Summer Olympic Games

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Summer Olympic Games

international sports event

Also known as: Summer Games

Written by Mindy Johnston

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 11, 2024 • Article History

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Category: Arts & Culture

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Occurring every four years—provided there is no global war or pandemic—the Summer Olympic Games bring together athletes from across the world to compete for the love of country and sport. While the slate of events has changed over the years, with sports regularly being added and removed, perennially popular sports persist—including gymnastics, swimming, diving, volleyball, and track and field. The makeup of the Games’s participants has also evolved in response to social and national changes as well as geopolitical conditions, leading to modern Games that reflect the state of the world, the global reach of sports, and athletic diversity. The table below lists the Summer Games with links to more content, surprising facts and notable moments, and athletes whose stories have captured our attention.

Summer Games	Firsts and Notable Moments	Star Athletes
Athens 1896	The Athens Games were the first occurrence of the modern Olympic Games and the running of the first marathon. Hungary sent the only national team (although it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire); most of the foreign competitors were college students or club athletes.	Spyridon Louis: The First Olympic Hero and Alfréd Hajós: Into the Icy Waters. Bonus Bio: Pierre de Coubertin: Father of the Modern Olympics.
Paris 1900	The Paris Games saw women competing for the first time, in a limited number of sports—sailing, lawn tennis, and golf—although the women’s events were not officially approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Swimming events were held in the Seine River.	Margaret Abbott: A Study Break; Albert Ayat: The Master; and Alvin Kraenzlein: Rivalry Among Teammates.
St. Louis 1904	Boxing made its Olympic debut in 1904. Originally scheduled to be held in Chicago, the Games were moved to St. Louis so as to combine them with that city’s world’s fair, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.	Felix Carvajal: How to Make Friends at a Marathon; Ray Ewry: Higher Than the Rest; and Thomas Kiely: The Long Journey.
Athens 1906	While the 1906 Games—often referred to as the Intercalated Olympic Games—introduced important permanent customs, such as the parade of the competing nations’ teams around the track, these Games are not included in official IOC lists. The Games’s results were vetoed by organizer Pierre de Coubertin, for fear that more Olympics held in Greece would bolster a proposal to make Athens a permanent Olympic site (a suggestion supported by the rest of the IOC). Petitions to reinstate the 1906 Games were rejected by the IOC in both 1948 and 2003.
London 1908	The London Games were the first to have an opening ceremony. New events included diving, motorboating, indoor tennis, and field hockey.	Dorando Pietri: Falling at the Finish; Ralph Rose and Martin Sheridan: The Battle of Shepherd’s Bush; and Forrest Smithson: A Tall Tale.
Stockholm 1912	The whole globe was represented at Stockholm—for the first time athletes came from all five continents. Electronic timing devices for track and field events and a public-address system debuted at the 1912 Games.	George S. Patton: The Missing Bullet; Jim Thorpe: Glory Restored; Nedo Nadi: Following in Father’s Footsteps; and Martin Klein and Alfred Asikainen: The Match That Wouldn’t End
Berlin 1916	The 1916 Games, scheduled for Berlin, were canceled because of the outbreak of World War I.
Antwerp 1920	The Olympic flag was introduced at the Antwerp Games. The defeated countries of World War I—Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey—were not invited to compete, and the Soviet Union chose not to attend.	Joseph Guillemot: Life After War; Duke Kahanamoku: Hawaiian Royalty; Suzanne Lenglen: The Leading Lady; and Ugo Frigerio: Leading the Band.
Paris 1924	By the 1924 Games, international federations had gained more influence over their respective sports, standardizing the rules of competition, and national Olympic organizations in most countries conducted trials to ensure that the best athletes were sent to compete.	Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell: Chariots of Fire; Aileen Riggin: The Girl in the Pool; Johnny Weissmuller: Before Tarzan; and Paavo Nurmi: The Flying Finn.
Amsterdam 1928	The Olympic flame debuted in Amsterdam. The women’s slate gained gymnastics and track-and-field events, but the latter had distance restrictions imposed after several women collapsed while running the 800-meter race. Until the Rome Games in 1960, women were not allowed to compete in races longer than 200 meters.	Paavo Yrjölä: The Farmhand; Andrew Charlton and Arne Borg: The Boy and the Sturgeon; Ethel Catherwood: Saskatoon Lily; and Hitomi Kinue: A Strong Woman.
Los Angeles 1932	The Los Angeles Games featured the first Olympic Village, which was located in Baldwin Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles. The Olympic Village was for male athletes only; female athletes stayed in a downtown hotel. Uniform automatic timing and the photo-finish camera were used for the first time.	Stanisława Walasiewicz: The Curious Story of Stella Walsh; Babe Didrikson Zaharias: Wanting More; and Nishi Takeichi: Friendship and Honor.
Berlin 1936	The Berlin Games were the first Olympic competition to use telex transmissions of results, and zeppelins quickly transported newsreel footage to other European cities. The Games were televised for the first time, transmitted by closed circuit to specially equipped theaters in Berlin. (Distribution of newsreel footage and television highlights assisted organizers in their plans to disseminate Nazi propaganda.) The 1936 Games also introduced the torch relay, by which the Olympic flame is transported from Greece.	Helene Mayer: Fencing for the Führer; Sohn Kee-Chung: The Defiant One; Eleanor Holm: From Poolside to Press Box; and Jesse Owens: The Superior Sprinter.
Tokyo 1940	The 1940 Games, scheduled for Tokyo, were canceled because of World War II.
London 1944	World War II was still raging in 1944, and the London Games were canceled.
London 1948	The first Olympics since 1936, the 1948 Games were played while many countries were still recovering from the destruction of World War II. Germany and Japan, the defeated powers, were not invited to participate. The Soviet Union also did not participate, but the Games were the first to be attended by communist countries, including Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Poland.	Dr. Sammy Lee: Doctor Diver; Károly Takács: Switching Hands; Micheline Ostermeyer: Strength and Artistry; and Fanny Blankers-Koen: The World’s Fastest Mom.
Helsinki 1952	The Helsinki Games were the first Olympics in which the Soviet Union participated (a Russian team had last competed in the 1912 Games). The German (athletes from West Germany only) and Japanese teams returned to competition.	Lis Hartel: Beating Polio; Emil Zátopek: The Bouncing Czech; Ingemar Johansson: When the Giant Slept; and The Hungarian Football Team: The Magnificent Magyars.
Melbourne 1956	The 1956 Olympics were the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. Because of the reversal of seasons, the Games took place in November and December. The Melbourne Games introduced the practice of athletes marching into the closing ceremonies together, not segregated by nation.	Betty Cuthbert: A Humble Champion; László Papp: Facing the Best; Rudolf Kárpáti: Last of a Long Line; and Hungary v. U.S.S.R.: Blood in the Water.
Rome 1960	The 1960 Olympics were the first to be fully covered by television. Several ancient Roman sites were restored and used as venues. The Basilica of Maxentius hosted the wrestling competition, and the Baths of Caracalla was the site of the gymnastic events. The marathon was run along the Appian Way and ended under the Arch of Constantine.	Abebe Bikila: Barefoot Through the Streets of Rome; Dawn Fraser: Breaking Rules and Records; Wilma Rudolph: The Chattanooga Choo Choo; and Rafer Johnson and Yang Chuan-kwang: Friendly Competition.
Tokyo 1964	The 1964 Games introduced improved timing and scoring technologies, including the first use of computers to keep statistics. Volleyball and judo also made their Olympic debuts. South Africa was banned by the IOC for its racist policy of apartheid.	Anton Geesink: Dutch Surprise; The Japanese Women’s Volleyball Team: The Hardest Part; Peter Snell: Tearing Up the Track; and Tamara and Irina Press: Sisters.
Mexico City 1968	East and West Germany competed for the first time as separate countries in Mexico City. The 1968 Games also saw drug testing and female sex verification conducted for the first time.	Bob Beamon: Beyond Imagination; Kip Keino: A Father of Kenya; and Věra Čáslavská: Out of Hiding.
Munich 1972	The Soviet Union captured the gold medal in men’s basketball at the Munich Games, upsetting the United States, which until then had never lost a game in Olympic competition. Archery returned to the Games for the first time since 1920, with events for both men and women. Tragedy befell the games when the Palestinian militant group Black September staged a terrorist attack (later called the Munich massacre) at the Olympic Village against members of the Israeli team, leading to the death of 11 athletes.	Dan Gable: Driven; Lasse Virén: Reviving a Tradition; Mark Spitz: The Magnificent Seven; and Olga Korbut: Winning Hearts.
Montreal 1976	The 1976 Games drew more attention to the apparent problems of the Olympic movement. Questions arose about the integrity of the competition itself. Many athletes were suspected of using anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. There was also concern that the amateur spirit of the Games had been undermined by the growing commercial influence on sports in the West and the pervasive government control of athletes in the Eastern bloc countries.	Nadia Comăneci: Perfection; Kornelia Ender: Victory amid Accusations; Fujimoto Shun: Putting the Team First; and Vasily Alekseyev: The Russian Bear.
Moscow 1980	The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 led to the largest boycott in the history of the Olympic movement in 1980. U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter took the lead in calling for a boycott of the Moscow Games, and approximately 60 other countries joined the United States in staying home.	Miruts Yifter: Yifter the Shifter; Teófilo Stevenson: The Knockout Artist; Zimbabwe Women’s Hockey Team: Happy to Be Here; and Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett: The 800-Meter Duel.
Los Angeles 1984	Under the direction of American entrepreneur Peter Ueberroth, the 1984 Olympics witnessed the ascension of commercialism as an integral element in the staging of the Games. The Olympics turned a profit ($225 million) for the first time since 1932. The number of events for women grew to include cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and several new track-and-field events, most notably the marathon.	Zola Budd: Collision and Controversy; Michael Gross: The Albatross; Mary Lou Retton: L.A. Dynamo; and Yamashita Yasuhiro: The Gentle Way.
Seoul 1988	The Olympic rule requiring participants to be amateurs had been overturned in 1986, and decisions on professional participation were left to the governing bodies of particular sports. This resulted in the return of tennis, which had been dropped in 1924. Table tennis and team archery events were also added.	Lawrence Lemieux: An Easy Decision; Eamonn Coghlan: Finishing the Race; Florence Griffith Joyner: Flash and Dash; and Greg Louganis: Surviving a Scare.
Barcelona 1992	For the first time in three decades, there was no boycott. The list of sports at the Barcelona Games expanded to include badminton, baseball, and women’s judo. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the German team was again united. South Africa, which had abandoned its policy of apartheid, returned to the Olympics with its first racially integrated team.	Hassiba Boulmerka: Testing Her Faith; Derek Redmond: Between a Father and His Son; Susi Susanti: A Nation, a Sport, and One Woman; and The U.S. Men’s Basketball Team: The Dream Team.
Atlanta 1996	The Games received no governmental financial support for the first time in 1996. Instead, corporate sponsors—including Coca-Cola, which supplied more than $300 million—and television rights were relied upon to defray costs. For the first time, all national Olympic committees (NOCs) invited to compete sent athletes. New sports included women’s football (soccer), beach volleyball, lightweight rowing, women’s softball, and mountain biking (cross-country cycling). The Games’ festivities were marred by the explosion of a homemade pipe bomb left among spectators at Centennial Olympic Park. The blast killed one person and injured 112 others.	Carl Lewis: A Farewell; Aleksandr Kareline: Wrestling Goliath; Michelle Smith: Raising Suspicions; and Naim Suleymanoglu: Pocket Hercules.
Sydney 2000	Several events were contested at the Olympics for the first time in 2000, including men’s and women’s tae kwon do, trampoline, triathlon, and synchronized diving. Other new women’s events included weightlifting, modern pentathlon, and pole vault. The Sydney opening ceremonies celebrated the history of Australia, especially the unique cultures and contributions of the Aboriginal peoples of the continent.	Cathy Freeman: The Heart of a Nation; Maureen O’Toole: A First and Last Chance; and Steven Redgrave: A Rower’s Life.
Athens 2004	More than 20 athletes were disqualified at the Athens Games after they failed tests for performance-enhancing drugs, and controversies over scoring in gymnastics and fencing made headlines. A record 201 NOCs were represented.	Birgit Fischer: Superlative Olympian and The Argentine Men’s Basketball Team: Gold for the Golden Generation.
Beijing 2008	In the months prior to the Games, a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province, international focus on China’s pollution problems, protests over China’s human rights record in Tibet, and criticism of the Chinese government’s control of information became part of the Olympics story. In the end, however, the final narrative of the Beijing Games was dominated by two historic sporting feats: American swimmer Michael Phelps broke Mark Spitz’s record for most gold medals won in a single Olympics, and sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica claimed the mantle of “the fastest man alive.”	Michael Phelps: Eight-Gold-Medal Man (with a Little Help from His Friends); and Natalie du Toit: The Other-Abled Swimmer.
London 2012	In 2012 London became the first city to host the modern Games three times (1908, 1948, and 2012)—a record held until 2024, when Paris (1900, 1924, and 2024) tied for the honor. The most-notable addition to the London program was women’s boxing, which made its Olympic debut in three weight classes. The London Games were also the first Olympiad wherein each participating country had at least one female athlete competing.	Allyson Felix, Ryan Lochte, Jessica Ennis-Hill, and Kobe Bryant.
Rio de Janeiro 2016	The event marked the first time that the Olympic Games—either Summer or Winter—were held in South America. The Games featured a record 205 participating NOCs, with more than 11,000 athletes competing in 42 sports. The Rio Olympics also featured the debut of a Refugee Team made up of 10 athletes from various war-torn countries who had no permanent new home at the start of the Games.	Michael Phelps, Neymar, and Simone Biles.
Tokyo 2020	Officially the Tokyo 2020 Games, the event was actually held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the first Olympics to be held after the proposed start date. The pandemic prompted the Japanese Olympic Committee to bar spectators from the city’s sporting venues—a decision that cost the committee more than $800 million in lost ticket sales.	Emma McKeon, Lisa Carrington, and Katie Ledecky.
Paris 2024	The Summer Games return to Paris for the third time in modern history. With an eye to sustainability, the 2024 Paris Olympics are attempting to be the first Games aligned with the goals and recommendations of the Paris Climate Agreement. Actions include public transportation access to all venues, reuse of existing buildings and stadiums as venues, and low carbon and eco-friendly new buildings powered with 100 percent renewable energy. In total, Paris’s organizers anticipate a 55 percent smaller carbon footprint than the 2012 London Games, the first Games organized with a focus on sustainability.
Los Angeles 2028	Los Angeles will join the three-timers club when the Summer Games return to the city in 2028. The Los Angeles organizers—like their Paris 2024 counterparts—have sustainability in mind as they plan an “Energy Positive Games.”

Mindy Johnston