, these Games marked the centennial of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens—the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games. This was the first Summer Olympics since 1924 to be held in a different year from a Winter Olympics, under a new IOC practice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. This is also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until 2028, when Los Angeles will host the games for the third time.
More than 10,000 athletes from 197 National Olympic Committees competed in 26 sports, including the Olympic debuts of beach volleyball, mountain biking, and softball, as well as the new disciplines of lightweight rowing, women's fencing, a team rhythmic gymnastics event, and women's association football. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 former Soviet republics participating for the first time as independent nations. With a total of 101 medals, the United States topped the medal table for the first time since 1984 (and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics), also winning the most gold (44) and silver (32) medals out of all the participating nations. Notable performances during the competition included those of: Andre Agassi, who became the first men's singles tennis player to combine an Olympic gold medal with a career Grand Slam (completed in 1999); Donovan Bailey, who set a new world record of 9.84 for the men's 100 metres; Lilia Podkopayeva, who became the second gymnast to win an individual event gold medal after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics, and the Magnificent Seven who dramatically won the first ever U.S. gold medal in the Women's artistic gymnastics team all-around. The festivities were marred by violence on July 27, when a pipe bomb was detonated at Centennial Olympic Park—a downtown park built to serve as a public focal point for the Games' festivities—killing two and injuring 111. Some years later, Eric Rudolph confessed to the bombing and a series of related terrorist attacks and was sentenced to life in prison. The Games turned a profit, helped by record revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, and a reliance on private funding, among other factors. There was some criticism of the apparent over-commercialization of the Games, and other issues were raised by European officials, such as the availability of food and transport. The event had a lasting impact on the city: Centennial Olympic Park led a revitalization of Atlanta's downtown area and has served as a symbol of the Games' legacy; the Olympic Village buildings have since been used as residential housing for area universities, and the Centennial Olympic Stadium has been re-developed twice since the Games—first as the Turner Field baseball stadium, and then as the Center Parc college football stadium. The 1996 Summer Olympics were succeeded by the 1996 Summer Paralympics which commenced on August 16, 1996.
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east. It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate. With a total area of 238,397 square kilometres (92,046 sq mi), Romania is the 12th largest country and also the 7th most populous member state of the European Union, having almost 20 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest and other major urban areas include Iași, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, and Constanța. The River Danube, Europe's second-longest river, rises in Germany's Black  Forest and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km (1,775 mi), coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romania's Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest, include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft). Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. During World War II, Romania was an Axis power and, consequently, an ally of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, fighting side by side with the Wehrmacht until 1944, when it joined the Allies and faced occupation by the Red Army's forces. Throughout wartime Romania had lost several territories, of which only Northern Transylvania was regained after the war. Following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a capitalist market economy. The sovereign state of Romania is a developing country and ranks 52nd in the Human Development Index. It has the world's 47th largest economy by nominal GDP and an annual economic growth rate of 7% (2017), the highest in the EU at the time. Following rapid economic growth in the early 2000s, Romania has an economy predominantly based on services, and is a producer and net exporter of machines and electric energy, featuring companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. It has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, part of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. An overwhelming majority of the population identifies themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are native speakers of Romanian, a Romance language.
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