The modern Olympic Games (OG; or Olympics; French: Jeux olympiques, JO) 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.
Shortly after the 1924 games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped rugby union as an Olympic sport. Since then there have been numerous attempts to bring the sport back to the Olympic programme. In October 2009 the IOC voted at its session in Copenhagen to include the sevens version of the sport in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The event made its debut in an Olympic programme at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.
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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.
“ | I have always had a dream to take part in an Olympic Games, and losing my leg didn't change anything. | ” |
— Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer, a Paralympians who compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and branded as Paris 2024, is an international multi-sport event that are occuring 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 games in 1908, 1948, and 2012). 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 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris 2024 features the debut of breakdancing 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.
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 |
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 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 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. 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.
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