The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, are a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the Kingdom of Greece, and the most recent was held in 2024 in Paris, France. This was the first international multi-sport event of its kind, organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded by Pierre de Coubertin. The tradition of awarding medals began in 1904; in each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals for second place, and bronze medals for third place. The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympic Games, which are regarded as the largest and most prestigious multi-sport international event in the world.
The Summer Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition programme in 1896 with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations, to 339 events in 2021 (2020 Summer Olympics) with 11,319 competitors (almost half of whom were women) from 206 nations. The Games have been held in nineteen countries over five continents: four times in the United States (1904, 1932, 1984, and 1996), three times in Great Britain (1908, 1948, and 2012) and in France (1900, 1924, and 2024), twice each in Greece (1896 and 2004), Germany (1936 and 1972), Australia (1956 and 2000), and Japan (1964 and 2020), and once each in Sweden (1912), Belgium (1920), the Netherlands (1928), Finland (1952), Italy (1960), Mexico (1968), Canada (1976), Soviet Union (1980), South Korea (1988), Spain (1992), China (2008), and Brazil (2016).
London and Paris have hosted three times, while Los Angeles, Athens, and Tokyo have each hosted twice; Los Angeles will host the Games for the third time in 2028. Only three countries have won at least one medal in every Summer Olympic Games: Australia, France and Great Britain. Only Great Britain has won at least a gold medal in every edition. The United States leads the all-time medal count for the Summer Olympics and has topped the medal table on 19 separate occasions, followed by the USSR (seven times, including the 1992 'Unified Team'), and France, Great Britain, Germany and China (once each).
Hosting
The United States has hosted the Summer Olympic Games four times: the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri; the 1932 and 1984 Games in Los Angeles, California, and the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2028 Games in Los Angeles will mark the fifth occasion on which the Summer Olympics have been hosted by the U.S.
In 1924, Paris became the first city to host the Summer Olympics twice, while in 2012, London became the first to host three times. Paris hosted for the third time in 2024, while Los Angeles will do so in 2028. Tokyo (1964 and 2020) and Athens (1896 and 2004, excluding 1906) have each hosted two Summer Olympic Games.
Australia, Germany, Greece and Japan have all hosted the Summer Olympics twice (with Australia hosting for the third time in 2032). Tokyo was the first city outside the predominantly English-speaking and European nations to have hosted twice; it is also the largest city ever to have hosted, having grown considerably since 1964. The other countries to have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Soviet Union, Spain, and Sweden, with each of these countries having hosted on one occasion.
Asia has hosted four times: in Tokyo (1964 and 2020), Seoul (1988), and Beijing (2008).
The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first that was held completely during the local "winter" season. The only two countries in the Southern Hemisphere to have hosted have been Australia (1956, 2000, and again in 2032) and Brazil (2016), with Africa having yet to host any Summer Olympics.
Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympics, having been the sole host of the 1912 Games while hosting the equestrian events for the 1956 Summer Olympics (which quarantine regulations prevented from being held in Melbourne, Australia). Amsterdam, Netherlands, has also hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having been the sole host of the 1928 Games while hosting two of the sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Hong Kong provided the venues for the equestrian events, which took place in Sha Tin and Kwu Tung.
Hosting the Games requires and accelerates large investments in city infrastructure. The Games now play a key role in city leaders' plans to strengthen their cities' global integration and economic competitiveness.
History Early years
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894 when Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. The first edition of The Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896 and attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organised before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying, "If the committee doesn't let me compete, I will go after them regardless". Women first participated officially in the 1900 Paris Games, with 22 women competing in five sports. Female participation has increased dramatically since then, with nearly half of the athletes in recent Games being women.
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the modern era. About 100,000 people attended for the opening of the games. The athletes came from 14 nations, with most coming from Greece. Although Greece had the most athletes, the U.S. finished with the most champions; 11 Americans placed first in their events vs. the 10 from Greece. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organised by Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, on 23 June 1894. The IOC was also established during this congress.
Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. The highlight for the Greeks was the Marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis, a water carrier. He won in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds, setting off wild celebrations at the stadium. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.
Greek officials and the public were enthusiastic about the experience of hosting an Olympic Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the permanent Olympic host city. The IOC intended for subsequent Games to be rotated to various host cities around the world. The second Olympics was held in Paris.
Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 20 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over five months. It has been disputed which exact events were Olympic, as some events were for professionals, some had restricted eligibility, and others lacked international competitors.
Tensions caused by the Russo–Japanese War and the difficulty of travelling to St. Louis may have contributed to the fact that very few top-ranked athletes from outside the U.S. and Canada took part in the 1904 Games, the first Games held outside Europe. The current three-medal format of gold, silver and bronze for first, second and third place was introduced at the 1904 Olympics.
The "Second International Olympic Games in Athens", as they were called at the time, were held in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognise these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do and credit the 1906 games with preventing the demise of the Olympics. The 1906 Athens games were the first of an alternating series of games to be held in Athens in even non-Olympic years, but the series failed to materialise. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 850 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games.
The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was raced at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to depending on local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six distances. The Games saw Great Britain winning 146 medals, 99 more than second-placed Americans, its best result to this day.
At the end of the 1908 marathon, the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials and later disqualified for that. As compensation for the missing medal, Queen Alexandra gave Pietri a gilded silver cup. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a special report about the race in the Daily Mail.
The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this 'breach' of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfil Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896, all five inhabited continents were represented with athletes competing in the same stadium.
The scheduled 1916 Summer Olympics were to be held in Berlin, cancelled following the onset of World War I.
Interwar era The 1920 Antwerp Games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games involved 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. The "Flying Finn" won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500- and 5,000-metre runs, the latter two on the same day.
Paris hosted the 1924 Games, becoming the first two-time host city. The Games were the last held under the IOC presidency of Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics, and saw the introduction of the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, the Olympic Village, and the Winter Olympics as an "International Winter Sports Week."