The first Olympic Summer Games of modern times took place in Athens in 1896. In 2004 the Games returned to the place of their origin.
According to the Olympic Charter, there must be a minimum of 15 Olympic sports on the programme. Due to the growth of the Olympics, the programme of the Summer Games is limited to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events and 10,500 athletes. The IOC can add new sports and strike out others – baseball and softball for example will not anymore be on the programme of the Olympic Summer Games in 2012.
Host Cities
- Athens, Greece, 1896
- Paris, France, 1900
- Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, 1904
- London, UK, 1908
- Stockholm, Sweden, 1912
- Antwerp, Belgium, 1920
- Paris, France, 1924
- Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1928
- Los Angeles, California, USA, 1932
- Berlin, Germany, 1936
- London, UK, 1948
- Helsinki, Finland, 1952
- Melbourne, Australia, 1956
- Rome, Italy, 1960
- Tokyo, Japan, 1964
- Mexico City, Mexico, 1968
- Munich, West Germany, 1972
- Montreal, Canada, 1976
- Moscow, USSR, 1980
- Los Angeles, California, USA, 1984
- Seoul, South Korea, 1988
- Barcelona, Spain, 1992
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1996
- Sidney, Australia, 2000
- Athens, Greece, 2004
- Peking, China, 2008
- London, Great Britain, 2012
- Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, 2016
Summer sports
- Aquatics
- swimming: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley style
- diving / synchronised diving: 10 m platform, 3 m springboard
- water polo
- synchronised swimming
- Aquatics
- Archery
- Athletics
- running: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1,500 m, 5,000 m, 10,000 m, 100 m hurdles (women) / 110 m hurdles (men), 400 m hurdles, 3,000 m steeplechase (men only), 4×100 m relay, 4×400 m relay, marathon
- walking: 20 km (men and women) and 50 km (men only)
- jumping: high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump
- throwing: shot put, discus throwing, hammer throwing, javelin throwing
- Badminton
- badminton: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing (men only)
- Canoeing
- canoe / kayak: flatwater racing
- canoe / kayak: slalom racing
- Cycling
- road
- track
- mountain bike
- BMX
- Equestrian
- dressage
- jumping
- eventing
- Fencing
- foil
- epee
- sabre
- Football
- Gymnastics
- artistic
- rhythmic
- trampoline
- Handball
- Hockey
- Judo
- Modern Pentathlon
- shooting, fencing, swimming, riding, cross-country running
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Softball (women only)
- Table Tennis
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
- men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles
- Triathlon
- swimming, cycling, running
- Volleyball
- volleyball
- beach volleyball
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling