"of hosting three Olympic Games, all Summer, more than any other city. The other nations hosting the Summer Games twice are Germany, Australia, France and Greece. The other cities hosting the Summer Games twice are Los Angeles, Paris and Athens. With the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Japan and Tokyo, respectively, will hold these statuses. In addition to the United States, nations hosting multiple Winter Games are France with three, while Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Japan, Canada and Italy have hosted twice. Among host cities, Lake Placid, Innsbruck and St. Moritz have played host to the Winter Olympic Games more than once,"
"Ancient Olympic Games The ancient Olympic Games were originally a festival, or celebration of and for Zeus; later, events such as a footrace, a javelin contest, and wrestling matches were added. The Olympic Games (, ""Olympia"", ""the Olympics""; also , , ""the Olympiad"") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule, until the emperor"
"Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games () or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is a quadrennial international multi-sport event. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) organises the Games and oversees the host city's preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and bronze medals are awarded for third place; this tradition began in 1904. The Winter Olympic Games were created due to the success of the Summer Olympics. The Olympics have increased in scope"
"Olympian Games, which were an inspiration to Pierre de Coubertin for the Olympic Games. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. This ceremony takes place before the events have occurred. Most of these rituals were established at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The ceremony typically starts with the hoisting of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem. The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theatre representative of its culture. The artistic presentations have grown in scale and complexity as successive hosts"
"1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. Winners were given a silver medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, and awarded bronze medals to third placed athletes. Ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals,"
"the ""Iliad"" and the ""Aeneid"" serve as two examples where athletes win material prizes, but also gain the glory and honor associated with the retelling of the story. Sports competitions are believed to have taken place over 3,000 years ago at Olympia in Greece; hence, the name the ""Olympics"". The first written account of the Games dates back to 776 BC. The exact origin and reasons behind the multi-day event is believed to be a result of ensuring peace between the city-states in the Hellenic world. These original games at Olympia gave rise to the Panhellenic Games. The Panhellenic games"
"count Olympiads, not the Games themselves, per the Olympic Charter. This contrasts with the Winter Olympic Games, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 & 1944 in their numeric count."" Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games () or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is a quadrennial international multi-sport event. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) organises the Games and oversees the host city's preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and bronze"
"events vs. 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, a French pedagogue and historian, 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 a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in"
"in throwing the javelin. It was predictably in Greece that sports were first instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in Olympia, where they were celebrated until 393 CE. These games took place every four years, or ""Olympiad"", which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. Initially a single sprinting event, the Olympics gradually expanded to include several footraces, run in the nude or in armor, boxing, wrestling, ""pankration"", chariot racing, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw. During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from"
"began in 1896 medals started to be given to successful olympian competitors. However, gold medals were not awarded at the inaugural Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece. The winners were instead given a silver medal and an olive branch, while runners-up received a laurel branch and a copper or bronze medal. In 1900, most winners received cups or trophies instead of medals. The custom of the sequence of gold, silver, and bronze for the first three places dates from the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has retroactively assigned gold,"
"the marathon course on her own, saying ""If the committee doesn't let me compete I will go after them regardless"". The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of 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"
"Olympic Games, starting with the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Intercalated Games The Intercalated Olympic Games were to be a series of ""International Olympic Games"" halfway between what is now known as the Games of the Olympiad. This proposed series of games, intercalated in the Olympic Games cycle, was to always be held in Athens, and were to have equal status with the international games. However, the only such games were held in 1906. The first Intercalated Games had been scheduled by the IOC in 1901 as part of a new schedule, where every four years, in between the"
"specific Olympiads. Olympic winners of the Archaic period Just how far back in history organized athletic contests were held remains a matter of debate, but it is reasonably certain that they occurred in Greece almost 3,000 years ago. However ancient in origin, by the end of the 6th century BC at least four Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called ""classical games,"" had achieved major importance: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia; the Pythian Games at Delphi; the Nemean Games at Nemea; and the Isthmian Games, held near Corinth. The Olympic Games was perhaps the greatest of all sporting event held every"
"the first games in 1896. A decision was made to hold the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens and that Paris would host the second celebration. Most of the winners in 1900 did not receive medals, but were given cups or trophies. Professionals competed in fencing and Albert Robert Ayat (France), who won the épée for amateurs and masters, was awarded a prize of 3000 francs. Some events were contested for the only time in the history of the Games, including automobile and motorcycle racing, ballooning, cricket, croquet, Basque pelota, and 200m swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming. This"
"are also internationally renowned filmmakers in the Greek diaspora, such as the Greek-French Costa-Gavras and the Greek-Americans Elia Kazan, John Cassavetes and Alexander Payne. Greece is the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, and hosted the modern Olympic Games twice, the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. During the parade of nations Greece is always called first, as the founding nation of the ancient precursor of modern Olympics. The nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games, one of only four countries to have done so. Having won a total"
"then became the first Winter Games to hold competitions before the opening ceremony. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the Opening Ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games. Most of these rituals were canonized at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The artistic program is what creates the idiosyncratic element of each ceremony. Coubertin's initial vision of the Modern Olympics featured both athletic competitions and artistic achievements. As the modern Olympics have evolved into a celebration of sport, it is in the opening ceremonies that one can see the most of Coubertin's ideal. The opening"
"place in Sha Tin and Kwu Tung. The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850. The first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896, 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"
"Games. Women took part in the games for the first time, and sailor Hélène de Pourtalès, born Helen Barbey in New York City, became the first female Olympic champion. The decision to hold competitions on a Sunday brought protests from many American athletes, who travelled as representatives of their colleges and were expected to withdraw rather than compete on their religious day of rest. At the Sorbonne conference of 1894, Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games should take place in 1900 in Paris. The delegates to the conference were unwilling to wait six years and lobbied to hold"
"featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic games, all struggles between the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished. The origin of the Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend. During the 19th century, the Olympic Games became a popular global event. While some economists are skeptical about the economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games, emphasizing that such ""mega-events"" often have large costs, hosting (or even bidding for) the Olympics appears to increase the host country's exports, as the host or candidate country sends a signal about trade openness when bidding"
"Olympic Games between its debut in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In Beijing, the nation was making its fourth appearance at the Olympics, having never competed in a Winter Olympic Games. With three competitors, this was the most participants ever sent to an Olympics by São Tomé and Príncipe. The country had never won a medal in Olympic competition. Long-distance runner Celma Bonfim da Graça was selected as the flagbearer for the parade of nations at the opening ceremony. An unknown assistant of the National Olympic Committee carried the flag in the"
"Frenchman, instigated the modern revival of the Olympic movement. The first modern Olympics were held at 1896 Athens in. The Romans built immense structures such as the Colisseum in Rome to house their festivals of sport. The Romans exhibited a passion for blood sports, such as the infamous Gladiatorial battles that pitted contestants against one another in a fight to the death. The Olympic Games revived many of the sports of Classical Antiquity—such as Greco-Roman wrestling, discus and javelin. The sport of bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France, and some Latin American countries. It traces its"
"Olympic winners of the Archaic period Just how far back in history organized athletic contests were held remains a matter of debate, but it is reasonably certain that they occurred in Greece almost 3,000 years ago. However ancient in origin, by the end of the 6th century BC at least four Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called ""classical games,"" had achieved major importance: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia; the Pythian Games at Delphi; the Nemean Games at Nemea; and the Isthmian Games, held near Corinth. The Olympic Games was perhaps the greatest of all sporting event held every four years"
"wide variety of sports. Athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively. The games are generally held every four years, though some are annual competitions. The Ancient Olympic Games, first held in 776 BC, was the precursor to the Modern Olympic Games, although its first edition only featured a footrace and the number of sporting competitions expanded at later editions. There were several other ""games"" held in Europe in the classical era: Other multi-sport festivals emerged in the Middle Ages in Europe, including the Cotswold Olimpick Games in England in the"
"Olympics on television The Olympic Games have been broadcast on television since the 1936 Summer Olympics. The 1936 games, held in Berlin, Germany, were televised by means of closed circuit television to various viewing halls. Broadcasts of the Games were made available in more than two dozen halls in Berlin, Leipzig and Potsdam and the Olympic village. The BBC provided coverage of the games on their television service, live from Wembley Stadium. Coverage was limited to the London area. Television service was introduced to Australia in time for the 1956 Games in Melbourne. International broadcasting institutions present were BBC, CBS,"
"economies with their support. Traces of sprinting as a team sport extend back several thousand years - as evidenced in images in the cave in Lascaux in France which depict people running after animals or ""vice versa""; this was an issue of survival of the fittest. Organized athletics in Greece traditionally date back to 776 BC, with ongoing activity recorded up to 393 BC. These ancient Olympic Games tested warrior skills and consisted of running, jumping or leaping, wrestling (combat sport), and javelin throw. In the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia, Neolithic-era cave paintings dating to 7000 BC depict a wrestling"
"match surrounded by crowds. Prehistoric cave-paintings in Japan show a sport similar to sumo wrestling. In Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Libya, a Neolithic rock painting in the cave of swimmers shows evidence of swimming and archery being practiced around 6000 BC. The term ""athlete"", according to mythology, derives from the name of Aethlius, the mythological first King of Elis (the location of Olympia) in Greece. The practice of young athletes carrying flaming torches is also traced to the King of Elis, under whose supervision the games took place; some historians regard this as the first record of Olympic"
"of Olympic Day to commemorate the creation of the IOC on 23 June 1894 in Paris, a sort of “ birthday ” of the Olympic Movement at the 42nd IOC Session in St Moritz, Switzerland. Olympic Day was held for the first time on 23 June with a total of 9 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) hosting ceremonies in their respective countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Great Britain, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela. In 1987, in an effort to encourage all NOCs to commemorate and celebrate Olympic Day, the IOC Sport for All Commission launched the Olympic Day Run concept with"
"Greek city-state and kingdom were allowed to participate, although the Hellanodikai, the officials in charge, allowed king Alexander I of Macedon to participate in the games only after he had proven his Greek ancestry. The games were always held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations as is the practice with the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations. To the Greeks, it was important to root the Olympic Games in mythology. During the time of the ancient games their origins were attributed to the gods, and competing legends persisted"
"Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The idea for the Olympic flame was derived from ancient Greece, where a sacred fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics on the altar of the sanctuary of Hestia. In Ancient Greek mythology, fire had divine connotations — it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Sacred fires were present at many ancient Greek sanctuaries, including those at Olympia. Every four years, when Zeus was honoured at the Olympic Games, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is"
"idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I. The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and an ice hockey tournament. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were banned from competing in the Games. At the IOC Congress held the following year it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer"
"Games, the first modern Olympics took place at Athens in 1896. The main stadium, Panathinaiko, served as host of the athletic, gymnastic, weightlifting, and wrestling events. The city of Marathon served the start point for the sport of the same name and the starting and finishing point of cycling's Individual road race. Between the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics, Greece underwent a series of events that created political instability in the country. This included the Balkan Wars of 1912-3, World War I, the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), a creation of a Second Hellenic Republic of 1924-35, the Axis Occupation of Greece"
"Olympic Committee and the holding of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. The second games, the first Olympics held outside of Greece, were the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, from 14 May until 28 October 1900, organized in conjunction with the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900. There were 19 sports included in the event, and women competed in the Olympics for the first time. The swimming events took place in the Seine. Some of the sports were unusual by modern standards; they included automobile and motorcycle racing, cricket, croquet, underwater swimming, tug-of-war, and shooting live pigeons. Cycling"
"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, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several 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 a disability, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental"