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Olympic Games
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References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images, Videos & Interactives
Lighting the Olympic flame
How are sports chosen for the Olympics?
When were the first Olympic Games?
Olympic medals hang against a blurry background.
Ancient Olympic Games Wrestlers on an ancient Greek cup
Strange moments in Olympic history
Opening ceremony at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games Olympic Games Olympic torch relay
For Students
Olympic Games summary
Quizzes
Silhouette of hand holding sport torch behind the rings of an Olympic flag, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; February 3, 2015.
The Olympics Quiz
Marble bust of Alexander the Great, in the British Museum, London, England. Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC. Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt. Height: 37 cm.
Ancient Greece
Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb, front, is greeted at the finish line after teaming with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz to win the first Olympic bobsleigh gold medal in 62 years for Team USA ,(cont)
The Olympic Games
Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after breaking the world record with a time of 19.30 to win the gold medal as Churandy Martina (left) of Netherlands Antilles and Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe come in after him in the Men's 200m Final at the National Stadium during Day 12 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 20, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Summer Olympics, track and field, athletics)
I Am the Greatest (Athlete)
Assorted sports balls including a basketball, football, soccer ball, tennis ball, baseball and others.
American Sports Nicknames
Related Questions
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Tug-of-war at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., 2005.
7 Canceled or Reintroduced Olympic Sports
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indoor female volleyball match Italy vs Russia during the Volleyball World Cup, in Milan.
Olympics: Volleyball
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Olympic Games: Facts & Related Content

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News •

A new sports festival in Las Vegas is letting athletes use performance-enhancing drugs • May 21, 2025, 4:01 PM ET (AP)
NFL owners unanimously approve player participation in Olympic flag football for 2028 • May 20, 2025, 7:01 PM ET (AP)
Wrestling gold medalist Kyle Snyder pleads to lesser charge after arrest in prostitution sting • May 19, 2025, 3:59 PM ET (AP)
NFL owners to consider resolution allowing players to participate in flag football at the Olympics • May 15, 2025, 2:10 PM ET (AP)
Wrestling gold medalist Kyle Snyder charged in prostitution sting • May 13, 2025, 12:58 PM ET (AP)

Facts

Also Known As Olympiad
Notable Honorees Andreas Linger • Valerie Brisco-Hooks • Harrison Dillard • Tessa Virtue • Sarah Josephson • Scott Moir • Butch Reynolds • Aldo Nadi • Eleanor Holm • Ben Johnson • Jacques Anquetil • Karen Josephson • Oscar De La Hoya • Pablo Morales • Wolfgang Linger • Muhammad Ali • LeBron James • Lionel Messi • Russell Westbrook • Rafael Nadal • Bill Russell • Lisa Carrington • Kevin Durant • Brittney Griner • Jayson Tatum • Simone Biles • Yuto Horigome • Katie Ledecky • Chris Paul • Devin Booker • Carissa Moore • Allyson Felix • Sabrina Ionescu • Emma McKeon • Spencer Haywood • Stephen Curry • Anna Meares • Neeraj Chopra • Jimmy Butler • Mikaela Shiffrin • Serena Williams • Michael Phelps • Suni Lee • James Harden • Ariarne Titmus • Emma Twigg • Megan Rapinoe • Kōhei Uchimura • Kobe Bryant • Carmelo Anthony • Ryan Lochte • Joan Benoit Samuelson • Alex Morgan • Candace Parker • Grant Hill • Usain Bolt • Dwyane Wade • Caeleb Dressel • Hayley Wickenheiser • Yulimar Rojas • Natalie du Toit • Sha’Carri Richardson • Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce • Hamish Bond • Valerie Adams • Yelena Isinbayeva • Ye Shiwen • Mo Farah • Diana Taurasi • Jessica Fox • Julie Foudy • Michael Jordan • Arshad Nadeem • Andre Agassi • Magic Johnson • Lisa Fernandez • Andy Murray • Chris Hoy • Bart Conner • Meseret Defar • Nathan Adrian • Sally Pearson • Shaquille O’Neal • Quan Hongchan • Cheryl Miller • Bradley Wiggins • Jesse Owens • Laurie Hernandez • Babe Didrikson Zaharias • Nastia Liukin • Jackie Joyner-Kersee • Lennox Lewis • Michelle Akers • Wu Minxia • Hanyu Yuzuru • Scottie Pippen • Charles Barkley • Missy Franklin • Abby Wambach • Russell Coutts • Libby Trickett • Noureddine Morceli • Nancy Lieberman • Carolina Klüft • Ashton Eaton • Trinity Rodman • Fanny Blankers-Koen • Misty May-Treanor • Shi Tingmao • Guo Jingjing • Carl Lewis • Michael Johnson • Pernell Whitaker • Gabby Douglas • Kerri Walsh Jennings • Anne Donovan • Karch Kiraly • Tirunesh Dibaba • Věra Čáslavská • Joe Frazier • George Foreman • Sophia Smith • Sugar Ray Leonard • Donovan Bailey • Jim Thorpe • Shirley Strickland de la Hunty • Michelle Smith • Inge de Bruijn • Sebastian Coe • Ben Ainslie • Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev • Dick Fosbury • Ferenc Puskás • Irena Szewińska • Ian Thorpe • Sheryl Swoopes • Rafer Johnson • Vitaly Scherbo • Peter Snell • Nadia Comăneci • Teresa Edwards • Halil Mutlu • Abhinav Bindra • Teófilo Stevenson • Floyd Patterson • Emil Zátopek • Paavo Nurmi • Dot Richardson • Naim Süleymanoğlu • Arne Borg • Iolanda Balas • Tracy Caulkins • Bill Bradley • Murray Rose • Gong Lijiao • Liu Shiying • Paul Elvstrøm • Tommy Kono • Caitlyn Jenner • Mia Hamm • Sergey Bubka • Steven Holcomb • Pat McCormick • Gertrude Ederle • Karl Malone • Aleksandr Karelin • Kristin Otto • Cynthia Cooper-Dyke • Mary Lou Retton • Harry Mallin • Evelyn Ashford • Oscar Robertson • Nino Benvenuti • Bob Richards • Christian d’Oriola • John Stockton • Ethelda Bleibtrey • Nedo Nadi: Following in Father’s Footsteps • Abebe Bikila • Suzanne Lenglen • Tommie Smith • Micheline Ostermeyer • Steve Ovett • Steven Redgrave • Edwin Moses • Liu Xiang • John J. Flanagan • Aileen Riggin • Jessica Ennis-Hill • Marie-José Pérec • Tani Ryōko • Viktor Chukarin • Eddie Eagan • Donna de Varona • Shane Gould • Irina Press • Tamara Press • Leonid Ivanovich Zhabotinsky • Bob Mathias
Related Facts And Data Tokyo - Facts

Photos and Videos

Lighting the Olympic flame
Ancient Olympic Games
Wrestlers on an ancient Greek cup
Opening ceremony at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games
Olympic Games
Olympic torch relay
Athens 1896 Olympic Games
American Olympic team members
St. Louis 1904 Olympic swimmers
Archers at the London 1908 Olympic Games
How are sports chosen for the Olympics?
When were the first Olympic Games?
Olympic medals hang against a blurry background.
Strange moments in Olympic history
The 1936 Berlin Olympics and Nazi propaganda
See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Jerry Lucas
Jerry Lucas
American basketball player
Pierre, baron de Coubertin
Pierre, baron de Coubertin
French educator
Pat Summitt and members of the University of Tennessee's women's basketball team
Pat Summitt
American basketball coach
Bob Knight
Bob Knight
American coach
Diver Sammy Lee is presented with a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics in London
Sammy Lee
American diver
Dezsö Gyarmati
Hungarian water polo player and coach
American wrestler Dan Gable
Dan Gable
American freestyle wrestler and coach
Avery Brundage
Avery Brundage
American sports administrator
Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin
Irish author

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Assorted sports balls including a basketball, football, soccer ball, tennis ball, baseball and others.
American Sports Nicknames
Silhouette of hand holding sport torch behind the rings of an Olympic flag, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; February 3, 2015.
The Olympics Quiz
A person is shooting with recurve bow on a target during an archery competition. Focus on the targets. archery
Obscure Olympic Sports
Marble bust of Alexander the Great, in the British Museum, London, England. Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC. Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt. Height: 37 cm.
Ancient Greece
Olympic games in 1928 at Amsterdam, Holland. The finish of the 100 meter dash finals, won by Percy Williams.
Summer Olympics Host Cities
Marble bust of Alexander the Great, in the British Museum, London, England. Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC. Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt. Height: 37 cm.
Ancient Greece
Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb, front, is greeted at the finish line after teaming with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz to win the first Olympic bobsleigh gold medal in 62 years for Team USA ,(cont)
The Olympic Games
Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after breaking the world record with a time of 19.30 to win the gold medal as Churandy Martina (left) of Netherlands Antilles and Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe come in after him in the Men's 200m Final at the National Stadium during Day 12 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 20, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Summer Olympics, track and field, athletics)
I Am the Greatest (Athlete)
Rich Harden no. 40 of the Chicago Cubs pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers. July 31, 2008 at Miller Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Cubs defeated the Brewers 11-4. Major League Baseball (MLB).
Sports Firsts Through the Ages Quiz
Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb, left, and teammates Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz bite their gold medals Saturday night at Whistler Medals Plaza after winning the Olympic four-man bobsled, 2010.
Round 1: Olympic History Quiz
Olympic games in 1928 at Amsterdam, Holland. The finish of the 100 meter dash finals, won by Percy Williams.
Round 2: Olympic History Quiz
List
Young man skeet shooting with airborne shell
6 Unusual Olympic Sports
Silhouette of hand holding sport torch behind the rings of an Olympic flag, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; February 3, 2015.
7 Significant Political Events at the Olympic Games
Gold, silver, and bronze medals in the air. Background for Rio Olympic time (Olympics, Olympic games)
8 Olympic Cheating Scandals
Tug-of-war at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., 2005.
7 Canceled or Reintroduced Olympic Sports
Bolshoy Ice Dome during ice hockey Men's Prelim. Sochi 2014 XXII Olympic Winter Games
7 Ways Hosting the Olympics Impacts a City
Demystified
Corfu, Greece - April 23, 2016: The Olympic flame is symbolically passed from one torch to another after the official ceremonial lighting
How Does the Olympic Torch Stay Lit?
low angle view of a female swimmer preparing to dive from diving board against clear blue sky.
How Is Diving Scored?
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games Rings.
What Do the Olympic Rings and Flame Represent?