Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; French: Jeux olympiques) are a series of international multi-sport events. They are considered among the biggest sporting events in the world. The Olympics are organised into separate Summer and Winter Games, each featuring different sports. The Games are open to both amateur and professional athletes. Thousands of athletes and more than 200 teams take part, with each team representing a sovereign state or territory. The Games often, but not always, take the place of world championships held that year. The Summer and Winter Olympics are each held every four years, and they take place two years apart within the four-year Olympiad. This arrangement has been in place since the 1994 Winter Olympics. Before that, the Summer and Winter Games were held in the same year.

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 founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, which led to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896 Summer Olympics. The IOC governs the Olympic Movement, which includes all entities and individuals involved in the Games. The Olympic Charter sets out their structure and authority.

Over the 20th and 21st centuries, the Olympic Movement has changed the Games in many ways. New additions include the Winter Games for snow and ice sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities, and the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18. There are also five Continental Games (Pan American, African, Asian, European, and Pacific), and the World Games for sports that are not contested at the Olympics. The IOC also endorses the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics. Over time, the IOC has adapted to economic, political, and technological changes. Abuse of amateur rules led it to move away from pure amateurism, as Coubertin had envisioned, and to accept professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media has also brought corporate sponsorship and commercialisation to the Games.

Wars and political conflicts have also affected the Games. World Wars I and II led to the cancellation of the 1916 Summer Olympics, 1940 Summer Olympics, and 1944 Summer Olympics. Large-scale boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics. The 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19 restrictions. The IOC chooses the host city for each Games, and organises and funds them. Over 14,000 athletes competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics combined, in 40 different sports and 448 events. The first-, second-, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals: gold, silver, and bronze.

Since the 1996 Summer Olympics, nearly every nation has been represented, and colonies and overseas territories are often allowed to field their own teams. This growth has created challenges and controversies, including boycotts, doping, match fixing, bribery, and terrorism. Every two years, the Olympics give athletes the chance to become famous across their country and around the world. The Games also give the host city and country a chance to show themselves to the world. Hosting the Olympics can bring significant economic benefits, but it can also bring challenges to the host city, affecting infrastructure, tourism, and local communities.

Ancient Olympics

Main article: Ancient Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games (Ancient Greek: τὰ Ὀλύμπια, ta Olympia) were religious and sports festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. The date was set by a complicated formula, so the middle of the festival fell during the second full moon after the summer solstice, usually in late August or early September. At first, only "legitimate sons of free-born Greek parents" could compete. After Macedonia and then Rome conquered Greece, anyone who spoke Greek was allowed to take part. Tens of thousands of people made the difficult journey, and some sources say as many as 40,000 attended. The Games featured mainly athletic events, along with combat sports such as wrestling and the pankration, and horse and chariot racing. Many people have written that all wars between city-states stopped during the Games, but this is a modern myth. The Greeks never stopped fighting. The truce only let travellers pass safely to Olympia, because they were protected by Zeus.

The origin of the Olympics is mysterious and full of legend. One popular myth says that Heracles and his father Zeus started the Games. According to legend, Heracles built the Olympic Stadium to honour Zeus after finishing his twelve labours. The most widely accepted start date is 776 BC, based on inscriptions at Olympia that list the winners of a footrace held every four years from that year. For the first thirteen Olympics, the stadion footrace was the only event, and the next Olympiad was named after its winner. Later, the Games added running events, the discus and javelin throws, boxing, wrestling, pankration, and equestrian events. Tradition says that Coroebus, a cook from Elis, was the first Olympic champion. The Games were very important in religion, and their events were held alongside ceremonies honouring Zeus and Pelops. The Games were part of the Panhellenic Games, which also included the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, and the Isthmian Games. The Olympics reached their greatest success in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but declined as the Romans gained power in Greece. The most commonly held end date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I ordered that all pagan cults and practices be eliminated, and in 426 AD his successor, Theodosius II, ordered the destruction of all Greek temples.

Modern Games

See also: List of Olympic Games host cities

Events called "Olympic" were held in England and other places from the 1600s onward. The first was the Cotswold Games, organised by the lawyer Robert Dover. In 1796 to 1798, France held a national Olympic festival that copied some events from the ancient Greek Olympics. In the 1800s, several more Olympic-style games took place in Sweden, England, and Athens. Greek interest in reviving the Olympics began after the Greek War of Independence. In 1859, Evangelos Zappas sponsored an early Olympic Games in Athens.

In 1890, Baron Pierre de Coubertin wanted to promote peace and friendship through sports. This led to the founding of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The first Games under the IOC were held in Athens in 1896. They had 14 nations and 241 athletes, who competed in 43 events. Main article: 1896 Summer Olympics

The Olympics faced some difficult years after 1896, but they grew again after the 1906 Intercalated Games. Main article: Summer Olympic Games

The Winter Olympics began in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Main article: Winter Olympic Games

In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports event for soldiers recovering from World War II. Over time, this grew into the Paralympics, which are held in every Olympic year. Main article: Paralympic Games

In 2010, the Youth Games were added for athletes aged 14 to 18. Main article: Youth Olympic Games

Today, the Olympics are very large. More than 14,000 athletes competed at the 2020 Summer and 2022 Winter Olympics combined. The 2024 Summer Olympics were the first to have equal numbers of male and female athletes. Hosting the Games is very expensive, and costs often go over budget. See also: Cost of the Olympic Games

See also: International Olympic Committee

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the umbrella organisation of the Olympic Movement, which includes sports groups, athletes, and others who follow the Olympic Charter. The IOC chooses the host city, oversees planning for the Olympic Games, approves the Olympic sports programme, and negotiates sponsorship and broadcasting rights. The Movement includes International Federations (IFs), which are governing bodies for each sport at the international level, such as FIFA for association football and the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball for volleyball. It also includes National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which work within each country, such as the Hellenic Olympic Committee in Greece. Temporary committees organise each Games and close after they deliver their final report to the IOC. In March 2025, Kirsty Coventry became the first woman and the first African to be elected President of the IOC. Her plans include strengthening partnerships with BRICS nations.

The IOC has often been accused of being hard to change, and the presidencies of Avery Brundage and Juan Antonio Samaranch were especially controversial. Brundage fought for amateur athletes and against the commercialisation of the Games, and he was accused of antisemitism and of racism for resisting the exclusion of South Africa. Under Samaranch, the office was accused of nepotism and corruption, and his ties with the Franco regime in Spain were also criticised. In 1998, it was reported that several IOC members had taken gifts from members of the Salt Lake City bid committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Four investigations followed, by the IOC, the United States Olympic Committee, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, and the United States Department of Justice. Ten IOC members were expelled and ten more were sanctioned, and stricter rules were adopted for future bids. In 1999, it was reported that the Nagano Olympic bid committee had spent about $14 million entertaining IOC members. In 2004, a BBC documentary, Panorama: Buying the Games, reported on bribes allegedly used in the bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympics. After narrowly losing that bid, Bertrand Delanoë accused Tony Blair and the London bid committee, led by Sebastian Coe, of breaking the bid rules, but the claim was never fully explored.

Commercialisation

The Olympic Games have been commercialised to various degrees since the first 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, when companies such as Kodak paid for advertising. In 1908, Oxo, Odol mouthwash, and Indian Foot Powder became official sponsors of the London Olympic Games. Coca-Cola first sponsored the Summer Olympics in 1928 and has stayed an Olympic sponsor ever since. The IOC at first resisted corporate funding. Its president Avery Brundage turned down attempts to link the Olympics with business. After he retired in 1972, the IOC began to explore television and advertising, and under Juan Antonio Samaranch the Games moved toward international sponsors. The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, led by Peter Ueberroth, produced a surplus of US$225 million, an unprecedented amount at the time. Samaranch then helped set up The Olympic Programme (TOP) in 1985, which gave members exclusive advertising rights and use of the five interlocking rings.

The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin were the first Games shown on television, but only to local audiences. The 1956 Winter Olympics in Italy were the first shown internationally. Broadcast rights became a major source of money for the IOC. CBS paid US$375 million for American rights to the 1998 Nagano Games, and NBC later spent US$3.5 billion on American rights to the Games from 2000 to 2012. In 2025, Comcast agreed to pay the IOC $3 billion to air the Olympics through 2036, following strong ratings for the 2024 Paris Olympics and a boost for Peacock. The deal covers the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the 2030 French Alps Winter Olympics, the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, the 2034 Utah Winter Olympics, and the 2036 Olympic Games. Viewers grew greatly from the 1960s, helped by satellites and colour television. The audience for the 1968 Mexico City Games was estimated at 600 million, and it reached 3.5 billion by the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Because broadcasters paid so much, the IOC has allowed NBC to influence scheduling, such as airing swimming finals in the morning in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which matched prime time in the United States.

Selling the Olympic brand has been controversial. Some people argue that the Games have become like any other commercial sporting event, and that host cities and governments pay the costs while the IOC keeps the rights and profits.

Symbols

Main article: Olympic symbols

The main emblem of the Games is the Olympic rings, five linked rings that stand for the unity of the five inhabited continents: Africa, the Americas (seen as one continent), Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The rings are blue, yellow, black, green, and red, and they appear on a white background to form the Olympic flag. These colours were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914 but first flown at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, and it has been raised at every Games since. The IOC controls the use of Olympic symbols through the Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol. The Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius, is a Latin phrase meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger." Pierre de Coubertin proposed it in 1894, and it has been official since 1924. The motto was first coined by his friend, the Dominican priest Henri Didon, for a Paris youth gathering in 1891.

Coubertin's ideals are expressed in the Olympic creed, which says that the most important thing is not to win but to take part. Before each Games, the Olympic flame is lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia in a ceremony based on ancient Greek rituals. A priestess and ten Vestal Virgins light a torch using a parabolic mirror, which focuses the sun's rays. The flame then travels by torch relay to the host city's stadium, where it plays a role in the opening ceremony. The flame has been an Olympic symbol since the 1928 Summer Olympics, but the torch relay was only introduced at the 1936 Summer Games to promote the Third Reich. The Olympic mascot, often an animal or a human-like anthropomorphic figure, represents the host country's culture. It became especially well known at the 1980 Summer Olympics, when the Soviet bear cub Misha became famous worldwide. The London Summer Olympics mascot, Wenlock, was named after Much Wenlock in Shropshire. The mascot for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is an anthropomorphic Phrygian cap, based on the one Marianne wore during the French Revolution.

Ceremonies

The opening ceremony, which the Olympic Charter requires, is held on a Friday before most sporting events begin. Most of its traditions started at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The host country's flag and national anthem are presented, followed by music, singing, dance, and theatre that show the host's culture. Each host tries to make its show more memorable than the last, and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games reportedly cost $100 million. Then the athletes march in by nation. Greece usually enters first to honour the origins of the Olympics, and the host country enters last. Speeches open the Games, and the Olympic torch is passed along until a final torch carrier, often a successful athlete from the host nation, lights the Olympic flame in the stadium's cauldron.

The closing ceremony is held on a Sunday, after all sporting events have finished. Athletes enter together without any national distinction. Three flags are raised while their national anthems play: the host country's flag, Greece's flag, and the flag of the country hosting the next Games. After the closing speeches, the Games are officially closed and the Olympic flame is put out. In the Antwerp Ceremony, the mayor of the host city passes a special Olympic flag to the IOC president, who gives it to the mayor of the next host city. The last medal presentation of the Games also takes place during the closing ceremony. After each event, the winner and the second- and third-place finishers stand on a three-tiered rostrum to receive their medals from an IOC member, and the flags of the three medallists are raised while the gold medallist's national anthem plays. This practice began at the 1932 Winter Olympics, using pedestals from the 1930 British Empire Games, as proposed by Melville Marks Robinson.

Sports

Main article: Olympic sports

The Olympic Games programme has 35 sports, 30 disciplines, and 408 events. For example, wrestling is a Summer Olympic sport with two disciplines, Greco-Roman and Freestyle. The Summer Games include 26 sports, and the Winter Games include 15. Athletics, swimming, fencing, and artistic gymnastics have been part of every Summer programme. Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been part of every Winter programme since (/wiki/1924_Winter_Olympics). Some sports, such as badminton, basketball, and volleyball, first appeared as demonstration sports before becoming full Olympic sports. Some sports from earlier Games were later dropped.

Olympic sports are run by international sports federations. Some sports recognised by the IOC are not in the Olympic programme, but they can be added during a review that takes place after each Games. Sports can be added or removed by a two-thirds vote of IOC members. In 2009, golf and rugby sevens were added for the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Earlier, squash and karate were finalists for 2012 but did not get the required vote. In 2005, at the 117th IOC Session, baseball and softball were removed from the 2012 London Games, so that programme had 26 sports. The 2016 and 2020 Games returned to 28 sports.

Amateurism and professionalism

Further information: Amateur sports

Controversies

Main article: List of Olympic Games scandals and controversies

Main article: List of Olympic Games boycotts

Some countries have chosen to boycott the Games, meaning they refuse to take part, for political reasons. The Olympic Council of Ireland withdrew from the 1936 Berlin Games, and in 1980 the United States and sixty-five other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Athletes have also used the Games to share their own political views. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, two American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, performed the Black Power salute on the victory stand. Their protest led to them being sent out of the Games.

Main article: Doping at the Olympic Games

Athletes have also been caught using performance-enhancing drugs. The first Olympic athlete to test positive was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Since 1999, the World Anti-Doping Agency has worked to research and detect these drugs. In 2019, Russia was banned for four years from major sporting events for systematic doping, and the ban was later reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Further information: Doping in Russia, McLaren Report, Russia at the 2012 Summer Olympics § Russian doping scandal, Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and Oswald Commission

Main article: Participation of women in the Olympics

Women were first allowed to compete at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. By 2012, every country taking part had sent female athletes for the first time in Olympic history. The Games have also been affected by world wars, which caused some Olympics to be cancelled. In 1972, members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the Palestinian group Black September during the Munich massacre. Two American cities hosted Games affected by terrorism: a bomb exploded at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City had a higher level of security than ever before after the September 11 attacks.

Citizenship

The Olympic Charter requires an athlete to be a legal national of the country they compete for. Dual nationals may compete for either country, but only if three years have passed since they last competed for the former country. The IOC executive board can shorten or cancel this wait if the NOCs and IF involved agree. The wait applies only to athletes who used to compete for one nation and now want to compete for another. Athletes who gain a new or second nationality do not have to wait before competing for it. The IOC only deals with citizenship and nationality after individual nations have granted citizenship to athletes.

In October 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee for adding the four annexed Ukrainian regions to its charter. The CAS upheld the suspension in February 2024. Without an NOC from Russia to approve a change of citizenship, the IOC executive board approved nationality changes for five athletes from Russia to other countries in November 2023 and March 2024. These included Georgi Tiblov and Aleksandr Komarov in wrestling (to Serbia), Mikhail Yakovlev in cycling (to Israel), Valeriia Liubimova in cycling, and Anastasiia Kirpichnikova in swimming (both to France). Sometimes athletes become citizens of another country so they can compete in the Olympics, often because of sponsorship deals or training facilities there, or because they could not qualify in their birth country. Before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Russian Olympic Committee gave citizenship to South Korean-born speed skater Ahn Hyun-soo and American-born snowboarder Vic Wild. Together, the two athletes won five gold medals and one bronze medal at the 2014 Games.

Champions and medallists

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

Medals go to the athletes or teams who finish first, second, and third in each event. Winners receive gold medals. Gold medals were solid gold until 1912, later were made of gilded silver, and now are gold-plated silver. Every gold medal must contain at least six grams of pure gold. Runners-up receive silver medals, and third-place finishers receive bronze medals. In events held as a single-elimination tournament, such as boxing, third place might not be decided. Instead, the losers of both semi-finals each receive a bronze medal.

At the 1896 Olympics, only the winner and runner-up of each event received medals. The winner got silver and the runner-up got bronze, and no gold medals were given. The current three-medal format began at the 1904 Olympics. From 1948, athletes who finished fourth, fifth, and sixth received certificates, which became known officially as Olympic diplomas. From 1984, seventh- and eighth-place finishers also received them. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners were also given olive wreaths. The IOC does not keep statistics on medals won by each country, except for team sports. However, national Olympic committees and the media do record these medal statistics and use them to measure each nation's success.

Nations

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

As of the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, all of the current 207 NOCs (and 19 obsolete NOCs) have taken part in at least one Summer Olympics. Athletes from five nations, Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece, and Switzerland, have competed in all 28 Summer Olympics. Athletes competing under the Olympic flag, Mixed Teams, and the Refugee Team have competed at six Summer Games. A total of 119 NOCs have taken part in at least one Winter Olympics. Twelve nations, including Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, have taken part in all 23 Winter Games so far.

Main article: List of Olympic Games host cities

See also: List of Olympic medals by host nation

A host city has usually been chosen seven to eight years before the Games. Since the 2024 and 2028 selection process began in 2017, the IOC has announced the winning bid earlier, giving cities more time to prepare. Cities first apply to their country's National Olympic Committee, and only one city per country can be put forward to the IOC. The IOC then checks each applicant's plans and picks the strongest ones to continue. These cities send more detailed plans, and an evaluation group studies them and visits the cities. The IOC members then vote on the host city. By 2032, the Olympic Games will have been held in 47 cities in 23 countries. Since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, the Games have been held in Asia or Oceania four times, which is a big change from the 92 years before. The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro were the first in South America. No African country has won a bid yet, although Egypt has tried three times and South Africa tried in 2004.