Olympic colours on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event usually Quadrennial, organised by the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics are the most prestigious such event in the world, though they are not the world's most-watched sporting event - the television audience for the single-sport FIFA World Cup is larger. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition which started in 1904.

The Games have expanded from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 men competing to including over 10,000 competitors of both genders from 202 nations. Organisers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expect approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the programme for the Games. The 2004 Summer Olympics, for which organisers had also expected 10,500 competitors, drew a total of 11,099 in the 301 events offered.

Competitors are entered by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) to represent their country of citizenship. National anthems and flags accompany the medal ceremonies, and tables showing the number of medals won by each country are widely used. In general only recognised nations are represented, but a few sovereign-disputed countries are allowed to take part.

The United States has hosted the most Summer Olympics games, hosting four. The United Kingdom will have hosted three Summer Olympics games, all in London, when they return to the British capital in 2012. Australia, France, Germany and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Countries that have hosted the Summer Olympics once are: Belgium, Canada, Finland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union and Sweden. China will host the Summer Olympics for the first time in Beijing in 2008. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Los Angeles, London, Paris and Athens.

Five countries - Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece and Switzerland - have sent teams to every single Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain, ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908.

Qualification

Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Federation (IF) that governs that sport's international competition.

For individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. National Olympic Committees may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event (3 is a common number), and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered. Many events provide for a certain number of wildcard entries, given to athletes from developing nations.

Nations qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. The host nation is generally given an automatic qualification.

List of Olympic sports

42 different sports, spanning 56 different disciplines, have been part of the Olympic programme at one point or another. 28 sports have comprised the schedule for the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics, though baseball and softball have been removed to give a list of 26 for the 2012 Games.

The Summer Olympic Sports or Federations are regrouped under a common umbrella association, called the Association of Summer Olympic Federations (ASOIF).

Archery - 1900-1912, 1920, since 1972
Modern pentathlon - since 1912
Athletics - all
Polo - 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936
Badminton - since 1992
Rackets - 1908
Baseball - 1992-2008
Roque - 1904
Basketball - since 1936
Rowing - since 1900
Basque pelota - 1900
Rugby union - 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924
Boxing - 1904, 1908, since 1920
Sailing - 1900, since 1908
Canoeing - since 1936
Shooting - 1896, 1900, 1908-1924, since 1932
Cricket - 1900
Softball - 1996-2008
Croquet - 1900
Swimming - all
Cycling - all
Synchronized swimming - since 1984
Diving - since 1904
Table tennis - since 1988
Equestrian - 1900, since 1912
Taekwondo - since 2000
Fencing - all
Tennis - 1896-1924, since 1988
Football (soccer) - 1900-1928, since 1936
Triathlon - since 2000
Golf - 1900, 1904
Tug of war - 1900-1920
Gymnastics - all
Volleyball - since 1964
Handball - 1936, since 1972
Water motorsports - 1908
Hockey (field) - 1908, 1920, since 1928
Water polo - 1900, since 1908
Jeu de paume - 1908
Weightlifting - 1896, 1904, since 1920
Judo - 1964, since 1972
Wrestling - 1896, since 1904
Lacrosse - 1904, 1908

List of modern Summer Olympic Games

Note: Although the Games of 1916, 1940, and 1944 had been cancelled, the Roman numerals for those Games were still used because the Summer Games' official titles count Olympiads, not the Games themselves; those Olympiads occurred anyway per the Olympic Charter. This is in contrast to the Roman numerals in the official titles of the Winter Olympic Games, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 & 1944; those titles count Games instead of Olympiads.

1896, Games of the I Olympiad, Athens, Greece
1900, Games of the II Olympiad, Paris, France
1904, Games of the III Olympiad, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
1908, Games of the IV Olympiad, London, United Kingdom
1912, Games of the V Olympiad, Stockholm, Sweden
1916, Games of the VI Olympiad, Berlin, Germany – cancelled because of World War I
1920, Games of the VII Olympiad, Antwerp, Belgium
1924, Games of the VIII Olympiad, Paris, France
1928, Games of the IX Olympiad, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1932, Games of the X Olympiad, Los Angeles, California, United States
1936, Games of the XI Olympiad, Berlin, Germany
1940, Games of the XII Olympiad, Tokyo, Japan → Helsinki, Finland – cancelled because of World War II
1944, Games of the XIII Olympiad, London, United Kingdom – cancelled because of World War II
1948, Games of the XIV Olympiad, London, United Kingdom
1952, Games of the XV Olympiad, Helsinki, Finland
1956, Games of the XVI Olympiad, Melbourne, Australia, Stockholm, Sweden (Equestrian events)
1960, Games of the XVII Olympiad, Rome, Italy
1964, Games of the XVIII Olympiad, Tokyo, Japan
1968, Games of the XIX Olympiad, Mexico City, Mexico
1972, Games of the XX Olympiad, Munich, West Germany
1976, Games of the XXI Olympiad, Montreal, Canada
1980, Games of the XXII Olympiad, Moscow, Soviet Union
1984, Games of the XXIII Olympiad, Los Angeles, California, United States
1988, Games of the XXIV Olympiad, Seoul, South Korea
1992, Games of the XXV Olympiad, Barcelona, Spain
1996, Games of the XXVI Olympiad, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
2000, Games of the XXVII Olympiad, Sydney, Australia
2004, Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, Athens, Greece
2008, Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing, China
2012, Games of the XXX Olympiad, London, United Kingdom

Links

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

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