Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; French: Jeux olympiques) are the world's biggest international sporting events. They have summer and winter sports where athletes from all over the world compete in many different athletic competitions. Both amateur and professional athletes can join. Over 200 teams take part, each from a different country or area.

The Olympics were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin started the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. This led to the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. The IOC guides the Olympic Movement, which includes everyone and everything involved in the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games are important worldwide. They help countries work together and share cultures. Hosting the Olympics can bring big changes to a city. It can help grow tourism and improve local areas. The Games let athletes become famous and give host cities a chance to show themselves to the world.

Ancient Olympics

Main article: Ancient Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games were special sports events held every four years at the temple of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. People competed in running, wrestling, and the pankration, as well as races with horses and chariots.

The first Olympic Games happened in 776 BC with just one race called the stadion. Later, more events were added like a pentathlon and boxing. Winners were celebrated with poems and statues, and they received a wreath of olive leaves. The Ancient Olympics stopped around 393 AD when Roman leaders ended them.

Modern Games

See also: List of Olympic Games host cities

Forerunners

People have used the term "Olympic" to describe sports events since the 1600s. The first event was the Cotswold Games or "Cotswold Olimpick Games", held every year near Chipping Campden, England. It started in 1612 and was organised by a lawyer named Robert Dover. The British Olympic Association mentioned these games when they bid for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

In France, a national Olympic festival called L'Olympiade de la République was held from 1796 to 1798. It included events from the ancient Greek Olympics. The 1796 Games also introduced the metric system into sports.

In 1834 and 1836, Olympic Games were held in Ramlösa, Sweden, and in Stockholm in 1843. They were organised by Gustaf Johan Schartau and others. Up to 25,000 people watched these Games.

In 1850, William Penny Brookes started an Olympian Class in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. In 1859, he changed the name to the Wenlock Olympian Games. This sports festival still happens today. The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded by Brookes in 1860.

Between 1862 and 1867, Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival. It was organised by John Hulley and Charles Pierre Melly. These games were the first to be for amateur athletes only. The first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 had almost the same events as the Liverpool Olympics.

Revival

People in Greece wanted to bring back the Olympic Games after their Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. A poet named Panagiotis Soutsos first suggested this in 1833. Evangelos Zappas, a wealthy man from Greece and Romania, offered to pay for the Games in 1856. He funded the first Olympic Games in 1859 in an Athens square. Athletes came from Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Zappas also paid to restore the ancient Panathenaic Stadium so it could host future Olympics.

The stadium hosted the Olympics in 1870 and 1875. In 1890, Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited the Wenlock Olympian Society and decided to create the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He wanted Olympics to happen every four years in different countries. In 1894, the IOC met in Paris and decided that the first IOC Olympics would be in Athens in 1896. The IOC chose a Greek writer, Demetrius Vikelas, as its first president.

1896 Games

Main article: 1896 Summer Olympics

The first IOC Olympics were in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in 1896. Athletes from 14 countries and 241 people competed in 43 events. Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas left money to help pay for future Olympics. George Averoff also helped pay to fix up the stadium. The Greek government paid for the Games too.

People in Greece and many athletes loved hosting the Olympics. The IOC planned to have different cities host the Games each time. The second Olympics was held in Paris.

Changes and adaptations

Main article: Summer Olympic Games

After the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics had some quiet years. The Games in Paris in 1900 and St. Louis in 1904 did not get much attention. The Games got bigger again with the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens. These Games had many participants and got a lot of interest, helping the Olympics grow.

Winter Games

Main article: Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympics was made for sports that need snow or ice, which cannot happen at the Summer Games. Figure skating and ice hockey were part of the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920. The IOC wanted to add more winter sports. In 1921, they decided to have a Winter Olympics. The first Winter Olympics happened in Chamonix, France, in 1924, along with the Paris Games. At first, the same country was to host both Winter and Summer Games every four years. But this changed after the 1992 Games in Albertville. Starting with the 1994 Games, Winter Olympics happen two years after Summer Olympics.

Paralympics

Main article: Paralympic Games

In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports event for soldiers after World War II. This event became an annual festival. In 1960, Guttmann brought 400 athletes to Rome to compete in the "Parallel Olympics", called the first Paralympics. Since then, the Paralympics have been held every Olympic year. Starting with the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, the same city hosts both the Olympics and the Paralympics. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee agreed in 2001 to make sure host cities manage both Games. This started with the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Youth Games

Main article: Youth Olympic Games

In 2010, the Olympic Games added the Youth Games for athletes aged 14 to 18. The first Summer Youth Games were in Singapore in 2010, and the first Winter Games were in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012. These Games are shorter than the regular Olympics. The Summer Youth Games last twelve days, and the Winter Youth Games last nine days.

21st-century Games

Over 14,000 athletes competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics. The Summer Olympics grew from 241 athletes in 1896 to more than 11,300 in 2020. Most athletes stay in the Olympic Village during the Games. This is a special place to live with food, health care, and places for different religions.

The IOC lets National Olympic Committees (NOCs) represent countries. This includes places that are not fully independent countries, like Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Hong Kong.

Cost of the Games

See also: Cost of the Olympic Games

Since 1960, the cost of the Summer Games has been about US$5.2 billion on average, and the Winter Games about $3.1 billion. These costs do not include building roads or airports, which can cost just as much. The most expensive Summer Games were Beijing 2008 at about US$40–44 billion, and the most expensive Winter Games were Sochi 2014 at over US$50 billion.

Sometimes, the cost to host the Games is more than planned. On average, the cost is 2.56 times the original budget. For example, Montreal 1976 cost 7.2 times more than planned.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics cost about US$13 billion. This was managed by careful planning and using existing facilities.

Economic and social impact on host cities and countries

Bob Barney helped start the International Centre for Olympic Studies in 1989 to study the effects of the Olympics. Some economists think the benefits of hosting the Olympics are not always clear, as the costs can be very high. However, hosting the Olympics can increase a country’s exports and help local charities.

The Olympics can also cause problems, like moving people from their homes. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi cost over US$50 billion and did not greatly help the Russian economy. Some cities have decided not to host the Olympics because of the high costs. For the 2024 Summer Olympics, Paris and Los Angeles were the only two cities that wanted to host, so the IOC chose both to host in 2024 and 2028.

International Olympic Committee

See also: International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the main group that runs the Olympic Games. It picks the city where the Games will happen, makes plans for the Games, adds new sports, and works with sponsors and TV broadcasts. The Olympic Movement has three important parts: International Federations, which control each sport around the world; National Olympic Committees, which handle the Olympics in each country; and Organising Committees, which plan each Olympic event.

In March 2025, Kirsty Coventry became the first woman and the first African to lead the IOC. She wants to help make the Olympics a place where everyone feels welcome and joined together through sports.

Commercialisation

The Olympic Games have included commercial activities since the very first 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Early sponsors included companies like Kodak, and later, Coca-Cola became a long-term partner. For many years, each country’s organizing committee handled its own sponsorship deals.

Later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began managing these partnerships directly. This shift started in the 1970s and continued under leader Juan Antonio Samaranch. The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles was a major turning point, as it earned a large surplus through exclusive sponsorships. The IOC then created The Olympic Programme (TOP) in 1985, allowing top companies to advertise globally using the Olympic symbol, the five interlocking rings.

Television has also played a big role in the Olympics’ growth. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin were the first to be shown on TV, and later games were broadcast worldwide. As TV viewership grew, the IOC sold broadcasting rights for increasingly large sums. For example, NBC paid large amounts to show the Games from 2000 to 2012, and later extended this to 2032. These TV deals became a major source of income for the Olympic movement.

Symbols

Main article: Olympic symbols

The Olympic Games use special symbols to show their ideals. The main symbol is the Olympic rings—five linked rings that stand for the unity of the world's continents: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. These rings appear on the Olympic flag, which has the rings in blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background. These colors were chosen because nearly every country uses at least one of them on its flag.

The Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius, means "Faster, Higher, Stronger." It reminds athletes to do their best, even if they don’t win. Before each Olympic Games, a flame is lit in ancient Greece and carried by a torch relay to the host city, where it burns during the opening ceremony. Each Games also has a mascot, like an animal or a special figure, representing the host country’s culture.

Ceremonies

The Olympic Games have special ceremonies that show the spirit of competition and unity. The opening ceremony happens on a Friday before the sports start. Important leaders come in, and the host country's flag and national anthem are shown. Athletes from each country march in, with Greece always first to honor where the Olympics began. The ceremony ends with the lighting of the Olympic flame by a final torch carrier, often a famous athlete from the host country.

The closing ceremony happens on a Sunday after all events are done. Athletes enter together without their flags, and the flags of the current host country, Greece, and the next host country are raised. Speeches close the Games, and the Olympic flame is put out. The last event's top three athletes receive their medals during this ceremony.

Sports

Main article: Olympic sports

The Olympic Games have 35 different sports. There are 30 special areas of competition and 408 events in total. For example, wrestling is a Summer Olympic sport with two types: Greco-Roman and Freestyle.

The Summer Olympics include 26 sports, while the Winter Olympics have 15 sports. Some sports, like athletics, swimming, fencing, and artistic gymnastics, have always been part of the Summer Olympics. Winter sports such as cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been in every Winter Olympics since they began.

Olympic sports are overseen by international groups known as international sports federations, which are recognized by the IOC. These federations help manage and develop their sports worldwide. Sometimes, new sports are added to the Olympic Games after being reviewed by these federations and the IOC. For example, golf and rugby sevens became Olympic sports for the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

The Olympics used to only allow amateur athletes, meaning those who did not get paid to play sports. Today, both amateur and professional athletes can compete in the Olympics.

Controversies

Main article: List of Olympic Games scandals and controversies

Boycotts

Main article: List of Olympic Games boycotts

Australia, France, Greece, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are the only countries to be represented at every Olympic Games since they began in 1896. Sometimes countries miss an Olympics because they do not have enough athletes, but some choose not to take part for different reasons. The Olympic Council of Ireland did not join the 1936 Berlin Games, because the IOC said its team could only represent the Irish Free State and not all of Ireland.

There were three boycotts of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics: the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland chose not to attend because of trouble in Hungary caused by the Soviet Union. Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted because of a disagreement called the Suez Crisis. The People's Republic of China did not join because the team from Taiwan was allowed.

In 1972 and 1976, many African countries said they would not join the Games unless South Africa and Rhodesia were not allowed, because of how they treated their people. New Zealand was also asked to not join because its rugby team had played in South Africa. The IOC agreed for the first two countries but not for New Zealand because rugby was not an Olympic sport. Twenty African countries, along with Guyana and Iraq, chose not to join the Montreal Games after some of their athletes had already competed.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) was not allowed to join the 1976 Games by the leader of Canada, Pierre Trudeau. This made many people upset. Athletes from Taiwan did not join again until the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when they joined under a different name and with a special flag.

In 1980 and 1984, countries from opposite sides of the Cold War did not join each other's Games. The United States and sixty-five other countries did not join the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union and 15 other nations did not join the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984. Romania, a country that usually followed the Soviet Union, chose to join the Los Angeles Games, and the United States welcomed their team. The countries that did not join staged their own event called the Friendship Games.

There were calls to not join the 2008 Olympics in Beijing because of worries about China's treatment of people and events in Tibet. No country chose to boycott. In 2014, Georgia asked for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, because of a conflict in South Ossetia. Some countries did not send government officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Politics

The Olympic Games have sometimes been used to show support for political ideas. When Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Games, they wanted to show they were peaceful, but they also showed ideas about Aryan superiority.^: 107  Germany won many medals, but this message was less strong because of good results by African American Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals.

Individual athletes have also used the Olympics to show support for their own ideas. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, two American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, made a gesture to show support for civil rights after winning medals. Another athlete from Australia, Peter Norman, showed support for them too. The leaders of the Olympics asked these athletes to leave, and they did.

Currently, the government of Iran tries to stop its athletes from competing against athletes from Israel.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC said that athletes from Russia and Belarus should not join the Olympics under their country’s name. In 2023, the IOC said that Russian and Belarusian athletes could join under certain conditions: they must not represent their country, and those who support the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine would not be allowed.

Use of performance-enhancing drugs

Main article: Doping at the Olympic Games

In the early 1900s, many Olympic athletes used drugs to become better athletes. In 1904, a gold medallist in the marathon was given a drug called strychnine by his coach. By the 1960s, sports groups began to ban these drugs, and in 1967, the IOC did the same.

In 2016, documents showed plans by the Soviet Union to use drugs to help their athletes in the 1984 Summer Olympics.

The first Olympic athlete to fail a drug test was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish athlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics. One of the most famous cases was after the 1988 Summer Olympics, where Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for a banned substance.

In 1999, the IOC created the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to help stop the use of performance-enhancing drugs. There were more positive drug tests at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics because testing got better.

Sex discrimination

Main article: Participation of women in the Olympics

Women were first allowed to compete in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, but in 1992, 35 countries still only sent men. This changed quickly. In 2000, Bahrain sent two women for the first time. In 2004, Afghanistan sent women for the first time. In 2008, the United Arab Emirates sent women for the first time.

By 2010, only three countries had never sent women: Brunei, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. In 2010, the IOC said it would "press" these countries to let women join. In 2012, every country included women for the first time.

In the summer Olympics, women can compete in all sports that men can. In the winter Olympics, women cannot compete in Nordic combined. The only remaining Olympic event where men cannot compete is rhythmic gymnastics.

War and terrorism

The world wars caused three Olympiads to not happen: the 1916 Games were cancelled because of World War I, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II.

Terrorism affected the Olympic Games in 1972. During the Summer Games in Munich, Germany, members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by a terrorist group. Two athletes were killed soon after, and the others were killed during a failed rescue attempt.

Terrorism affected Olympic Games held in the United States too. During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, a bomb was detonated at the Centennial Olympic Park, which hurt many people. The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City happened just after the September 11 attacks, so there was extra security.

Citizenship

The Olympic Charter says athletes must be a legal national of the country they compete for. If an athlete has two nationalities, they can choose which country to represent. But they must wait three years after competing for one country before switching to the other, unless special permission is granted.

In 2023 and 2024, the IOC let some athletes from Russia change their citizenship to other countries because of special circumstances. This included athletes like Georgi Tiblov and Aleksandr Komarov who competed for Serbia, and others who competed for Israel and France. Sometimes athletes change citizenship to get better training or sponsorship opportunities. This happened before the 2014 Winter Olympics when athletes like Ahn Hyun-soo and Vic Wild competed for Russia despite being born in other countries.

Champions and medallists

Further information: Lists of Olympic medallists and List of multiple Olympic gold medallists

In the Olympic Games, athletes or teams who finish in the top three places in each event receive medals. The first-place winner gets a gold medal, the second place a silver medal, and the third place a bronze medal. Over time, the materials for these medals have changed but they always contain a small amount of pure gold. In some sports where there is no final match to decide third place, both losing teams in the semi-finals receive bronze medals.

Originally, only the top two finishers received medals. Today, athletes who finish as high as eighth place receive Olympic diplomas, which are special certificates. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, winners also received olive wreaths as part of their celebration. Many people and media outlets watch to see how different nations perform in the Games.

Nations

Participants

Main articles: List of participating nations at the Summer Olympic Games and List of participating nations at the Winter Olympic Games

The Olympic Games bring athletes together from all over the world. By the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, athletes from 207 different countries had taken part in at least one Summer Olympics. Five countries—Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece, and Switzerland—have been in every Summer Olympics so far.

For the Winter Olympics, 119 different countries have joined in. Twelve countries—Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States—have been in every Winter Olympics held up to now.

Host nations and cities

Main article: List of Olympic Games host cities

See also: List of Olympic medals by host nation

Choosing a city to host the Olympics used to happen about seven or eight years before the Games. Now, the process starts earlier to give cities more time to get ready. Countries pick a city to apply. That city fills out forms and makes plans. Experts check these plans and visit the cities. Finally, members of the International Olympic Committee vote to choose the host city.

So far, 47 different cities in 23 countries have hosted the Olympics. In recent years, the Games have been in Asia and Oceania more often. The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro were the first to be held in South America. No African country has hosted the Olympics yet, though some have tried.