Portal:Olympic Games
The Olympic Games Portal
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; French: Jeux olympiques) are the world's biggest international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports events in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of athletic competitions. The Olympic Games, open to both amateur and professional athletes, involve more than 200 teams, each team representing a sovereign state or territory. The Games often, but not always, substitute for any world championships during the year in which they take place. The Olympics are staged 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 adapted to a variety of economic, political, and technological advancements. The abuse of amateur rules 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 because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
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The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were celebrated in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honor the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgian people during the war.
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| “ | The Olympic Games must not be an end in itself, they must be a means of creating a vast program of physical education and sports competitions for all young people. | ” |
| — Avery Brundage, The fifth President of the International Olympic Committee | ||
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Current Events
- 17 June 2026 –
- Sudan's women's national under-17 football team makes its first appearance on international stage in Morocco in an effort to qualify for the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles amidst the ongoing civil war in the country that erupted three years ago. (The Independent)
- 7 May 2026 – International sporting sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Belarus at the Olympics
- The International Olympic Committee lifts restrictions on Belarusian athletes participating in the Olympic Games from 2028, while Russian athletes remain limited to individual neutral participation because of the Russian Olympic Committee's suspension. (AFP via RFI) (BBC News)
- 26 March 2026 – 2028 Summer Olympics, Transgender people in sports
- The International Olympic Committee announces that participation in women's events will be limited to athletes classified as female based on biological criteria, with eligibility determined through a one-time genetic test starting from the 2028 Olympic Games. The policy replaces previous rules that allowed individual sports federations to set their own criteria. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)
Did You Know...-
- ... that Traci Hunter Abramson used her experience as a swim coach and a CIA employee to write Undercurrents, a novel about an Olympic-hopeful swimmer in witness protection?
- ... that Abebe Bikila set a world record winning the 1960 Men's Olympic marathon, running barefoot?
- ... that during the tug of war at the 1900 Olympics, a journalist was drafted into the gold medal winning team?
- ... that tango music composer Cátulo Castillo was once featherweight champion of Argentina, and went to the 1924 Summer Olympics?
- ... that Jamaican sprinter Dominique Blake was accidentally awarded a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's 4 × 400 m relay?
Upcoming Olympic Games
2028 Summer Olympics
The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to 30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles will be the host city, with various events also scheduled to be held at other cities spread across the Greater Los Angeles area, plus two subsites in Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles had originally bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Following multiple withdrawals, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Games to Los Angeles and Paris as the two remaining candidates; Paris was preferred as host for 2024, while Los Angeles agreed to host in 2028. Los Angeles was formally awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017. They will mark the fifth Summer Olympics, and ninth Olympics overall to be hosted by the United States. Los Angeles has previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and will become the third three-time host city after London (1908, 1948, 2012) and Paris (1900, 1924, 2024), and the first non-European city to do so. These will be the first Summer Olympics held under the IOC presidency of Kirsty Coventry.
After debuting in 2020 as optional events, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have been promoted to the Summer Olympics' core event program. The Games will feature the debut of flag football and squash as optional sports, joined by the return of baseball/softball, cricket (for the first time since 1900) and lacrosse (for the first time as a medal event since 1908).
All-time Combined Olympic Games Medal Table
Separate current and precursor NOCs (records not combined):
| No. | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States |
1,231 | 1,012 | 885 | 3,128 |
| 2 |  Soviet Union |
473 | 376 | 355 | 1,204 |
| 3 |  China |
330 | 262 | 227 | 819 |
| 4 |  Germany |
326 | 327 | 328 | 981 |
| 5 |  Great Britain |
313 | 345 | 361 | 1,019 |
| 6 |  France |
289 | 328 | 360 | 977 |
| 7 |  Italy |
281 | 250 | 298 | 829 |
| 8 |  Norway |
231 | 199 | 188 | 618 |
| 9 |  Sweden |
224 | 238 | 247 | 709 |
| 10 |  Japan |
211 | 198 | 233 | 642 |
2030 Winter Olympics
The 2030 Winter Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 2030), officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games (French: XXVIes Jeux Olympiques d'hiver) and branded as French Alps 2030 (French: Alpes Françaises 2030), is an upcoming international winter multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 1 to 17 February 2030 in the French Alps region of France.
As part of the new Olympic bid process, the Future Host Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) nominated the French Alps as its preferred candidate on 29 November 2023. The French Alps' bid was approved during the 142nd IOC Session in Paris on 24 July 2024.
Events will be held in the department of Alpes-Maritimes on its Hautes-Alpes, Metropolis of Lyon and the departments Haute-Savoie and Savoie in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Long track speed skating is scheduled to Heerenveen, The Netherlands in the mecca of this event, the sportcentrum of Thialf.
Olympic Sports
- Archery
- Artistic swimming
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Beach volleyball
- Boxing
- Canoeing
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Diving
- Equestrian
- Fencing
- Football
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Handball
- Field hockey
- Judo
- Lacrosse
- Modern pentathlon
- Rowing
- Rugby
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Skateboarding
- Softball
- Sport climbing
- Squash
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
- Triathlon
- Volleyball
- Water polo
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
Olympic Games Countdown
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Topics
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| Winter sports | |
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| 2028 optional | |
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| Demonstration sports | |
| Unofficial sports |
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| Americas |
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