The Olympic Games Portal
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The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating. By default, the Games generally substitute for any world championships during the year in which they take place (however, each class usually maintains its own records). The Olympic Games are held every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.
Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, 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, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, which encompasses all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. The Olympic Charter defines their structure and authority.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in numerous changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Olympic Games for snow and ice sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental Games (Pan American, African, Asian, European, and Pacific), and the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The IOC also endorses the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics. The IOC has needed to adapt to a variety of economic, political, and technological advancements. The abuse of amateur rules by the Eastern Bloc nations prompted the IOC to shift away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to the acceptance of professional athletes participating at the Games. The growing importance of mass media has created the issue of corporate sponsorship and general commercialisation of the Games. World Wars I and II led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Olympics; large-scale boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics; and the 2020 Olympics were postponed until 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.
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The original five Winter Olympic Sports (consisting of nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating). The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year. A decision to change this was made in 1986, when during the 91st International Olympic Committee session, IOC members decided to alternate the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in even-numbered years. Also, at that same congress it was decided that 1992 Winter Olympics would be the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games and that to change the rotation, the games that would be held in 1996 would be brought forward by two years, being scheduled to 1994. After those games, the next were to be held in 1998 when the four-year Olympic Cycle resumed.
The Winter Olympic Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic program. Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it. Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports but never incorporated as Olympic sports. The rise of television as a global medium for communication enhanced the profile of the Games. It generated income via the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become lucrative for the IOC. This allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to exert influence. The IOC has had to address numerous criticisms over the decades like internal scandals, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Winter Olympians, as well as a political boycott of the Winter Olympic Games. Countries have used the Winter Olympic Games as well as the Summer Olympic Games to proclaim the superiority of their political systems.
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The Closing Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics commenced with Christine Anu singing a stirring rendition of her hit song, Island Home. The ceremony concluded with a huge fireworks display on Sydney Harbour.
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“ | The road to the Olympics, leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads — in the end — to the best within us. | ” |
— Jesse Owens, African-American athlete, winner of 4 Gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics. |
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Current Events
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- 31 July 2024 – 2024 Summer Olympics
- Diving at the Summer Olympics
- China surpasses the United States for the record of most gold medals in Olympic diving. (NBC News)
- Guatemala at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- Adriana Ruano wins the gold medal in women's trap shooting to set a new Olympic record and win the first gold medal for Guatemala in Olympic history. (The New York Times)
- North Korea at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- Kim Mi-rae and Jo Jin-mi win the silver medal in Women's synchronized diving, North Korea's first medal in the sport. (Yonhap News Agency)
Did You Know...-
![DYK Question Mark Right](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg/54px-Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg.png)
- ... that Ken Richmond, the last gongman of the Rank Organisation, was a 1952 Summer Olympics wrestling medalist and actor in Jules Dassin's Night and the City?
- ...that Frederick Lorz was greeted as the winner of the 1904 Summer Olympics marathon but later admitted to having travelled by car for ten miles of the race?
- ...that Bobby Pearce won the single sculls at the 1928 Summer Olympics despite stopping mid-race for a passing flock of ducks?
- ...that Brian Boitano narrowly won the Battle of the Brians, a 1988 Winter Olympics figure skating rivalry between two elite skaters named Brian?
- ...that Australian cricket captain Brian Booth also represented Australia at the 1956 Summer Olympics in hockey?
Upcoming Olympic Games
2024 Summer Olympics
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The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and branded as Paris 2024, is an international multi-sport event taking place from 24 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with the opening ceremony having taken place on 26 July. Paris is the host city, with events held in 16 additional cities spread across Metropolitan France, and one subsite in Tahiti, French Polynesia.
Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. After multiple withdrawals that left only Paris and Los Angeles in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidate cities; both of the bids were praised for high technical plans and innovative ways to use a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities. Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, Paris becomes the second city ever to host the Summer Olympics three times (after London, which hosted the 1908, 1948, and 2012 Games). Paris 2024 marks the centenary of Paris 1924 and Chamonix 1924 (which in turn marks the centenary of the Winter Olympics) and is the sixth Olympic Games hosted by France (three Summer Olympics and three Winter Olympics) and the first French Olympics since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville. The Summer Games returned to the traditional four-year Olympiad cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed and instead took place in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris 2024 features the debut of break dancing as an Olympic sport, and will be the final Olympic Games held during the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The 2024 Games are expected to cost €9 billion.
All-time Combined Olympic Games Medal Table
Separate current and precursor NOCs (records not combined):
No. | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
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1 | ![]() |
1,175 | 951 | 833 | 2,959 |
2 | ![]() |
473 | 376 | 355 | 1,204 |
3 | ![]() |
305 | 305 | 312 | 922 |
4 | ![]() |
296 | 323 | 331 | 950 |
5 | ![]() |
285 | 231 | 197 | 713 |
6 | ![]() |
264 | 293 | 332 | 889 |
7 | ![]() |
259 | 231 | 269 | 759 |
8 | ![]() |
212 | 228 | 239 | 679 |
9 | ![]() |
209 | 186 | 173 | 568 |
10 | ![]() |
194 | 165 | 185 | 544 |
2026 Winter Olympics
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The 2026 Winter Olympics (Italian: Olimpiadi invernali del 2026), officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games (Italian: XXV Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in three different regions and many locations, with the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo as the main ones. The joint bid from the two cities beat another joint bid from Swedish cities Stockholm–Åre by 47–34 votes at the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 June 2019.
This will be the fourth Olympic Games hosted in Italy, which previously hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. It will be the first Olympic Games officially featuring multiple host cities and will be the first Winter Olympics since Sarajevo 1984 where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held in different venues. Events will also take place in seven other north-northeastern Italian cities. The games will mark the 20th anniversary of the Winter Olympics in Turin, the 70th anniversary of the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the first time that Milan will host an Olympic Games.
Olympic Sports
- Archery
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Beach volleyball
- Boxing
- Canoeing
- Cycling
- Diving
- Equestrian
- Fencing
- Football
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Handball
- Field hockey
- Judo
- Karate
- Modern pentathlon
- Rowing
- Rugby
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Skateboarding
- Sport climbing
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Artistic swimming
- Table tennis
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
- Triathlon
- Volleyball
- Water polo
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
Olympic Games Countdown
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Youth Olympic Games | |||||||||||
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