The years were 1996 & 2008:

• A total of 197 nations were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.
• Kerri Strug of the U. S. women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot in a most memorable moment.
• Softball, beach volleyball and mountain biking debuted on the Olympic program, together with women's soccer and lightweight rowing.

And 2008:

• The Games saw 43 new world records and 132 new Olympic records set. A record 87 countries won medals during the Games. Chinese athletes won 51 gold medals altogether, the second largest number by a national team in a modern, non-boycotted Summer Games.
• U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps broke the records for most gold medals in one Olympics and for most career gold medals for an Olympian.

Meanwhile . . .

They were our Olympic moments, too.

The venues were Atlanta and Beijing. The audiences were worldwide. And Diebold’s performance was near flawless.

In 1996, while athletes from the United States, Russia, Germany, China, France, Italy, Australia, Cuba, Ukraine and South Korea pushed their nations into the top ten of medal-winners, our company showed its mettle, too.

We rolled out smart card technology in time for the 1996 Summer Olympics. That same year, we went big time in the National Football League (NFL), too, offering smart card systems there, as well. Both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers used the cards, driven by Diebold’s iq transaction processing software technology.

Smart cards store monetary values on computer chips embedded in the cards. Users can purchase the cards and use them to buy concessions from vendors equipped with card readers. The cards could be reloaded with new monetary amounts at terminals throughout the Jacksonville, Fla., stadium.

And, in 2008, while American and Chinese gymnasts dazzled the world, we took the Summer Olympics venue by storm, as well, introducing our newest Opteva® automated teller machines around key competition areas and facilities in both Beijing and Qingdao. The ATMs were readily distinguished, contained inside large, white-and-blue porcelain shells.

The ATMs provided operation prompts in three languages (Chinese, English and French) on the screens to allow athletes and spectators from around the world to access financial services while participating in or watching the Olympics.

Diebold also deployed service resources during the games to ensure the steady operation of our ATMs. The machines worked so well, however, our service associates jokingly complained of boredom.