Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics He was falsely accused in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. How it changed his life When a bomb exploded at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta 30 years ago, security guard Richard Jewell was named the primary suspect. His friend and attorney reflects on how that changed Jewell's life. StoryCorps Sharing And Preserving The Stories Of Our Lives Visit StoryCorps.org NPR LISTEN & FOLLOW NPR App Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music iHeart Radio YouTube Music RSS link Sign up for the [TITLE] Newsletter Get perks with [Podcast Title]+ Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed. LEARN MORE --> He was falsely accused in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. How it changed his life July 24, 20264:42 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Jasmyn Morris , Esther Honig He was falsely accused in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. How it changed his life Listen · 3:11 3:11 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5900837/nx-s1-9861385" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript When a bomb exploded at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta 30 years ago, security guard Richard Jewell was named the primary suspect. His friend and attorney reflects on how that changed Jewell's life. Sponsor Message Transcript
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's Friday and time for StoryCorps. Today, we remember the bombing at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta 30 years ago. It killed one person and wounded more than a hundred. Those numbers might've been higher if security guard Richard Jewell had not spotted a suspicious backpack, alerted authorities and started clearing the area before the bomb exploded. First, he was praised as a hero. Then Jewell was erroneously singled out as the FBI's prime suspect. His friend, attorney Watson Bryant, helped represent him. At StoryCorps, Watson told his wife how they met.
WATSON BRYANT: Richard was hired as the mail supply room clerk. His nickname became Radar because he would sort of anticipate what people needed. I'd find a Snickers bar on my desk, and then there would be a can of cold Diet Coke behind my chair. He just liked helping people. And about eight years later, he got his dream job at the Olympics.
NADYA BRYANT: When was the first you learned that FBI might have him as a primary suspect?
W BRYANT: I remember newsboys hocking newspapers with the headline "FBI Suspects Hero Guard May Have Planted Bomb (ph)." They all believed he was the one that did it because, you know, he lives with his mother, so that makes him weird.
N BRYANT: I was sure that he was innocent, but it was every newspaper, every news...
W BRYANT: News show.
N BRYANT: ...On the TV.
W BRYANT: Cameras trained on all their windows. It was a mob for a couple of months until he was no longer a target of their investigation. And then Richard gave his statement.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICHARD JEWELL: While the government can tell you that I am an innocent man, the government's letter cannot give me back my good name or my reputation.
W BRYANT: The most devastating thing for him was its effect on his mother.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEWELL: For 88 days, my mother lived a nightmare too. Mom, thanks for standing by me and (crying) believing in me. I love you.
W BRYANT: I don't know that you can ever overcome the stress associated with being the No. 1 villain on Earth. I think the immense pressure had a direct effect on his health. He died of a heart attack. He was 44 years old, and he lived his whole life with some people thinking he got away with something, even though he was the hero.
N BRYANT: Except he never thought of himself as that.
W BRYANT: And the thing that haunted him always...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEWELL: Could I have stopped it earlier?
W BRYANT: I think Richard would like to be remembered the way that I remember him, a good man that always tried his best to do the right thing. That's what I think.
(SOUNDBITE OF LASSE AAGAARD'S "LIGHTS FROM ABOVE")
MARTIN: Watson and Nadya Bryant remembering Richard Jewell. Their interview is archived at the Library of Congress. In 2005, Eric Robert Rudolph was convicted of the 1996 bombing in Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park.
(SOUNDBITE OF LASSE AAGAARD'S "LIGHT FROM ABOVE") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{310:function(e,n,o){o.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([o.e(1),o.e(2),o.e(3),o.e(4),o.e(80)]).then((e=>{o(15),o(769),o(155),o(176),o(93),o(447),o(254),o(128),o(130),o(754),o(175),o(755),o(255),o(78),o(773)}).bind(null,o)).catch(o.oe)},782:function(e,n,o){e.exports=o(310)}},[[782,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();