``I'm thrilled,'' said Robinson, who lives in Augusta and works at Fort Gordon. ``This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Words can not express what it means to me to be able to represent the U.S. at the '96 Olympics.''

Robinson, who is in Atlanta for the Atlanta Boxing Classic at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum, was informed of the good news at lunch on Friday by Paul Konnor , vice president of the International Federation of Boxing (AIBA).

Under the rules, the host country is only allowed three referee/judges for the Olympics, but the U.S. set a precedent at the '84 games in Los Angeles with four officials.

Each host country since has had four, but Konnor and USA Boxing president Jerry Dusenberry have had to lobby to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for most of the past year to have Robinson included.

A vote was taken at a meeting of the AIBA's executive committee on Thursday morning and Robinson was unanimously allowed to participate in this summer's Games. His credentials have been approved by Billy Payne, president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), and AIBA president Anwar Chowdhry, and are on the way to IOC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

``We've had a great deal of meetings trying to decide this thing,'' Konnor said. ``This has been a desperate battle to have four (referees). I'm glad for U.S. boxing and Al that the IOC allowed him to participate.''

Robinson, 52, was originally selected as one of the U.S. officials in '93, and after going through the required training and seminars was told about eight months ago that he would be a reserve.