Summer Olympic Games

Summer Olympic Games
The Olympic flame in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Summer Olympics
Games
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 2028 2032
Sports (details)
Archery Athletics Badminton Basketball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrian Hockey Fencing Football Gymnastics Golf Handball Judo Modern pentathlon Rowing Rugby sevens Sailing Shooting Swimming Synchronized swimming Table tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling

The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad (French: Jeux olympiques d'été), first held in 1896, is an international multi-sport event that is hosted by a different city every four years. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The International Olympic Committee organizes 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; 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 from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations in 1896 to 302 events with 10,768 competitors (5,992 men, 4,776 women) from 204 nations in 2012.

Eighteen countries have hosted the Summer Olympics. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics (1904, 1932, 1984, 1996), more than any other nation, and Great Britain has hosted three Summer Olympics (1908, 1948, 2012), all in London. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympics: Athens (1896, 2004), Paris (1900, 1924), Los Angeles (1932, 1984), and Tokyo (1964, 2020). Tokyo is the first city outside of the Western world to host the Summer Olympics multiple times.