Olympic History
See how the Games evolved from ancient to modern times, and learn about some of the world's greatest moments in athleticism.
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The first recorded Olympics take place in ancient Olympia. Athletes compete once every Olympiad (four years) to bring honor to their city-states, and winners receive an olive leaf crown. The earliest games feature running, but in later years events such as boxing and chariot racing appear.
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According to historians, the ancient Olympic tradition of naked competition is born when a runner named Orsippos loses his shorts mid-race, and goes on to win. Other athletes seeking to duplicate his success soon follow suit.
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Roman Emperor Theodosius bans all pagan rituals, putting an end to the Olympics.
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Poet Alexandros Soutsos suggests reviving the Olympics in a poem published by a Greek newspaper.
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Evangelos Zappas, a Romanian businessman of Greek descent, founds the Zappas Games, which are inspired by Soutsos' poem and include competition in agriculture and industry. Games take place in 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1889.
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German archaeologist Ernst Curtius begins the excavation of Olympia, site of the ancient games and home to the temple of Zeus. Today, it is where the Olympic torch is lit to begin the relay leading up to the Games.
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At an international sports meeting, Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin - an avid admirer of ancient Greek ideals – pushes through a proposal to resurrect the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is founded.
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Athens hosts the first modern Olympics, with 14 countries participating. James Brendan Connolly, a triple jumper from Boston, becomes the first Olympic champion in more than 1,500 years.
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Women make their first appearance in Olympic competition, when a handful of female athletes compete in lawn tennis and golf at the Paris Games.
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The gold medal is introduced. Previous top winners in the modern Games took home a silver medal and an olive wreath, because Greece's Crown Prince Constantine didn't want it to seem as if the athletes were being paid.
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In a compromise between Greeks, who want to permanently host the Games and feel that disorganization and frivolity are damaging the Olympics' integrity, and de Coubertin, who wants the Games to move around the world, Athens hosts an "interim Olympics." The practice lasts into the '20s.
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The Games are moved from Rome to London after the 1906 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The London Olympics are credited with restoring much-needed credibility to the Games.
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The Winter Games are established, but because of World War I they do not take place until 1924, in Chamonix, France.
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American Jim Thorpe, who dominated the 1912 games and took the gold in decathlon and pentathlon, is stripped of his medals when officials learn he had played professional baseball, going against the IOC rules that athletes should not be paid. His medals are restored posthumously in 1982.
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The Summer Games in Berlin are cancelled due to World War I.
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At the St. Moritz, Switzerland, Winter Games, Norwegian skater Sonja Henie, 15, sets a 70-year record as the youngest individual event winner.
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The Olympic flame returns at the Amsterdam Summer Games. The flame was lit during ancient Games to represent the story of when Prometheus stole Zeus' fire.
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The U.S. bobsled team wins the four-man bobsled event at the Lake Placid, N.Y., Winter Games, making team member Eddie Eagan the first and only man to win both a Summer and Winter Olympic medal - Eagan had won the 1920 light-heavyweight boxing gold medal.
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In a blow to Adolf Hitler's plan to have the Berlin Olympics prove Aryan superiority, black U.S. track and field star Jesse Owens becomes the first Olympian to win four gold medals.
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Summer and Winter Games scheduled to take place in Japan are switched to Germany and Finland after Japan invades China, then cancelled altogether due to the start of World War II.
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Summer Games in England and Winter Games in Italy are cancelled due to World War II.
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The IOC bans both Germany and Japan from competing as punishment for their actions during the war. They return to the Games in 1952.
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South Africa is banned from the Olympics because of apartheid, and is not welcomed back until the segregationist system is abolished in 1992. Similarly, Rhodesia was banned due to its racist practices in 1972; it returns in 1980 as the new nation of Zimbabwe.
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Drug testing and gender verification testing make their debut at the Mexico City Olympics. A Swedish pentathelete is disqualified for having consumed too much alcohol.
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Palestinian terrorists attack Israelis at the Munich Games. Following a 21-hour standoff, 11 Israel athletes and coaches, five terrorists and one police officer are dead. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz wins a record seven gold medals. Spitz, a Jew, leaves before the closing ceremony.
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Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old Romanian, scores the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics, at the Games in Montreal. She receives the top score seven times, earning three gold medals.
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The United States boycotts the Moscow Olympics, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Several other nations join in. It's the second major boycott of the Olympics; in 1976, 22 African nations stayed home because New Zealand's national rugby team had competed in South Africa.
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The Soviet Union boycotts the Los Angeles Olympics in retaliation for America's 1980 boycott.
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Winter and Summer Games are put on a two-year alternating schedule, with the Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, held two years after those in Albertville, France. The feud between skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding makes headlines, but Oksana Baiul takes the gold.
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The rule against allowing professionals to compete at the Olympics is relaxed over the years, as some nations managed to skirt it by putting athletes on government payrolls. The IOC eventually decides to leave the decision up to each sport's governing body.
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In the first year professionals are allowed to compete in men's basketball, the U.S. "Dream Team," including Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, wins the gold in Barcelona.
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A bomb left in a backpack at Centennial Olympic Park explodes during the Atlanta Games, killing one woman and injuring 111 people. Accused serial bomber Eric Rudolph, who is also a suspect in bombings at abortion clinics and a gay nightclub, is charged in the case.
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At the Nagano, Japan, Winter Games, U.S. skater Tara Lipinski, 15, breaks Sonja Henie's record as the youngest individual event winner.
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A scandal erupts when it is alleged that the leaders of Salt Lake City's Olympic bid team bribed International Olympic Committee members with more than $1 million in cash and gifts. Two officials are brought up on federal charges, but later acquitted.
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They Sydney Summer Games feature 10,651 athletes (4,069 of them women) from 199 nations. The U.S., Russian Federation, and China lead the medal count.
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These Games were controversial starting years before they begin, as it is revealed that several IOC members accepted inappropriately large gifts in exchange for voting to hold the Games in Salt Lake City. For the first time since 1968, female athletes are not tested for gender. Germany, the U.S., and Norway end up with the most medals, with Norway taking home the most golds.
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The Games return to their birthplace, Athens, after 108 years. The Panathenian stadium is reused for events including archery and the finish of the Marathon. The Zappeion, the first indoor Olympic arena, was utilized as the Olympic Press Centre. Participation records were broken, with 201 nations and 10,625 athletes taking part in 301 different events. The U.S., Russia and China lead the medal count.
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Torino, Italy hosts the XXth Winter Games. The Olympic flag is carried in by an all-woman crew, including Sophia Loren, Susan Sarandon, Isabel Allende, and Wangari Maathai. Germany, the U.S. and Austria lead the medal count.
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Beijing hosts the Games of the XXIXth Olympiad.
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Credits:
IOC 2004, Athens 2004,. encyclopedia.com, infoplease.com, Zappeion Press Center
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