Backstage at the Olympics

AFSCME Local 1644 members worked behind the scenes keeping the water safe and the city clean.

Atlanta, Geogia

While the world watched the pageantry and competition unfold at the 1996 Olympic Games, AFSCME Local 1644 members could not. They were working around the clock, in Centennial Park and throughout the city, to ensure the safety and health of some 600,000 Olympic Games athletes, volunteers and guests.

Temperatures hovered in the 90s as Water Department workers, including brothers Edgar and Eddie Roberts, helped to install some 25 temporary water fountains and pipestands in or near the park.

"We had one month's notice that due to the expected heat wave additional drinking water apparatus was needed," said Edgar Roberts, a water meter mechanic who coordinated the seven-member team. "We worked seven days a week, on 12-hour shifts, to get the job done," he said.

"Although it was tedious, we didn't mind at all," said Eddie Roberts, also a water meter mechanic. "We felt proud to be behind-the-scenes participants in the Olympics," he said. "We knew the whole world would be watching. We wanted the Olympics to be a success. And it was."

In the games areas and throughout the city, some 550 Public Works employees like Craig Ingram picked up solid waste, working in shifts around the clock.

Public Works Supervisor Orzy Theus said the employees "did an excellent job. We've received many accolades about how everything ran smoothly and how the city was clean and beautiful."

"Working at the Olympics was the opportunity of a lifetime," said Ingram. "It would have been great if we'd had the time to sit at home watching the show, but to me it was like making a movie and we were the extras."