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122-581: Summer Games can refer to: The Summer Olympic Games Summer Games (video game) , a 1984 video game Summer Games II , a 1985 sequel to the above game Summer Games (1984 film) , a 1984 Italian film Summer Games (2011 film) , a 2011 Swiss film Overwatch seasonal events#Summer Games , a seasonal event appearing in Overwatch See also [ edit ] Winter games (disambiguation) Games (disambiguation) Topics referred to by

244-648: A leap year , and were instead hosted on a non-leap year . Unlike previous Olympics, these Games took place without spectators due to concerns over COVID-19 and a state of emergency imposed in the host city. Nevertheless, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games featured many memorable moments and feats of technical excellence. One star of the Games, U.S. gymnast Simone Biles , gracefully bowed out to focus on her mental health, but later returned to claim an individual bronze medal. Norway's Karsten Warholm smashed his own world record in

366-469: A 51–50 victory. Ultimately the U.S. team refused to accept their silver medals. There was no such tragedy at the 1976 Montreal Games , but bad planning and fraud led to the cost of these Games far exceeding the budget. Costing $ 1.5 billion (equivalent to $ 7.58 billion in 2023), the 1976 Summer Games were the most expensive in Olympic history (until the 2014 Winter Olympics ) and it seemed, for

488-507: A Summer Olympics, and equaled the inaugural record set by Eric Heiden at the 1980 Winter Olympics . By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had become a commercial concern; there were widespread allegations of corruption potentially affecting the IOC's decision process. At the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics , the highlight was 200 meters runner Michael Johnson annihilating

610-469: A bronze medal, became the most decorated weightlifter of all time with four Olympic medals, three gold and one bronze. Although unfounded reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions at the first weekend of the Olympics (14–15 August 2004), attendance picked up as the Games progressed. A third of the tickets failed to sell, but ticket sales still topped figures from

732-468: A bronze won by Guillermo Hayden Wright, Marquez de Villavieja and three brothers: Eustaquio de Escandón y Barron, Pablo de Escandón y Barron and Manuel de Escandón y Barron. Competitions were held on the River Seine . The coxed fours event descended into disarray after the officials changed the qualifying criteria for the final several times, culminating in two finals: the first final was held without

854-535: A competition that involved elements from track and field and weightlifting as well as gymnastic disciplines. Eight separate tournaments were held in 1900 as part of the 1900 World's Fair . Only the Grand Prix Internationale de l'Exposition is counted as an official medal event. Entries were from clubs rather than countries, and the winning Foxhunters club comprised English, Irish and American players. Mexico won its first medal in this sport,

976-553: 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

1098-611: A historic backflip off the high bar . In the final of the men's basketball , the United States lost to the Soviet Union in what is widely considered as the most controversial game in international basketball history. In a close-fought match, the U.S. team appeared to have won by a score of 50–49. However, the final three seconds of the game were replayed three times by judges until the Soviet team came out on top and claimed

1220-422: A less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country. According to British journalist Andrew Jennings , a KGB colonel stated that the agency's officers had posed as anti-doping authorities from the IOC to undermine doping tests and that Soviet athletes were "rescued with [these] tremendous efforts". On the topic of the 1980 Summer Olympics , a 1989 Australian study said "There

1342-411: A minute to win the underwater swimming event. A high-quality men's tournament saw three past or future Wimbledon champions reach the semi-finals. Laurence Doherty reached the final when older brother Reggie stepped aside and let his sibling advance to the final. The two refused to play each other in what they considered a minor tournament. On the 11th of July a landmark was reached in the history of

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1464-588: A mystery; some could have been under ten years old. Three teams competed in the Rugby tournament. A French representative team defeated a team from the German city of Frankfurt and Moseley Wanderers from England. The Moseley team had played a full game of rugby in England the day before they made the journey to Paris. They arrived in the morning, played the match in the afternoon and were back in their home country by

1586-485: A protest against a recent tour of apartheid -run South Africa by the New Zealand national rugby union team . Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci made history when she won the women's individual all-around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores. She won two other individual events, with two perfect scores in the balance beam and all perfect scores in the uneven bars. Lasse Virén repeated his double gold in

1708-536: A record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of most gold medals by a single competitor previously held by both Eric Heiden and Vitaly Scherbo. Another notable star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt , who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games. Equestrian events were held in Hong Kong. London held

1830-444: A scorecard in his own writing. The croquet tournament was notable as it marked the first appearance of women at Olympic level. Madame Desprès , Madame Filleul-Brohy and Mademoiselle Ohier were eliminated in the first round of competition. All players were French. A single paying spectator attended the tournament, an elderly English gentleman who travelled from Nice for the early stages. An unofficial two-ball handicap competition

1952-456: A stand for civil rights by raising their black-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes. The two athletes were subsequently expelled from the Games by the IOC. Věra Čáslavská , in protest against the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia , and the controversial decision by the judges on the balance beam and floor , turned her head down and away from the Soviet flag while

2074-715: A time, that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. In retrospect, it is believed that contractors (suspected of being members of the Montreal Mafia) skimmed large sums of money from all levels of contracts while also profiting from the substitution of cheaper building materials of lesser quality, which may have contributed to the delays, poor construction, and excessive costs. In 1988, one such contractor, Giuseppe Zappia "was cleared of fraud charges that resulted from his work on Olympic facilities after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial". The 1976 Games were boycotted by many African nations as

2196-435: Is a debate as to whether the live pigeon shooting event was a full Olympic event, Belgian Leon Lunden shot twenty-one birds on his way to the championship. Up to thirty unofficial shooting events were also held, most involving professional marksmen. Research has shown that one of the medal events in the IOC database (25m rapid fire pistol, also called military pistol cat. 6) was contested by professionals. The muddied waters of

2318-713: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games , also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad , is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens , Greece , and the most recent was held in 2024 in Paris , France . This

2440-645: Is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner, who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might as well have been called the Chemists' Games." Documents obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Dated prior to

2562-558: The 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair). In total, 1,226 competitors took part in 19 different sports. This number relies on certain assumptions about which events were and were not "Olympic". Many athletes, some of whom had won events, were unaware they had competed in the Olympic Games . Women took part in the games for the first time, with sailor Hélène de Pourtalès , born Helen Barbey in New York City, becoming

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2684-510: The 1900 World's Fair . An enormous number of events was held, though many fall short of the standards later required for Olympic championship status. After the several initial editions of the Olympic Games, decisions as to which Olympic events were termed "official" and which had "unofficial" or "demonstration" status were usually left to the Olympic organizing committees and/or the IOC . In

2806-577: The 1900 World's Fair : Scholastic and military events were also held across a range of sports. Four planned competitions were not organized due to a lack of participants: balle au tamis  [ fr ] , field hockey , jeu de paume and lacrosse . According to the International Olympic Committee, 26 nations sent competitors to this edition. The concept of "national teams" chosen by National Olympic Committees did not exist at this point in time. When counting

2928-411: The 1912 Games , and hosting the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics (which they are credited as jointly hosting with Melbourne , Australia). Amsterdam , Netherlands, has also hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having been sole host of the 1928 Games and previously hosting two of the sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics . At the 2008 Summer Olympics , Hong Kong provided

3050-687: The 1996 Games were held in Atlanta , Georgia . The 2028 Games in Los Angeles will mark the fifth occasion on which the Summer Games have been hosted by the U.S. In 2012 , London hosted its third Summer Olympic Games and became the first city ever to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times, which then followed by Paris in 2024 . The cities of Los Angeles, Tokyo and Athens (excluding 1906 ) have each hosted two Summer Olympic Games. In 2028, Los Angeles will in turn become

3172-467: The 2012 Summer Olympics , becoming the first city to host the Olympic Games three times. In his closing address, Jacques Rogge described the Games as "Happy and glorious". The host nation won 29 gold medals, the best haul for Great Britain since the 1908 Games in London. The United States returned to the top of the medal table after China dominated in 2008. The IOC had removed baseball and softball from

3294-652: The Olympic Congress of 1894, which convened in the Sorbonne building , Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games should take place in Paris in 1900. However, the delegates to the conference were unwilling to wait six years and lobbied to hold the first games in 1896. A decision was made to hold the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens and have Paris host the second Games. The Games were held as part of

3416-572: The Russo–Japanese War and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis may have contributed to the fact that very few top-ranked athletes from outside the US and Canada took part in the 1904 Games , the first Games held outside Europe. 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

3538-620: The Seine hosted the swimming events in 1900. Run with the current, the races produced very fast times by the standards of the day. John Arthur Jarvis of Great Britain, Frederick Lane of Australia and the German Ernst Hoppenberg each won two titles. Lane received a 50-pound bronze statue of a horse as a prize. A couple of unusual events were held. The obstacle race required both swimming underneath and climbing over rows of boats while Charles de Venville stayed submerged for over

3660-616: The Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques ("Union of the French Societies for Athletic Sports" or USFSA) announced that it would have the sole right to any organized sport held during the World's Fair. It was an empty threat, but Viscount Charles de La Rochefoucauld, the nominated head of the organizing committee, stepped down rather than be embroiled in the political battle. The Baron de Coubertin, also secretary-general of

3782-970: 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 ), Russia ( 1980 ), South Korea ( 1988 ), Spain ( 1992 ), China ( 2008 ), and Brazil ( 2016 ). London and Paris have hosted three times, Los Angeles , Athens, and Tokyo have each hosted twice; Los Angeles will host

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3904-768: The national anthem was played during the medal ceremony. She returned home as a heroine of the Czechoslovak people but was made an outcast by the Soviet-dominated government. Politics again intervened at the 1972 Games in Munich, but this time with lethal consequences . A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation . They killed two Israelis and held nine others as hostages, demanding that Israel release numerous prisoners. When

4026-484: The old city wall , the course was poorly marked out and runners often got lost and had to double back on themselves before continuing. On some parts of the course, runners had to contend with distractions from cars, bicycles, pedestrians and animals. Arthur Newton of the United States finished fifth but stated he had not been passed by any other runner during the race. Another American, Richard Grant , claimed he

4148-479: The shooting event . The host nation of France fielded 72% of all athletes (720 of the 997) and won the most gold, silver and bronze medal placings. U.S. athletes won the second-most in each while fielding the fifth-most participants, 75. British athletes won the third-most in each while fielding the second most participants, 102. The 1900 Games were held as part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle . The Baron de Coubertin believed this would help public awareness of

4270-469: The steeplechase for the first time. The fencing programme was expanded to include all six events for both men and women; previously, women had not been able to compete in team foil or sabre events, although women's team épée and men's team foil were dropped for these Games. Marathon swimming events were added, over the distance of 10 km (6.2 mi). Also, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events. American swimmer Michael Phelps set

4392-436: The épée for amateurs and masters, was awarded a prize of 3,000  F (equivalent to € 12,867 in 2022 ). Some events were contested for the only time in the history of the Games, including angling , motor racing , ballooning , cricket , croquet , Basque pelota , 200m swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming . This was also the only Olympic Games in history to use live animals (pigeons) as targets during

4514-428: 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

4636-484: The 10,000- and 5,000-meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other race leaders, Zátopek led from about halfway, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins. The 1956 Melbourne Games , the first in the Southern Hemisphere , were largely successful, with

4758-453: The 1900 Summer Olympics affirms a total of 95 medal events. Weightlifting and wrestling were dropped since the 1896 Summer Olympics , while 12 new sports were added. Among the sports below, only croquet was not an international competition, being contested by French players only. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses. 14 venues were used at the 1900 Summer Olympics to host 20 sports. The standard of competition at

4880-430: 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

5002-516: The 2012 programme. The London Games were successful on a commercial level because they were the first in history to completely sell out every ticket, with as many as 1 million applications for 40,000 tickets for both the Opening Ceremony and the 100m Men's Sprint Final. Such was the demand for tickets to all levels of each event that there was controversy over seats being set aside for sponsors and National Delegations which went unused in

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5124-530: The 2016 Summer Olympics. In 1984, the Soviet Union and 13 Soviet allies retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Romania and Yugoslavia , notably are the only two countries from the Eastern Bloc that did attend the 1984 Olympics. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. Although a boycott led by the Soviet Union depleted the field in certain sports, 140 National Olympic Committees took part, which

5246-466: The 400m hurdles. The 2024 Summer Olympics were held in Paris, France, making it the second city after London to host the Summer Olympics three times (the other times being 1900 and 1924 , marking a centenary since the latter). This is the first of any Olympic Games after the pandemic to allow spectators to attend. In a first, the opening ceremonies were staged outside the main stadium with

5368-466: The 5,000 and 10,000 meters, making him the first athlete to ever win the distance double twice. Following the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan , 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Japan, boycotted the 1980 Games held in Moscow. Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games – the smallest number since 1956. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being

5490-614: The Albion Cricket Club and the Standard Athletic Club, two Paris clubs consisting almost exclusively of British expatriates, played a touring team from the southwest of England. The Devon and Somerset Wanderers were no more than a team of competent club cricketers (made up from Blundells School old boys and members of Castle Cary Cricket Club), and only Montagu Toller and Alfred Bowerman were deemed good enough to play at county level for Somerset. The game

5612-399: The Games for the third time in 2028 . Only five countries have participated in every Summer Olympic Games: Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece, and Switzerland. Australia, France, and Great Britain have won at least a medal at every edition of the Games, with Great Britain as the only one that never failed to win at least a gold medal. The United States leads the all-time medal count for

5734-405: The Games in 1964 ; 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 the Summer Games on one occasion. Asia has hosted

5856-553: 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 . 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,

5978-409: The Games was variable. Despite a poor-quality track, a strong contingent of top-class American collegiate athletes ensured the track and field competitions were of the highest quality. The tennis gold medalists were all former Wimbledon champions; swimming and fencing events were of a good standard; and even polo, a minority sport for the social elite, was well represented by some of the best players in

6100-405: The German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, Olympia , was widely considered to be a masterpiece, despite the infusion of Adolf Hitler 's theories of Aryan racial superiority. Individually, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals, while

6222-439: The IOC has never determined which events were Olympic and which were not. All events satisfying all four of the retrospective selection criteria (restricted to amateurs, international participation, open to all competitors and without handicapping) are now regarded by historians as Olympic events, except for ballooning, while croquet, motorboating and boules satisfied three of these criteria (as only French athletes competed). Of

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6344-459: The IOC, as recommended by Olympic historian Bill Mallon . To support the recognition of a total of 95 medal events per Mallon's suggestion, one more race in each of 2 other classes (0.5-1t and 3-10t) has been recognized by the IOC. Thus, for five of the eight events, two gold, two silver and two bronze medals were retrospectively awarded. Races were held at both Meulan and Le Havre and medals shared among five nations. France and Great Britain were

6466-486: The Israeli government refused the terrorists' demands, the situation developed into a tense stand-off while negotiations continued. Eventually, the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. In the ensuing firefight, 15 people were killed, including the nine captive Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists. After much debate,

6588-433: 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.

6710-429: The Olympic Games with three jumping events being held, plus two other events. The Italian rider Gian Giorgio Trissino won a gold and a silver. He narrowly missed making Olympic history by winning two medals in the same event. Competing with two different horses in the high jump, he jointly won the gold medal and finished in 4th place on his second horse. Nineteen nations were represented in the fencing competition, which

6832-461: The Olympic Games. Charlotte Cooper , already three times Wimbledon champion, took the singles championship to become the first individual female Olympic champion, also winning the mixed doubles event. A combined Sweden/Denmark team, made up of three competitors from each country, defeated the French team to win the title. One of the members of the French team was a Colombian citizen. They were left as

6954-480: The Olympics and submitted elaborate plans to rebuild the ancient site of Olympia , complete with statues, temples, stadia, and gymnasia. The director of the Exposition Universelle, Alfred Picard, thought holding an ancient sport event at the Exposition Universelle was an "absurd anachronism". After thanking de Coubertin for his plans, Picard filed them away and nothing more came of it. A committee

7076-444: The Olympics were the London amateurs of Upton Park F.C. A crowd of around 500 spectators saw them defeat their French rivals. Margaret Ives Abbott , a student of art from Chicago, played in and won a nine-hole golf tournament on an October Tuesday in Paris. She died in 1955 without being aware that the tournament was part of the Olympic Games and she had become America's first ever female Olympic champion. 135 gymnasts took part in

7198-468: The Olympics. While there is an Official Report of these Games, complete records of results do not exist. De Coubertin commented later to friends, "It's a miracle that the Olympic Movement survived that celebration". Before July 2021, the IOC had never decided which events were "Olympic". In fact, Pierre de Coubertin had ceded that entire determination to the organizers. The IOC webpage for

7320-610: The Seoul and Barcelona Olympics ( 1988 and 1992 ). IOC President Jacques Rogge characterised Greece's organisation as outstanding and its security precautions as flawless. All 202 NOCs participated at the Athens Games with over 11,000 participants. The 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. Women competed in

7442-452: 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 with 11,420 competitors (almost half of whom were women) from 206 nations. The Games have been held in nineteen countries over five continents: four times in

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7564-566: 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). The United States hosted the Summer Olympic Games four times: the 1904 Games were held in St. Louis , Missouri ; the 1932 and 1984 Games were both held in Los Angeles , California , and

7686-707: The Summer Olympics 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 the Summer Olympics have been Australia ( 1956 , 2000 , and upcoming 2032 ) and Brazil ( 2016 ), with Africa having yet to host any Summer Olympics. Stockholm , Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympics, having been sole host of

7808-512: The U.S. athletics team. Orton ran for the University of Pennsylvania and was therefore assumed to be American, but he always considered himself a Canadian. Michel Théato , the winner of the marathon, competed for the French athletics team. He was a Luxembourger; however, this was only discovered decades later. Francisco Henríquez de Zubiría of Colombia was a silver medal-winner on the French tug of war team. Victor Lindberg of New Zealand

7930-755: The USFSA, was urged to withdraw from active involvement in running the Games and did so, only to comment later, "I surrendered—and was incorrect in doing so." The IOC ceded control of the Games to a new committee to oversee every sporting activity connected to the 1900 Exposition Universelle. Alfred Picard appointed Daniel Mérillon , the head of the French Shooting Association, as president of this organization in February 1899. Mérillon published an entirely different schedule of events, which resulted in many of those who had made plans to compete with

8052-605: The University of Pennsylvania were among the stars of the Games. Alvin Kraenzlein won 4 individual gold medals, a feat that has never repeated, while Walter Tewksbury took five medals including two golds. The hurdles in the 400 m hurdle race were 30-foot (9.1 m)-long telegraph poles arranged on the track and the race, uniquely in Olympic competition, had a water jump on the final straight. Adolphe Klingelhoeffer, who had Brazilian citizenship in 1900, competed for France in three events. United States dominance in sprinting

8174-533: The Women's Artistic Gymnastics when the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All-Around Competition. In 2004 , the Olympic Games returned to their birthplace in Athens, Greece. At least $ 7.2 billion was spent on the 2004 Games, including $ 1.5 billion on security. Michael Phelps won his first Olympic medals, tallying six gold and two bronze medals. Pyrros Dimas , winning

8296-473: The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis, hence violating amateur rules. Finland made a legend of an amiable Czechoslovak Army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek , who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both

8418-531: The athletes parading down boats along the Seine River . Following this, the open water swimming competitions also occurred in the River. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, California, United States, making it the third city to host the Games three times (the other times being 1932 and 1984 ), with the U.S. hosting the Summer Olympics for the fifth time. 1900 Summer Olympics At

8540-547: The country's decision to boycott the Games, the document detailed the existing steroids operations of the programme, along with suggestions for further enhancements. The communication, directed to the Soviet Union's head of track and field, was prepared by Dr. Sergei Portugalov of the Institute for Physical Culture. Portugalov was also one of the main figures involved in the implementation of the Russian doping programme prior to

8662-459: The decision was taken to continue the Games, but the proceedings were understandably dominated by these events. Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz , Finland's Lasse Virén taking back-to-back gold medals in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, and the winning of three gold medals by Soviet gymnastic star Olga Korbut , who achieved

8784-399: The early Olympic Games, however, no decision as to the official status of any event was made at the time of the Games. While a document from 1912 exists, listing results from the 1900 Games, and formed the original basis of the results of the Paris games in the IOC database, the reliability and authenticity of this paper has been questioned by Olympic historians. Further complicating matters,

8906-680: The early days. A system of reallocation was put in place so the empty seats were filled throughout the Games. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics , becoming the first South American city to host the Olympics, the second Olympic host city in Latin America, after Mexico City in 1968 , as well as the third city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the Olympics after Melbourne, Australia, in 1956 and Sydney , Australia, in 2000 . The preparation for these Games

9028-568: The exception of a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which ended in a pitched battle between the teams on account of the Soviet invasion of Hungary . The equestrian events were held in Stockholm due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia. At the 1960 Rome Games , a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali , arrived on

9150-408: The final, they limited the number of shots on goal to avoid humiliating their opponents. One of its team members, Victor Lindberg , was from New Zealand, while Thomas William Burgess of the bronze medal-winning Libellule de Paris team represented Great Britain in the swimming events. The 1900 Games were not governed by a specific Olympic organizing committee, but were instead held as an appendage to

9272-440: The first female Olympic champion. The decision to hold competitions on a Sunday brought protests from many American athletes, who traveled as representatives of their colleges and were expected to withdraw rather than compete on their religious day of rest. Most of the winners in 1900 did not receive medals but were given cups or trophies. Professionals competed in fencing, as was tradition, and Albert Robert Ayat (France), who won

9394-479: The first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km (1.2 mi) due to 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

9516-459: 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 40 km (24.9 mi) for

9638-452: The first to be held in Asia and to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. These Games marked a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics and are credited for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. Judo debuted as an official sport, and Dutch judoka Anton Geesink caused a stir when he won the final of

9760-565: The game was played at this, the sport's only appearance at full Olympic level. Two pairs entered and the Spanish partnerships of Amezola and Villota became their nations' first Olympic champions. The mano form of the game and a chistera tournament for professional players were contested unofficially. After the withdrawal of teams from the Netherlands and Belgium, only two teams played in the cricket tournament. A team made up of players from

9882-449: The game. Other sports were noticeably weak in both quality and depth. Only athletics, swimming and fencing had competitors from more than ten nations. The history of the archery competition at the 1900 Olympics is one of confusion. The IOC currently lists six events with Olympic status, but a case has been made that as many as eight other events equally deserve to be considered part of official Olympic history. About 150 archers competed in

10004-564: The games, from the Coca-Cola Company . The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC, choosing Giuseppe Cassioli 's depiction of Greek goddess Nike with a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design was used up until 1972. The 1932 Los Angeles Games were affected by the Great Depression , which contributed to the low number of competitors. The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by

10126-571: The games. The 1992 Barcelona Games featured the admittance of players from one of the North American top leagues, the NBA , exemplified by but not limited to US basketball's " Dream Team ". The 1992 games also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been annexed into the Soviet Union during World War II. At these games, gymnast Vitaly Scherbo set an inaugural medal record of five individual gold medals at

10248-410: 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

10370-427: 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 meter runs, the latter two on the same day. The 1928 Amsterdam Games was notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of

10492-405: The heat as both his opponents had been disqualified for false starts. His female compatriot Paula Barila Bolopa also received media attention for her record-slow and struggling but courageous performance. The Sydney Games also saw the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent at the opening ceremonies, though they competed in all events as different teams. Controversy occurred in

10614-463: The host nation won the most gold and overall medals. The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the introduction of the Torch Relay. Due to World War II, the 1940 Games (due to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of the war ) were cancelled. The 1944 Games were due to be held in London but were also cancelled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of

10736-403: 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

10858-458: The most successful of the countries involved. A number of people named as members of medal-winning crews by the IOC have been proved not to have competed; others have their participation seriously questioned by historical research. Switzerland's Konrad Stäheli was the outstanding marksman of the Games, taking a trio of titles and leading his country to the top of the shooting medal table. The medals were shared between six different nations. There

10980-528: The next morning. The proposed game between the British and German sides was cancelled, and both are credited as silver medalists. The Franco-Haitian centre Constantin Henriquez become the first black gold medalist. The 1900 sailing regatta differs from every other Olympic regatta in a number of ways. In most classes, there were two distinct "finals", boats were assigned time handicaps according to their weight within each class and cash prizes were handed out to

11102-529: The number of participating countries in the early Olympic Games, the IOC does not take into account otherwise unrepresented countries whose citizens competed for other countries. Modern research shows that at the 1900 Olympics, the athletes of at least four otherwise unrepresented countries competed for other countries in both individual and team sports. George Orton , gold medalist in 2500 metres steeplechase event and bronze medalist in 400 metres hurdles event, and Ronald J. MacDonald , both of Canada, competed for

11224-529: The official report of the sporting events of the 1900 Exposition Universelle. The press reported competitions variously as "International Championships", "International Games", "Paris Championships", "World Championships" and "Grand Prix of the Paris Exposition". These poorly organized games, along with those of 1904, were termed decades later by several historians "The Farcical Games." Years later, many competitors were unaware that they had competed in

11346-555: The one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place in the basketball arena. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph , was arrested. The 2000 Summer Olympics , held in Sydney, Australia, showcased individual performances by locals favorites Ian Thorpe in

11468-509: The only participating teams; the United States had entered but were forced to scratch as three of their team were involved in the final of the hammer. Edgar Aabye was a journalist covering the Games for the Danish newspaper Politiken and was asked to join the team when another puller was taken ill. Osborne Swimming Club, representing Great Britain, were unchallenged in the tournament, scoring 29 goals and conceding only 3 in their 3 matches. In

11590-535: The open weight division, defeating Akio Kaminaga in front of his home crowd. Performances at the 1968 Games in Mexico City were affected by the altitude of the host city. These Games introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop , a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal. In the medal award ceremony for the men's 200-meter race, black American athletes Tommie Smith (gold medal winner) and John Carlos (bronze medal winner) took

11712-493: The original program withdrawing and refusing to deal with the new committee. Between May and October 1900, the new organizing committee held many sporting activities alongside the Paris Exposition. The term "Olympic" rarely used in sporting events. Indeed, the term "Olympic Games" was replaced by " Concours internationaux d'exercices physiques et de sport " ("International contests of physical exercises and of sport" in English) in

11834-412: The original qualifiers, who boycotted the race to protest the decision to run six boats on a course laid out for four boats. Following this, officials decided to run another final for the boycotting crews. Both events are considered official Olympic competitions. In a number of events, crews saw the advantage of having ultra-lightweight coxswains and recruited local boys for race days. Most of these remain

11956-476: The pool and Cathy Freeman , an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 meters united a packed stadium., Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Eric "the Eel" Moussambani , a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, received wide media coverage when he completed the 100 meter freestyle swim in by far the slowest time in Olympic history. He nevertheless won

12078-420: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Summer Games . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Summer_Games&oldid=854357557 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

12200-435: The scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky . He was awarded a new medal 36 years later at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Other notable performers in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph , a gold medallist in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4 × 100 meters relay events. The 1964 Tokyo Games were

12322-661: The six events that later had official status conferred. However, as many as 5,000 were involved in archery competition in conjunction with the 1900 World's Fair . Belgian Hubert Van Innis took two gold medals and one silver and would add to his tally twenty years later in Antwerp . The track and field events were held at the home of the Racing Club de France at the Croix-Catelan stadium in Bois de Boulogne . No track

12444-421: 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

12566-416: The third city ever to have hosted the Games three times. Australia , Germany , Greece and Japan all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice (with Australia planned to host in 2032, therefore taking it to three). Tokyo , Japan, hosted the 2020 Games and became the first city outside the predominantly English-speaking and European nations to have hosted the Summer Olympics twice, having already hosted

12688-500: The three events that satisfied three criteria, only croquet has been accorded Olympic status. In this regard, one of the ten croquet players, Marcel Haëntjens , had been believed to be Belgian, and the croquet events were thus considered as international. Despite the Flemish name, it was discovered in recent times that Haëntjens was French. Like all the Olympic events widely regarded as official, there were other events conducted during

12810-692: The venues for the equestrian events , which took place in Sha Tin and Kwu Tung . 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

12932-567: The war, in 1948 . The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin. At the 1952 Helsinki Games , the USSR team competed for the first time and quickly emerged as one of the dominant teams, finishing second in the number of gold and overall medals won. Their immediate success might be explained by

13054-411: The winner of each race. The IOC initially recognized the winner of the first race in each class as Olympic champion except in the case of the 10-20 ton class, which was decided on aggregate time over three races. However currently the participants of both first and second races in 3 classes (0-0.5t, 1-2t and 2-3t) are present in the as medalists, so the second races in these 3 classes were recognized by

13176-405: The world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savoured Donovan Bailey 's recording gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson's disease , lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for

13298-620: 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

13420-450: Was a record at the time. The Games were also the first time mainland China (People's Republic) participated. The 1988 Games , in Seoul, was very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner Ben Johnson , failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed

13542-431: Was also held. This was also the only Olympiad where croquet was part of the official programme, though there was the variant called roque at the 1904 Summer Olympics . The home nation won six of the nine medals available, including one that was initially awarded to Great Britain until this was reversed in 2024. A number of unofficial events were held for both amateurs and professionals. Equestrian sport made its debut at

13664-423: Was even greater in the field events than the track events, with outstanding performances coming from Ray Ewry and Irving Baxter . Ewry started his Olympic career with a sweep of the three standing jumps, while Baxter finished second to Ewry three times and won both the regular high jump and pole vault . Meyer Prinstein became the first Jewish Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump . The chistera form of

13786-547: 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

13908-686: Was formed for the organization of the Games, consisting of some of the more able sports administrators of the day, and a provisional program was drawn up. Sports to be included at the games were track and field athletics , swimming , wrestling , gymnastics , fencing , French and British boxing , river and ocean yacht racing , cycling , golf , lifesaving , archery , weightlifting , rowing , diving , and water polo . British and Irish sports associations and several influential American universities and sports clubs announced their desire to compete. Competitors from Russia and Australia also confirmed their intentions to travel to Paris. On 9 November 1898,

14030-437: Was held in a field near the cutlery exhibit at the 1900 World's Fair . French fencers dominated the proceedings but both Cuba and Italy also took titles. The early rounds of the foil competitions were judged on style rather than the actual result of the contest. This meant that some fencers were eliminated without losing a contest while others were defeated and still progressed to the next rounds. The first football champions at

14152-545: Was laid and races took place on an uneven field of grass littered with trees. Additional events were held for professionals and a series of handicap races also took place. These are not considered official Olympic events. In the seven events contested over 400 metres or less, the United States took 13 out of a possible 21 medals. Athletes from Columbia University , Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania all won gold medals. Indeed, two would-be dentists from

14274-462: Was matched in the longer track races by United Kingdom. Only George Orton , who won Canada's first Olympic title in the shorter of the two steeplechases , ruined a perfect record for the British. Orton won his title less than an hour after placing third in the 400-metre hurdles. The most contentious of all the events in these Games began and ended in the Bois de Boulogne. Intended to follow the track of

14396-751: Was overshadowed by controversies , including political instability and an economic crisis in the host country, health and safety concerns surrounding the Zika virus , and significant pollution in the Guanabara Bay . However, these concerns were superseded by a state-sponsored doping scandal involving Russian athletes at the Winter Olympics held two years earlier , which affected the participation of its athletes in these Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. The city

14518-467: Was played before a small crowd at the Vélodrome de Vincennes . An emphatic second innings bowling performance from Toller captured victory for the visitors as time appeared to be running out for them. If the French had held out for five more minutes the game would have been a draw. Knowledge of the game would have been lost but for the forethought of John Symes , a member of the victorious team, who kept

14640-519: Was run down by a cyclist as he made ground on the leaders. French honour seemed to have been satisfied when Michel Théato crossed the finish line and a military band struck up La Marseillaise . However, modern research has revealed that Théato was born in Luxembourg and maintained Luxembourgian citizenship throughout his life. The Hungarian discus thrower Rudolf Bauer was the only non-American crowned as Olympic Champion. American domination

14762-545: Was the fifth in history to host the Games twice and the first Asian city to have this title. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , the IOC and the Tokyo Organising Committee announced that the 2020 Games were to be delayed until 2021, marking the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed. This was the first time since 1900 that the games were not held in

14884-487: Was the first international multi-sport event of its kind, organized 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

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