The Olympic Games Portal
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The modern Olympic Games (OG; or Olympics; French: Jeux olympiques, JO) are the world's leading international sporting events. They feature 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 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Originally called Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver ("International Winter Sports Week") and held in association with the 1924 Summer Olympics, the sports competitions held at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France between 25 January and 5 February 1924, organised by the French Olympic Committee, were in retrospect designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the I Olympic Winter Games.
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“ | I touched the wall and all my dreams, hopes and ambitions basically coalesced into one moment. | ” |
— Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer, on winning Olympic gold and setting a world record in Seoul 1988 |
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Current Events
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- 11 August 2024 – 2024 Summer Olympics
- The 2024 Summer Olympics conclude with the closing ceremony taking place at the Stade de France in Paris, France. (BBC News)
- The United States finish atop the medal table with 40 gold medals and 126 total medals, ahead of China who finished with 40 gold medals and 91 total medals, with silver medals being the tiebreaker. (BBC News)
- 10 August 2024 – 2024 Summer Olympics
- Albania at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- Chermen Valiev wins a bronze medal in Men's freestyle 74 kg wrestling, earning Albania its first ever Olympic medal. (KOHA)
- Breaking at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- In the first-ever men's breakdancing event at the Olympics, Philip "Phil Wizard" Kim of Canada wins the B-Boys gold medal, with Danis "Dany Dann" Civil of France winning the silver and Victor Montalvo of the United States winning the bronze. (CBC News)
Did You Know...-
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- ... that swimmer Joseph Roebuck missed out on qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics by a quarter of a second, but is set to compete in three events for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics?
- ... that Olympic road cyclist Shara Gillow of Australia is following in the path of her father, who represented Zimbabwe in cycling at the 1980 Summer Olympics?
- ... that 2012 Olympic weightlifter Yuderqui Contreras became Pan American Champion and a Dominican Army officer in the same year?
- ... that the Olympic Stadium in Manchester's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics was later redesigned and used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games?
- ... that American archer Miranda Leek, who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, first learned to shoot at age five?
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, were an international multi-sport event that occurred from 26 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with the opening ceremony having taken place on 26 July. Paris was the host city, with events (mainly football) held in 16 additional cities spread across metropolitan France, including the sailing centre in the second-largest city of France, Marseille on the Mediterranean Sea, as well as one subsite for surfing 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 became the second city ever to host the Summer Olympics three times (after London, which hosted the games in 1908, 1948, and 2012). Paris 2024 marked the centenary of Paris 1924 and Chamonix 1924 (the first Winter Olympics), as well as the sixth Olympic Games hosted by France (three Summer Olympics and three Winter Olympics) and the first with this distinction since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville. The Summer Games returned to the traditional four-year Olympiad cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris 2024 featured the debut of breaking as an Olympic sport, and was the final Olympic Games held during the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The 2024 Games were expected to cost €9 billion. The opening ceremony was held outside of a stadium for the first time in modern Olympic history, as athletes were paraded by boat along the Seine. Most of the ceremony took place under the rain.
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 | ![]() |
1,219 | 1,000 | 875 | 3,094 |
2 | ![]() |
473 | 376 | 355 | 1,204 |
3 | ![]() |
325 | 258 | 221 | 804 |
4 | ![]() |
317 | 318 | 320 | 955 |
5 | ![]() |
310 | 345 | 360 | 1,015 |
6 | ![]() |
280 | 319 | 354 | 953 |
7 | ![]() |
271 | 244 | 284 | 799 |
8 | ![]() |
216 | 232 | 242 | 690 |
9 | ![]() |
213 | 187 | 176 | 576 |
10 | ![]() |
206 | 191 | 221 | 618 |
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 regions, with the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo hosting. 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 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. 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. These games will become the first of two consecutive Winter Olympic games to be hosted (at least partially) in the European Alps, followed by The French Alps in 2030. 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. These games will mark the first Winter Olympics under a new IOC President, who is expected to be elected in 2025 at the 143rd IOC Session.
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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