Atlanta Businessman Donates $1.5 Million

The shopping list of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games has gotten a little shorter, and as a result some lines in the city in July and August will be a little shorter too.

When J.B. Fuqua, an Atlanta businessman, queried the ACOG about what was needed to make visitors comfortable in the heat this summer, he was told that about $2 million would help. Fuqua offered $1.5 million for portable toilets, water stations and shade structures at Olympic venues.

“It is a remarkable gift,” said A.D. Frazier, ACOG’s chief operating officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and one of the persons responsible for raising the last $160 million needed to meet the organization’s $1.7 billion budget.

It’s all a matter of Southern hospitality and, perhaps, necessity.

“There are some things that I consider essential that they haven’t been able to finance,” Fuqua said Friday. “We are going to have all kinds of people here, and we want to leave them with a good impression. If we had no public facilities, it would not only be a great inconvenience, but it would have made a bad impression.”

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The International Weightlifting Federation has granted the United States two additional athletes in the upcoming Olympics, with the possibility of at least one more being added before the Atlanta Games begin. The extra berths will give the United States at least five weightlifters and were granted because it is the host country.

On the team are super heavyweight Mark Henry of Silsbee, Texas, (238-plus pounds); Wes Barnett of St. Joseph, Mo. (238 pounds) and Tim McRae of Daytona Beach, Fla. (154 1/4 pounds).

The U.S. Weightlifting Federation has submitted Bryan Jacob of Alpharetta, Ga. (130 pounds) and Konstantine Starikovitch of White Plains, N.Y. (238 pounds) to the U.S. Olympic Committee International Games Preparation Division for the additional slots.

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Defending national champion Jessica Davis of San Anselmo, Calif., rolled through the preliminaries at the U.S. Rhythmic Gymnastics National Championships, posting the top score in each of the four individual events in Athens, Ga. Davis, 18, scored a 37.432 in the all-around competition. Rhythmic gymnastics makes its debut as an Olympic medal event this summer.