History of the Olympics – Origins, Revival and Modern History

The Olympics are the world’s biggest sporting competition and take place every four years with separate Games for summer and winter sports, bringing together thousands of athletes from over 200 nations from all around the world to compete in numerous sports and disciplines.

Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympics have alternated every two years during the four-year Olympiad and are governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded in 1894. The history of the Olympics dates back almost 3,000 years and in this guide we will look at its origins and the Ancient Olympic Games as well as how it evolved into the modern era we know today.

• The Origin of Olympic Games
• Olympic Games History
• History of the Olympics Through the Years
• List of Summer Olympic Games

The Origin of Olympic Games

​​​​​The first evidence of ancient Olympic games history all the way back to 776 BC and was held in Olympia, a small town in Elis on the Peloponnese peninsula in southwest Greece. It was here where the Greeks started measuring time in Olympiads – four-year periods that reflect the duration between Olympic Games. The reason the Olympics are held every four years is thought to be in honor of the Greek god Zeus, with artistic activities like music, singing, poetry and theater also organized in separate events in Olympia alongside the sporting competition.

The Ancient Olympic Games ran like this from the 8th century BC into the 4th century AD, with as many as 50,000 people attending from all over the Greek world to watch and compete. There were no gold, silver and bronze medals like we see in Olympic competitions today, but winners were awarded with a wreath of leaves and often received a hero’s welcome upon their return home.

In 393 AD when Roman Emperor Theodosius I made the decision to ban the Olympics on religious grounds claiming they encouraged paganism and must be eliminated. His successor Theodosius II then ordered the destruction of all Greek temples in 426 AD, with the Games only being revived around the 17th century.

Olympic Games History

The Olympics’ revival can be traced back to England with lawyer Robert Dover organizing the ‘Cotswold Olimpick Games’ as annual meetings near the market town of Chipping Campden in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire between 1612 and 1642. The British Olympic Association cited these games as “the first stirrings of Britain’s Olympic beginnings” in their successful bid to host the 2012 edition in London.

Over in France, a national Olympic festival held annually at the end of the 18th century known as ‘L’Olympiade de la République’ aimed to emulate the Ancient Olympic Games, while 25,000 spectators attended Olympic-style games in Sweden between 1834 and 1843. Other Olympics-inspired games and festivals were started in 1850 in Shropshire and 1862 in Liverpool, culminating in a national Olympic Games being organized in Crystal Palace in London in 1866.

Greek interest in reviving the Olympics began during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821, with sponsored Olympic Games taking place in 1859 in Athens, Greece. A restored Panathenaic Stadium hosted future Games with 30,000 spectators attending the competition in 1870.

However, it wasn’t until the intervention of Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 that the Olympic Games were officially revived, as he founded the IOC aiming to promote international peace and friendships through sports with an international rotating competition held every four years. His ideas were presented in Paris, France with the first proper Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Athens two years later.

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History of the Olympics Through the Years

In this section we will provide a modern history of the Olympics and paint a picture of the Olympics background through the years.

Early Olympics From 1896 to 1936

The 1896 Olympic Games brought together 14 countries and over 240 athletes to compete across 43 events in the Greek capital, with the second Olympics held in Paris in 1900. These Games marked the involvement of women for the first time, although only 22 of the 997 athletes competing were female and they were only involved in five sports – tennis, sailing, golf, croquet and equestrian. Female participation has dramatically increased since with almost half of the athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Games thought to be women.

The 1904 Olympics in St. Louis – a city in the US state of Missouri – saw the first gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to competitors as well as the first known disabled athlete to compete. The 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden was the first to include athletes hailing from all five continents that are represented by the Olympic rings, with women also appearing in swimming events for the first time. The 1916 Summer Games were due to be held in Berlin, Germany but had to be canceled due to the start of World War I.

After a gap of eight years, the Olympics resumed in Belgium in 1920 but were a subdued affair with the country still coming to terms with life post war. Four years later the Olympic Games were held for the second time in Paris and were the first to build an Olympic Village for the athletes to live in during the competition, which became a staple of every Olympics thereafter.

The first ever Winter Olympics took place in 1924 in Chamonix, France too. The 1928 Amsterdam Games saw women competing in track and field athletics for the first time as well as the beginning of sponsors’ involvement in the Olympics in the shape of the Coca-Cola Company. The 1932 Los Angeles Games had a lower number of competitors as a result of the Great Depression – a global economic downturn that started in 1929.

The 1936 Berlin Games will be remembered in Olympic Games history as a precursor to the Nazi-instigated World War II, while the competition itself saw American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens win four gold medals, with Germany winning overall – ending a run of five straight Olympics where the United States finished top of the pile. Berlin also saw the Olympic flame make an appearance for the first time.

Post-WWII Olympics From 1940 to 1980

World War II put pay to both the 1940 and 1944 editions of the Games, with a 12-year gap eventually ending with the 1948 Olympics in London, which saw Germany and Japan excluded from competing. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen matched Owens’ achievements in Berlin with four gold medals, while the 1952 Games in Helsinki, Finland saw the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) compete for the first time ever and quickly establish their dominance by finishing second for golds and overall medals.

The 1952 Olympics took place in Melbourne, which marked the first games in the Southern Hemisphere, while the 1960 Rome Games saw the boxer Cassius Clay – who would go on to earn worldwide fame and recognition as Muhammad Ali – win gold in the light-heavyweight division and Wilma Rudolph win three golds in sprinting. These games were also notable as they are considered to be the first Paralympics involving athletes with a range of disabilities. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were the first to take place in Asia as well as be broadcast around the world on TV, marking a seismic moment in the visibility, popularity and accessibility of the Games.

In 1968 Mexico City hosted the Olympics with the Games witnessing the now commonplace Fosbury flop technique in high jumping which landed Dick Fosbury gold, as well as political protests for American civil rights and against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The 1972 Olympics in Munich again saw political involvement with devastating consequences as a Palestinian terror group killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches in an event referred to as the Munich massacre. Before that, United States swimmer Mark Spitz set a record of seven gold medals, with Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut winning three and Finland swimmer Lasse Viren winning two golds.

The 1976 Montreal Olympics were tragedy free but hugely exceeded their budget, costing $1.5 billion and threatening the very existence of the competition. A total of 66 nations including the US, Canada, West Germany and Japan boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan the year before, making the Games much less significant than usual.

Recent Olympics From 1984 to 2024 and Beyond

Los Angeles hosted again in 1984, while the 1998 Games in Seoul, South Korea saw a number of athletes including 100m sprinter Ben Johnson fail drug tests. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics included stars of the National Basketball Association (NBA) leading to the US playing a ‘Dream Team’, while gymnast Vitaly Scherbo won five individual golds.

The 1996 Games in Atlanta saw 200m sprinter Michael Johnson obliterate the world record in front of a home crowd, with the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia seeing amazing performances from local favorites Ian Thorpe (swimming) and Cathy Freeman (sprinting). Britain’s Steve Redgrave won gold at his fifth consecutive Games, while Eric ‘the Eel’ – a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea – made headlines for all the wrong reasons as he produced the slowest time in Olympic Games history in the pool.

The 2004 Athens Games returned to the Olympics’ spiritual homeland in Greece with American swimmer Michael Phelps winning his first gold medals, while the 2008 Games in Beijing introduced new events like BMX, with Phelps securing a new record of eight golds.

Sprinter Usain Bolt set world records in both the 100m and 200m finals too, before London 2012 saw England’s capital become the first city to host the Olympics for a third time with ticket sales particularly successful. The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were the first to take place in South America but were overshadowed by the Zika Virus and a state-sponsored doping scandal involving Russian athletes from the Winter Olympics two years prior.

The 2020 Olympics eventually took place in Tokyo, Japan in 2021 – delayed a year because of the global coronavirus pandemic – but without fans because of continuing concerns over the virus. The Olympics roared back to recognition in 2024 in Paris with packed crowds, with the 2028 edition set to take place in Los Angeles again with 2032 scheduled for Brisbane, Australia. Anyone looking for online sports betting options will find a huge array of potential bets to wager on the Olympics.

List of Summer Olympic Games