Throwback Thursday ‘Reach’ by Gloria Estefan (1996)

The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic games are in full swing and it got me reminiscing about past Olympic theme songs. Some are obviously more memorable than others. For me, "Reach" by Gloria Estefan always sticks out in my brain! The only other Olympic theme song I can remember of the top of my head is Katy Perry's "Rise" for the 2016 Rio De Janeiro games.

"Reach" was one of two official Olympic songs for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The other official song was "The Power of the Dream" by Celine Dion. I don't remember that song at all.

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Gloria Estefan performed "Reach" at the Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta games.

The music video for "Reach" shows Gloria Estefan perched on top of some kind of structure with footage of various athletes being shown. And, there is a lot of reaching.

"Reach" was part of the official Atlanta 96 album called Rhythm of the Games. It was also on Gloria Estefan's seventh album, Destiny.

According to Wikipedia, "The song peaked within the Top 10 in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, and Spain. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 15. On the Eurochart Hot 100, 'Reach' reached number 47 in June 1996. Outside Europe, it peaked at number 23 in Australia and number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US. 'Reach' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the ceremony in 1997 but lost out to Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" also written by Diane Warren."

There is also a Spanish version of the song called "Puedes Llegar" which featured not only Gloria Estefan, but also Julio Iglesias, Placido Domingo, Jon Secada, Alejandro Fernandez, Roberto Carlos, Ricky Martin, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Patricia Sosa, and Carlos Vives.