Just how far back in history organized athletic contests were held remains a matter of debate, but it is reasonably certain that they occurred in Greece almost 3,000 years ago. However ancient in origin, by the end of the 6th century BC at least four Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called “classical games,” had achieved major importance: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia; the Pythian Games at Delphi; the Nemean Games at Nemea; and the Isthmian Games, held near Corinth. Later, similar festivals were held in nearly 150 cities as far afield as Rome, Naples, Odessus, Antioch, and Alexandria.

boxing was introduced in 688 BC and chariot racing eight years later. In 648 BC the pancratium (from Greek pankration), a kind of no-holds-barred combat, was included. This brutal contest combined wrestling, boxing, and street fighting. Kicking and hitting a downed opponent were allowed; only biting and gouging (thrusting a finger or thumb into an opponent's eye) were forbidden. Between 632 and 616 BC events for boys were introduced. And from time to time further events were added, including a footrace in which athletes ran in partial armour and contests for heralds and for trumpeters. The program, however, was not nearly so varied as that of the modern Olympics. There were neither team games nor ball games, and the athletics (track and field) events were limited to the four running events and the pentathlon mentioned above. Chariot races and horse racing, which became part of the ancient Games, were held in the hippodrome south of the stadium.

Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally.

International Olympic Committee presidents International Olympic Committee presidentsThe IOC elects its president for a period of eight years, at the end of which the president is eligible for reelection for further periods of four years each. The executive board of 15 members holds periodic meetings with the international federations and national Olympic committees. The IOC as a whole meets annually, and a meeting can be convened at any time that one-third of the members so request.

Sites of the modern Olympic Games Sites of the modern Olympic GamesApplications must state that no political meetings or demonstrations will be held in the stadium or other sports grounds or in the Olympic Village. Applicants also promise that every competitor shall be given free entry without any discrimination on grounds of religion, colour, or political affiliation. This involves the assurance that the national government will not refuse visas to any of the competitors. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, however, the Canadian government refused visas to the representatives of Taiwan because they were unwilling to forgo the title of the Republic of China, under which their national Olympic committee had been admitted to the IOC. This Canadian decision, in the opinion of the IOC, did great damage to the Olympic Games, and it was later resolved that any country in which the Games are organized must undertake to strictly observe the rules. It was acknowledged that enforcement would be difficult, and even the use of severe penalties by the IOC might not guarantee elimination of infractions.

Contrary to popular belief, the torch relay from the temple of Hera in Olympia to the host city has no predecessor or parallel in antiquity. No relay was needed to run the torch from Olympia to Olympia. A perpetual fire was indeed maintained in Hera's temple, but it had no role in the ancient Games. The Olympic flame first appeared at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. The torch relay was the idea of Carl Diem, organizer of the 1936 Berlin Games, where the relay made its debut. Subsequent editions have grown larger and larger, with more runners, more spectators, and greater distances. The 2004 relay reached all seven continents on its way from Olympia to Athens. The relay is now one of the most splendid and cherished of all Olympic rituals; it emphasizes not only the ancient source of the Olympics but also the internationalism of the modern Games. The flame is now recognized everywhere as an emotionally charged symbol of peace.

The inaugural Games of the modern Olympics were attended by as many as 280 athletes, all male, coming from 12 countries. The athletes competed in 43 events covering athletics (track and field), cycling, swimming, gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling, fencing, shooting, and tennis. A festive atmosphere prevailed as foreign athletes were greeted with parades and banquets. A crowd estimated at more than 60,000 attended the opening day of competition. Members of the royal family of Greece played an important role in the organization and management of the Games and were regular spectators over the 10 days of the Olympics. Hungary sent the only national team; most of the foreign athletes were well-to-do college students or members of athletic clubs attracted by the novelty of the Olympics.

The second modern Olympic competition was relegated to a sideshow of the World Exhibition, which was being held in Paris in the summer of 1900. Pierre, baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics and president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), lost control of his hometown Games to the French government. The Games suffered from poor organization and marketing, with events conducted over a period of five months in venues that often were inadequate. The track-and-field events were held on a grass field that was uneven and often wet. Broken telephone poles were used to make hurdles, and hammer throwers occasionally found their efforts stuck in a tree. The swimming events were contested in the Seine River, whose strong current carried athletes to unrealistically fast times. There was such confusion about schedules that few spectators or journalists were present at the events. Officials and athletes often were unaware that they were participating in the Olympics. See Sidebar: Margaret Abbott: A Study Break.

Like the 1900 Olympics in Paris, the 1904 Games took a secondary role. The Games originally were scheduled for Chicago, but the location was changed to St. Louis when Olympic organizing committee officials decided to combine the Olympics with the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, a large fair celebrating the 100th anniversary of the U.S. acquisition of the Louisiana Territory. As a result, the Games suffered. Several events became part of an “anthropological” exhibition in which American Indians, Pygmies, and other “tribal” peoples competed in events such as mud fighting and pole climbing. The Games were poorly attended by both spectators and athletes. The remoteness of St. Louis and growing tension in Europe over the Russo-Japanese War kept away many of the world's best athletes. Of the approximately 650 competitors representing 12 countries, fewer than 100 were from outside the United States, and about half of those were from Canada. Even the Olympic founder, the baron de Coubertin, stayed away in 1904.

The 1908 Olympic Games originally were scheduled for Rome, but, with Italy beset by organizational and financial obstacles, it was decided that the Games should be moved to London. The London Games were the first to be organized by the various sporting bodies concerned and the first to have an opening ceremony. The parade of athletes, like the Games, was marred by politics and controversy. The Finnish team protested Russian rule in Finland. Many Irish athletes refused to compete as subjects of the British crown and were absent from the Games, and a running feud between the Americans and the British began when the American shot-putter Ralph Rose would not dip the U.S. flag in salute to King Edward VII. This refusal later became standard practice for U.S. athletes in the opening parade. (See Sidebar: Ralph Rose and Martin Sheridan: The Battle of Shepherd's Bush.)

Known as the “Swedish Masterpiece,” the 1912 Olympics were the best organized and most efficiently run Games to that date. Electronic timing devices and a public address system were used for the first time. The Games were attended by approximately 2,400 athletes representing 28 countries. New competition included the modern pentathlon and swimming and diving events for women. The boxing competition was canceled by the Swedish organizers, who found the sport disagreeable; this cancellation, along with controversial officiating at earlier Olympics, prompted the IOC to greatly curtail the role of local organizing groups after 1912.

The star of the 1912 Olympics was American Jim Thorpe (Thorpe, Jim). Entered in four events, he began slowly with a fourth-place finish in the high jump and a seventh-place finish in the long jump. In the pentathlon and decathlon, however, Thorpe dominated the events to win two gold medals. The track-and-field competition also featured the long-distance running of Hannes Kolehmainen (Kolehmainen, Hannes) of Finland, who won gold medals in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre runs and the 12,000-metre cross-country race. The 1912 Games marked the Olympic debuts of legendary fencer Nedo Nadi (Nadi brothers) of Italy and American swimmer Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (Kahanamoku, Duke Paoa) of Hawaii.

The 1920 Olympics were awarded to Antwerp in hopes of bringing a spirit of renewal to Belgium, which had been devastated during the war. The defeated countries of World War I—Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey—were not invited. The new Soviet Union chose not to attend.

The 1924 Games represented a coming of age for the Olympics. Held in Paris in tribute to the baron de Coubertin, the retiring president of the IOC and founder of the Olympic movement, the Games featured a high calibre of competition. International federations had gained more influence over their respective sports, standardizing the rules of competition, and national Olympic organizations in most countries conducted trials to ensure that the best athletes were sent to compete. More than 3,000 athletes, including more than 100 women, represented a record 44 countries. fencing was added to the women's events, although the total number of events decreased because of a reduction in the number of shooting and yachting competitions.

Track-and-field and gymnastics events were added to the women's slate at the 1928 Olympics. There was much criticism of the decision, led by the baron de Coubertin and the Vatican. Women athletes, however, had formed their own track organizations and had held an Olympic-style women's competition in 1922 and 1926. Their performances at these events convinced the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF; later International Association of Athletics Federations) that women were capable of a high level of athletic competition and deserved a place at the Olympics.

Germany returned to Olympic competition at the 1928 Games, which featured the debut of the Olympic flame. Approximately 3,000 athletes (including nearly 300 women), representing 46 countries, participated in the Olympics. The men's athletics competition was noteworthy for two reasons. It was last Olympic Games for the great Paavo Nurmi (Nurmi, Paavo) and Ville Ritola (Ritola, Ville) of Finland. It was also the poorest performance to date for the U.S. team, which won only three of a possible 12 gold medals in running events. Percy Williams (Williams, Percy) of Canada won both the 100- and 200-metre runs. Controversy arose in the women's 800-metre run when several women collapsed from exhaustion at the end of the race; Olympic officials concluded that the distance was too long for women, and it was not until the 1960 Games in Rome that women were allowed to compete in a race of more than 200 metres.

Only about 1,300 athletes, representing 37 countries, competed in the 1932 Games. The poor participation was the result of the worldwide economic depression (Great Depression) and the expense of traveling to California. The Los Angeles Games featured the first Olympic Village, which was located in Baldwin Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, and covered 321 acres (130 hectares). The male athletes were housed in more than 500 bungalows and had access to a hospital, a library, a post office, and 40 kitchens serving a variety of cuisines. The female athletes stayed at a downtown hotel. The Los Angeles Coliseum was expanded to seat more than 100,000 people, and a new track was installed. Made of crushed peat, the new surface was exceptionally fast, resulting in 10 world records in the running events. Uniform automatic timing and the photo-finish camera were used for the first time at the 1932 Games.

The 1936 Olympics were held in a tense, politically charged atmosphere. The Nazi Party had risen to power in 1933, two years after Berlin was awarded the Games, and its racist policies led to international debate about a boycott of the Games. Fearing a mass boycott, the IOC pressured the German government and received assurances that qualified Jewish athletes would be part of the German team and that the Games would not be used to promote Nazi ideology. Adolf Hitler (Hitler, Adolf)'s government, however, routinely failed to deliver on such promises. Only one athlete of Jewish descent was a member of the German team (see Sidebar: Helene Mayer: Fencing for the Führer); pamphlets and speeches about the natural superiority of the Aryan race were commonplace; and the Reich Sports Field, a newly constructed sports complex that covered 325 acres (131.5 hectares) and included four stadiums, was draped in Nazi banners and symbols. Nonetheless, the attraction of a spirited sports competition was too great, and in the end 49 countries chose to attend the Olympic Games in Berlin.

Despite limited preparation time and after much debate over the need for a sports festival at a time when many countries were still recovering from the destruction of World War II, the 1948 Olympics ultimately were very popular and were perceived as providing relief from the strains caused by the war.

Over 4,000 athletes from 59 countries participated in the Games. Poor weather and a sloppy track slowed the track-and-field competition, in which the fewest Olympic records were set in the history of the Games. The women's competition was expanded to 10 events with the addition of the 200-metre run, the long jump, and the shot put. Fanny Blankers-Koen (Blankers-Koen, Fanny), a 30-year-old mother of two children, won four gold medals for The Netherlands. Emil Zátopek (Zátopek, Emil) of Czechoslovakia won the 10,000-metre run, the first of four gold medals in his career. American Bob Mathias (Mathias, Bob) became the youngest gold medalist in the decathlon, winning the event at age 17.

The 1952 Games were the first Olympics in which the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) participated (a Russian team had last competed in the 1912 Games), and the international tension caused by the Cold War initially prevailed. Prior to the Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee used the rivalry between East and West to raise funds for the U.S. team. The Soviet Union announced plans to house its athletes in Leningrad and fly into Helsinki each day; these plans were dropped, but a separate Olympic Village for Eastern bloc countries was created in Otaniemi. The Games themselves, however, were friendly, and by the end of the competition Soviet officials had opened their village to all athletes. The Helsinki Games marked the return of German and Japanese teams to Olympic competition. East Germany had applied for participation in the Games but was denied, and the German team consisted of athletes from West Germany only.

Nearly 5,000 athletes competed, representing 69 countries. The track-and-field competition starred Emil Zátopek (Zátopek, Emil) of Czechoslovakia, who won the gold medal in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre runs. He also won the gold medal in the marathon, in his first attempt ever at that event. The American men, led by pole vaulter Bob Richards (Richards, Bob) and 800-metre specialist Mal Whitfield (Whitfield, Mal), won 14 of the 23 events. The women's track competition featured the sprinting of Marjorie Jackson (Jackson, Marjorie) and the hurdling of Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (Strickland de la Hunty, Shirley), both of Australia. Soviet women, led by Galina Zybina (Zybina, Galina), made a strong showing in the field events.

The 1956 Olympics were the first held in the Southern Hemisphere. Because of the reversal of seasons, the Games were celebrated in November and December. The remoteness of Australia and two international crises accounted for the low number of participants; fewer than 3,500 athletes from 67 countries attended the Games. Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq boycotted in protest of the Israeli invasion of the Sinai Peninsula in October. Moreover, a few weeks before the opening of the Games, the Soviet army entered Budapest, Hungary, and suppressed a popular uprising against the government (see also Sidebar: Hungary v. U.S.S.R.: Blood in the Water); The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion. East and West Germany competed as a single team, a practice that would last through the 1964 Games. Because of Australian quarantine restrictions, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm during June. The Melbourne Games introduced the practice of athletes marching into the closing ceremonies together, not segregated by nation.

The 1960 Olympics were the first to be fully covered by television. Taped footage of the Games was flown to New York City at the end of each day and broadcast on the CBS television network in the United States. Eurovision provided live television broadcasts throughout Europe. An Olympic Stadium, home to the opening and closing ceremonies and the track-and-field competition, and a Sports Palace were built for the Games, and several ancient sites were restored and used as venues. The Basilica of Maxentius hosted the wrestling competition. The Baths of Caracalla provided the site of the gymnastic events. The marathon was run along the Appian Way and ended under the Arch of Constantine.

Over 5,000 athletes representing 83 countries participated in the Rome Games. The track-and-field competition starred Abebe Bikila (Bikila, Abebe) of Ethiopia, who, with his victory in the marathon, became the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal. Women's athletics were dominated by American sprinter Wilma Rudolph (Rudolph, Wilma), who won three gold medals. The decathlon featured a tightly contested battle between Rafer Johnson (Johnson, Rafer) of the United States and Yang Chuan-kwang of Taiwan, close friends who both attended the University of California at Los Angeles and trained under the same coach. Although Yang outperformed Johnson in seven events, the American's dominance in the throwing events made the difference, and he outscored Yang by 58 points to win the gold medal. Middle-distance runner Peter Snell (Snell, Peter) of New Zealand won the first of his three career gold medals.

The 1964 Olympics introduced improved timing and scoring technologies, including the first use of computers to keep statistics. After Taiwan and Israel were excluded from the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO), a competition that had been held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1963, the IOC declared that any athlete participating in that sports festival would be ineligible for the Olympics. Indonesia and North Korea then withdrew from the Tokyo Games after a number of their athletes were declared ineligible. Also absent from the 1964 Games was South Africa, which had been banned by the IOC for its racist policy of apartheid. Volleyball and judo were added. (See Sidebar: The Japanese Women's Volleyball Team: The Hardest Part.) The pentathlon (later enlarged to become the heptathlon) and the 400-metre run were added to the slate of women's athletics events.

More than 5,000 athletes from 93 countries competed. New Olympic records were set in 27 of the 36 events in the track-and-field competition. The star performer was Peter Snell (Snell, Peter) of New Zealand, who captured the gold medal in both the 800- and 1,500-metre runs. He was the only non-American to win a men's track event. The U.S. team included Bob Hayes (Hayes, Bob), who won the 100 metres, and Billy Mills (Mills, Billy), the surprise winner of the 10,000-metre run. Abebe Bikila (Bikila, Abebe) of Ethiopia won his second marathon. The women's competition featured the Press sisters, Irina (Press, Irina) and Tamara (Press, Tamara), of the Soviet Union. Irina won the gold medal in the pentathlon, Tamara the gold in the shot put and the discus.

Gymnast Věra ČṂslavská (Čáslavská, Věra) of Czechoslovakia won the first of her two career individual gold medals in the combined exercises. Soviet gymnasts Boris Shakhlin (Shakhlin, Boris Anfiyanovich) and Larisa Latynina (Latynina, Larisa Semyonovna) ended their Olympic careers with gold medal performances. Soviet wrestler Aleksandr Medved (Medved, Aleksandr Vasilyevich) won the first of his three career gold medals. Anton Geesink (Geesink, Anton) of The Netherlands was the surprise champion of the open division of the judo competition.

The high elevation of Mexico City (2,300 metres 【7,500 feet】) was both a benefit and a hindrance to track-and-field competitors. The sprinters and field athletes thrived in the thin air. The same was not true for most of the distance runners. African runners, who trained at high elevations, had an advantage; Kip Keino (Keino, Kip) of Kenya did particularly well, earning gold and silver medals. Americans Bob Beamon (Beamon, Bob) (long jump) and Lee Evans (Evans, Lee) (400-metre run) shattered world records, and Dick Fosbury (Fosbury, Dick) won the high jump with his revolutionary “Fosbury flop” technique.

Tragedy struck the 1972 Olympics in Munich when eight Palestinian terrorists (terrorism) invaded the Olympic Village on September 5 and killed two members of the Israeli team. Nine other Israelis were held hostage as the terrorists bargained for the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. All the hostages, five of their captors, and a West German policeman were slain in a failed rescue attempt. The tragedy brought the Games to a halt and cast a long shadow over what had been theretofore a memorably joyful Games. All competition was suspended for a day while a memorial service for the victims was conducted at the Olympic Stadium. IOC president Avery Brundage (Brundage, Avery)'s decision to continue the Games after the attack was widely criticized. In subsequent Olympics, increased security measures in the Olympic Villages and competition venues protected athletes but also diminished the festive and open atmosphere that is at the heart of Olympism.

The swimming competition starred American Mark Spitz (Spitz, Mark), who won seven gold medals (three in relays), the most by any athlete in one Olympics to that time. Shane Gould (Gould, Shane) of Australia won three gold medals, a silver, and a bronze in the women's swimming events.

Archery returned to the Games for the first time since 1920, with events for both men and women. Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut (Korbut, Olga Valentinovna) and weightlifter Vasily Alekseyev (Alekseyev, Vasily Ivanovich) made their Olympic debuts in 1972. Teófilo Stevenson (Stevenson, Teófilo) of Cuba won the first of his three boxing gold medals in the heavyweight division.

More than 6,000 athletes competed, representing 92 countries. There were three double gold medal performances in the track-and-field competition: distance runner Lasse Virén (Virén, Lasse) of Finland repeated his 1972 double of the 5,000- and 10,000-metre events; Cuban Alberto Juantorena (Juantorena, Alberto) won the 400- and 800-metre runs; and Soviet runner Tatyana Kazankina (Kazankina, Tatyana) earned gold medals in the 800- and 1,500-metre runs. East German Waldemar Cierpinski (Cierpinski, Waldemar) won the first of his consecutive Olympic marathon gold medals. Legendary hurdler Edwin Moses (Moses, Edwin) of the United States earned his first gold medal.

Nadia Comăneci (Comăneci, Nadia) of Romania won three gold medals and scored a perfect score of 10 seven times in gymnastics. Women competed in basketball and rowing for the first time. Pertti Karppinen (Karppinen, Pertti) of Finland won the first of his three career gold medals in rowing. The U.S. boxing team, starring Leon (Spinks, Leon) and Michael Spinks (Spinks, Michael) and Ray (“Sugar Ray”) Leonard (Leonard, Sugar Ray), won 5 of the 11 divisions.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 led to the largest boycott in the history of the Olympic movement. U.S. President Jimmy Carter took the lead in the call for a boycott of the 1980 Olympics, and approximately 60 other countries joined the United States in staying away from Moscow. A number of Western countries did not observe the boycott, notably Great Britain, France, Italy, and Sweden. In all, about 5,000 athletes representing 81 countries did attend the Games. Protests against the Soviet presence in Afghanistan continued, however. Several of the participating countries refused to attend the opening ceremony, and the Olympic hymn was played at several medal ceremonies, rather than the appropriate national anthem. The Games were also hurt by rowdy behaviour from spectators, cheating by officials, and security so intrusive that winners in track events were physically prevented from taking victory laps.

Many communist countries, including the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Cuba, retaliated for the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Games by staying away from the 1984 Games, citing concerns over the safety of their athletes in what they considered a hostile and fiercely anticommunist environment. China, however, participated in the Summer Games for the first time since 1952. In all, nearly 6,800 athletes representing 140 countries came to Los Angeles. The number of events for women grew to include cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and several new track-and-field events, most notably the marathon. Under the direction of the American entrepreneur Peter Ueberroth, the 1984 Olympics witnessed the ascension of commercialism as an integral element in the staging of the Games. Corporate sponsors, principally U.S.-based multinationals, were allowed to put Olympic symbols on their products, which were then marketed as the “official” such product of the Olympics. A spot on the torch relay team sold for $3,000 per kilometre. The Olympics turned a profit ($225,000,000) for the first time since 1932. Despite concerns about growing corporate involvement and the reduced competition caused by the communist boycott, the financial success and high worldwide television ratings raised optimism about the Olympic movement for the first time in a generation.

As in 1980, the boycott resulted in empty lanes and canceled heats on the track and an unbalanced distribution of medals. At the 1984 Games the U.S. team benefited most, capturing 83 gold medals and 174 medals altogether. The track-and-field competition returned to the Memorial Coliseum, which had been renovated for the Games. American Carl Lewis (Lewis, Carl), competing in the same events Jesse Owens (Owens, Jesse) had won in 1936, won four gold medals. Sebastian Coe (Coe, Sebastian) and Daley Thompson (Thompson, Daley) of the United Kingdom each repeated their gold medal performances of 1980, winning the 1,500-metre run and the decathlon, respectively. See also Sidebar: Zola Budd: Collision and Controversy.

The U.S. women's team won 11 of the 14 swimming events. Mary T. Meagher and Tracy Caulkins (Caulkins, Tracy) each earned three gold medals. American Greg Louganis (Louganis, Greg) swept the diving events. With the powerful eastern European teams absent, the U.S. men's and women's gymnastic teams had their best Olympic showing ever; Mary Lou Retton (Retton, Mary Lou) became the first American woman to capture the individual gold medal in the combined exercises. In boxing, without the challenge of the Cubans, the U.S. team dominated the competition, earning nine gold medals.

Political problems threatened to return to centre stage at the 1988 Games. Violent student riots took place in Seoul in the months leading up to the Games. North Korea, still technically at war with South Korea, complained bitterly that it should have cohost status. The IOC made some concessions to North Korea, but North Korea did not find them satisfactory and boycotted; several other countries, notably Cuba and Ethiopia, stayed away from Seoul in solidarity with North Korea. The boycott did not have the effect of previous ones, and the Seoul Games proved to be extremely competitive. Nearly 8,500 athletes from 159 countries participated. The Olympic rule requiring participants to be amateurs was overturned in 1986, and decisions on professional participation were left to the governing bodies of particular sports. This resulted in the return of tennis, which had been dropped in 1924, to the Games. Table tennis and team archery events were also added. Canadian Ben Johnson, champion of the 100-metre run, and several weightlifters tested positive for steroid use and were disqualified. In all, 10 athletes were banned from the Games for using performance-enhancing drugs.

In the track events the Kenyan men's team won four of the six distance races. Soviet pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka (Bubka, Sergey) won his first gold medal. The women's competition featured Americans Florence Griffith Joyner (Griffith Joyner, Florence), winner of three gold medals, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Joyner-Kersee, Jackie), who earned gold medals in the heptathlon and the long jump.

Kristin Otto (Otto, Kristin) of East Germany won six gold medals in swimming. American swimmer Janet Evans (Evans, Janet) won three events. The men's diving competition was again swept by Greg Louganis (Louganis, Greg) of the United States.

The 1992 Games were perhaps the most successful modern Olympics. More than 9,300 athletes representing 169 countries participated. For the first time in three decades, there was no boycott. The dramatic political changes that had swept across eastern Europe had a tremendous effect on the Olympics. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Croatia competed as independent countries. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the German team was again united. Although the truncated nation of Yugoslavia was banned, athletes from Serbia and Montenegro were allowed to compete as individuals. Athletes from the former Soviet republics competed for the last time as a team. Known as the Unified Team, its members were saluted with their individual national anthems and flags at medal ceremonies. South Africa, which had abandoned its policy of apartheid, returned to the Olympics with its first racially integrated team.

The list of sports expanded to include badminton, baseball, and women's judo. The Barcelona Games were characterized by an increasing presence of professional athletes in Olympic competition. Most conspicuous was the U.S. men's basketball team, called the “Dream Team.” The team, which crushed each of its opponents to win the gold medal easily, featured 11 stars of the National Basketball Association, including Michael Jordan (Jordan, Michael), Scottie Pippen, Earvin (“Magic”) Johnson (Johnson, Magic), and Larry Bird (Bird, Larry). Despite the infusion of professionalism, the distribution of medals among countries remained largely the same if not slightly more balanced.

Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Sherbo (Sherbo, Vitaly) gave the Games' most impressive performance, winning five of the seven individual events. Krisztina Egerszegi (Egerszegi, Krisztina) of Hungary won three gold medals in the swimming competition. The Cuban boxing team captured 7 of the 12 titles. See also Sidebar: Hassiba Boulmerka: Testing Her Faith.

Standouts at the Atlanta Games included Carl Lewis (Lewis, Carl) (U.S.), who won his ninth gold medal in track and field, and Fu Mingxia (China), who won the women's platform and springboard diving events. The 200-metre and 400-metre sprints were swept in the men's and women's competitions by Michael Johnson (Johnson, Michael) (U.S.) and Marie-José Pérec (Pérec, Marie-José) (France), respectively; Svetlana Masterkova (Russia) won the 800- and 1,500-metre titles.

Sydney was narrowly chosen over Beijing as host city of the 2000 Olympics. The IOC was attracted to the city's long history of enthusiasm for sports, its promise to use recovered toxic wastelands as sites for sporting venues, and its plan to involve the smaller countries of Oceania in hosting activities. Despite some cost overruns and a ticket scandal, the preparations and the Games themselves went smoothly. The opening ceremonies celebrated the history of Australia, especially the unique culture and contributions of the Aborigines (Australian Aborigine), the indigenous people of the continent. The high point of the opening ceremonies came when Aborigine runner Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame. She later won the gold medal in the 400-metre event. The accomplishments and recognition of Freeman were an important milestone for Australian Aborigines, who were still struggling for their place in Australian society (see Sidebar: Cathy Freeman: The Heart of a Nation).

In 2004 a record 201 national Olympic committees were represented. Nearly 11,100 athletes competed in 37 disciplines in 28 sports; women participated in freestyle wrestling and sabre fencing for the first time. American swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps (Phelps, Michael) topped the medals table with a record-tying eight (six gold and two bronze). On the track, Kelly Holmes of Great Britain and Ethiopia's Hicham El Guerrouj (El Guerrouj, Hicham) were double gold medalists, and hurdler Liu Xiang won China's first gold medal in men's athletics. The concluding event, the men's marathon, was won by Stefano Baldini of Italy after the leader, Brazil's Vanderlei Lima, was assaulted by a deranged spectator about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the finish line. Lima, who recovered to take the bronze, was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for “his exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values.”

The Chamonix Games were originally staged as International Winter Sports Week, a meet sponsored by the IOC but not sanctioned as an official Olympic Games. Well-organized and equipped with new facilities, the event was a success and led the IOC to amend its charter in 1925, establishing the Winter Games. Chamonix was thereafter recognized as the first Winter Olympics.

The second Winter Olympics, held at a ski resort, were marred by bad weather. The culprit was the foehn, a strong wind that carried with it warm air, causing temperatures to soar above 75 °F (24 °C) some afternoons. Numerous events were rescheduled, and one contest—the 10,000-metre speed skating event—was canceled, though some books list American Irving Jaffee (Jaffee, Irving), who held the lead after the first run, as the winner. St. Moritz also marked the return of German athletes, who had been banned from Olympic competition following World War I; the country claimed only one medal, a bronze in the four-man bobsled.

Standouts among the 464 competing athletes were speed skater Clas Thunberg (Thunberg, Clas) (Finland) and Nordic skier Johan Gröttumsbråten (Norway), who each won two gold medals. In figure skating Gillis Grafström (Grafström, Gillis) (Sweden) captured his third title, while 15-year-old Sonja Henie (Henie, Sonja) (Norway) won the first of her three gold medals. Canada continued to dominate in ice hockey. The team's obvious superiority led officials to devise a new tournament format in which Canada went straight to the final round, awaiting the winners of the three pools. Canada still won, posting victories over Sweden (11–0), Switzerland (13–0), and Great Britain (14–0). St. Moritz featured the debut of skeleton sledding, a contest in which competitors, lying headfirst on sleds, raced down the 1,213-metre- (0.75-mile-) long Cresta Run.

The worldwide economic depression (Great Depression) cast a shadow over the third Winter Olympics. Only 17 countries attended, represented by some 250 athletes, over half of whom were from Canada and the United States. The Games generated little revenue, and organizers, who had built a new stadium and bobsled run, suffered huge financial losses.

Held in a Bavarian resort, the fourth Winter Olympics were opened by Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Although not as politically charged as the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin, the event was manipulated by the Nazi regime, which suppressed unfavourable press coverage and staged lavish celebrations to mark the openings of new facilities. The IOC had forbidden Germany to exclude Jews from its Olympic team, but only one Jewish athlete represented the country—Rudi Ball, who was invited to participate on the ice hockey team after having fled Germany months before.

The biggest upset of the Games occurred in the ice hockey competition, Great Britain defeating Canada to win its only gold medal in the event. Controversy over the eligibility of several British players, however, clouded Britain's victory. The 1936 Games marked the end of two stellar careers. In his final Olympic appearance, speed skater Ivar Ballangrud (Ballangrud, Ivar) (Norway) turned in the most successful performance at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, winning three gold medals and one silver. After narrowly winning her third women's figure skating title, Sonja Henie (Henie, Sonja) (Norway) turned professional and pursued a career in film. Another Norwegian, Birger Ruud (Ruud, Birger), made a great impression at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, winning his second gold medal in the ski jump and placing first in the Alpine downhill race, then a demonstration event.

After an absence of 12 years as a result of World War II, Olympic competition returned. The Games, however, felt the effects of the war as countries were unable to properly equip their teams, forcing athletes to improvise. A shortage of money and the imposition of travel restrictions resulted in a lack of spectators. Nonetheless, St. Moritz, which (because of Swiss wartime neutrality) was undamaged by fighting, put forth a well-organized Games. Even the weather, which had caused major disruptions at the previous Games in St. Moritz (1928), cooperated, and only minor reschedulings occurred.

With the awarding of the sixth Winter Olympics to Oslo, the Games were held for the first time in a Scandinavian country. Some questioned the country's ability to stage the competition, but the worries proved unfounded. New facilities were built and existing ones refurbished to meet the high Olympic standard. Oslo saw the Winter Games debut of the Olympic torch, a tradition started in the Summer Games. The torch relay began in Morgedahl, Norway, the birthplace of one of the originators of modern skiing. Germany and Japan, banned from Olympic competition following World War II, were allowed to compete at Oslo. The Games were noted for the enthusiasm of the spectators and the record number of people who watched the events.

Originally awarded the 1944 Winter Games, which were canceled because of World War II, Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected to host the seventh Winter Olympics. Although the Games got off to an ominous start—the torch bearer tripped and fell during the opening ceremony—they were a resounding success. Even the threat of insufficient snow proved a needless worry as a heavy snow fell on the first day. An Italian television network carried live coverage of the Games—a first in the history of the Winter Olympics.

Squaw Valley was narrowly awarded the eighth Winter Olympics, beating out Innsbruck, Austria, the eventual host of the 1964 Games, by a mere two votes. Many countries protested the selection, citing Squaw Valley's lack of development—the area had only one hotel—and its high elevation—over 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) above sea level. Within four years, however, new facilities were constructed, and accommodations were made to support two million visitors. American television carried live coverage of the Games for the first time, and the opening ceremonies were managed by Walt Disney (Disney, Walt) himself. Thirty countries sent athletes to Squaw Valley, including South Africa, which made its first Winter Games appearance. The country's apartheid policy, however, led to its ban from future Olympic competition, and South Africa did not compete again until 1994.

After narrowly losing the 1960 Games to Squaw Valley, California, U.S., Innsbruck was awarded the 1964 Winter Olympics. It proved well worth the wait. Innsbruck became the first Olympic city to hold events throughout the surrounding area, enabling more than one million spectators to watch the contests. In addition, more than one billion television viewers tuned in to the Games. Computers made their Olympic debut, allowing for more accurate scoring and the smoother running of events. For the first time in a Winter Games, the Olympic torch was lit in ancient Olympia, Greece, then relayed to Innsbruck. The only major problem was the lack of snow. The country suffered its mildest February in almost 60 years, forcing the Austrian army to carry in more than 25,000 tons of snow for the Alpine ski events.

Opened by French President Charles de Gaulle, the 1968 Games were a triumph for France but were not without their share of problems. Though a great deal of money was spent to ready the industrial city of Grenoble, its lack of facilities resulted in many contests being held in outlying areas. Spectators had to travel great distances to view events, and seven separate Olympic Villages were constructed, which critics claimed detracted from the camaraderie of the Games. Grenoble also was plagued by the growing controversy over athletic endorsements. The IOC threatened to ban skiers who had advertisements on their clothing and equipment. The skiers, in turn, threatened to withdraw en masse. Eventually an agreement was reached requiring skiers to remove any advertisements before being photographed or interviewed.

Thirty-seven countries, represented by more than 1,100 athletes, competed at Grenoble, and for the first time East and West Germany competed as separate teams. Standouts were Jean-Claude Killy (Killy, Jean-Claude) (France), who was the most successful athlete at the Games, winning all Alpine skiing events, and 40-year-old Eugenio Monti (Monti, Eugenio) (Italy), who finally succeeded in his 12-year quest for Olympic gold, winning the two-man bobsled. Nine days after that triumph, he added a second gold in the four-man competition.

After two unsuccessful attempts to secure the Olympics, Sapporo was finally awarded the 11th Winter Games, and the Japanese government spent a great deal of money to create a memorable Olympics. The Games were the most extravagant to date. To defray the high expenses, the organizers sold the television rights for over $8 million.

The 1976 Games were originally awarded to Denver, Colorado, U.S., but, fearing environmental damage and an increase in costs, the citizens of Colorado voted against staging the event. Denver withdrew as host, and Innsbruck was awarded its second Winter Olympics. Using facilities from the 1964 Games, Innsbruck needed to make only minor renovations to buildings. The Innsbruck Games were again a success.

The 1980 Games marked the second time the small upstate New York town hosted the Winter Olympics. But, in the age of television and increasing numbers of spectators, Lake Placid was ill-equipped to handle the demands of a modern Games. Transportation was inadequate to move the crowds, and athletes complained about the confinement of the Olympic Village, which would later be used to house juvenile offenders. While the sports facilities were praised, they were spread throughout the area, making it difficult for spectators to view the events. In addition, organizers were forced to use artificial snow—an Olympic first. International politics also dampened the Games. Only months before, the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter was already threatening a boycott of the 1980 Summer Games, scheduled to be held in Moscow.

The sporting action, however, was memorable, as Lake Placid provided stunning victories for the Americans. The U.S. ice hockey team defeated the powerful Soviets, the dominant team in international hockey over the previous decade and Olympic champions since 1964, en route to winning the gold medal. Almost overshadowed by the success of the hockey team was Eric Heiden (Heiden, Eric)'s record-breaking performance as he swept the speed skating events, becoming the first athlete to win five individual gold medals at a single Olympic Games. An instant celebrity, he was uncomfortable with the media attention and later that year retired from the sport.

The awarding of the 14th Winter Olympics to Sarajevo (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina) caught many by surprise, including the host country, which went to work building new facilities and making improvements to others in order to accommodate the Games. The choice of Sarajevo proved appropriate, however, as the 1984 Games were highlighted by the appearance of smaller countries. In order to encourage participation, the IOC agreed to pay the expenses of one male and one female participant from each nation. Egypt, the British Virgin Islands, Monaco, Puerto Rico, and Senegal made their Winter Olympics debuts as a record number of countries (49) competed at Sarajevo. The Olympics were a triumph for Yugoslavia.

Much of the Games' excitement occurred in the figure skating events. Gold-medal-winning ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (Torvill and Dean) (U.K.) redefined the sport with their mesmerizing interpretation of Maurice Ravel's Boléro. The women's event featured the Olympic debut of Katarina Witt (Witt, Katarina) (East Germany), who narrowly defeated the defending world champion Rosalynn Sumners (U.S.) for the gold medal. In the men's competition Scott Hamilton (Hamilton, Scott) (U.S.) edged out Brian Orser (Canada) to win the gold. The pairs title went to Soviets Oleg Vasilyev and Yelena Valova.

The city of Calgary first organized a bidding committee for the Winter Olympics in 1957; 24 years later it was awarded the 15th Winter Games. The influence of television on the Games spread even deeper. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) paid $309 million for the television rights, and advertisers were able to influence the starting times of events to maximize their products' exposure. Many charged that the Games resembled well-rehearsed shows instead of sporting contests.

The 1992 Games are noted for not only a change in the modern Olympics but a change in the world as well. It was the last time that the Summer and Winter Games would be held in the same year; the next winter competition was scheduled for 1994, while the summer events were slated for 1996. The Games also reflected the changing political climate in central and eastern Europe. Competing as the Unified Team (UT), athletes from the former Soviet republics participated as a single team for the last time. The German squad was reunited following the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia competed as independent countries for the first time in over 50 years.

After only a two-year interlude, the Olympic Winter Games returned in 1994, when a 1986 amendment to the Olympic Charter calling for the Summer and Winter Games to be held alternately every two years went into effect. Awarded to Lillehammer, the 1994 Olympics were noteworthy for their environmental conservation. While numerous facilities had to be built to accommodate the events, measures were taken to protect the land. Contractors were fined for cutting down too many trees, the hockey rink was set into the side of a mountain to conserve energy, and buildings were constructed with future use in mind.

With the change in the IOC's rules regarding amateur status and participation, professional athletes were allowed to compete at Lillehammer. The sport most affected by this change was figure skating, with the return of past Olympic champions—American Brian Boitano (Boitano, Brian), German Katarina Witt (Witt, Katarina), British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (Torvill and Dean), and Russian pairs skaters Yekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov (Gordeeva, Yekaterina; and Grinkov, Sergey). Among these past champions, however, only Gordeeva and Grinkov managed to earn a gold medal at Lillehammer. In the women's competition the major story centred on Americans Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. About a month before the Games were to begin, Harding was implicated in an attempt to injure Kerrigan. Harding filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee, seeking an injunction against being barred from the Olympics. However, the legal dispute temporarily abated, and both skaters showed up in Lillehammer. The showdown never materialized as Harding stumbled in her short program, eventually finishing eighth. Although Kerrigan skated a nearly flawless program, she was narrowly defeated by Oksana Baiul, a 16-year-old skater from Ukraine.

Twenty-six years after the Sapporo Games, the Winter Olympics returned to Japan. The most memorable aspect of the Nagano Games was arguably the weather, which brought heavy snow and periods of freezing rain. There was even an earthquake. The Alpine skiing competition was most affected by the heavy snows that caused several events to be rescheduled. The earthquake, which occurred on February 20, was of moderate magnitude but was felt throughout the city and in the smaller towns that served as sports venues. Despite these obstacles, the Games were praised for their organization and efficiency. Many also praised Nagano for tempering the influence of corporate sponsors that had been so intrusive at the Atlanta Summer Games in 1996.

The Winter Games returned to Italy after a 50-year absence. Unlike the 1956 Games, which were held in the small resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the 2006 Games were hosted by Turin, an industrial city and provincial capital located in northwestern Italy. The competition venues were spread between seven villages (most in the mountainous Piedmont region to the west) and Turin, and beforehand there was some concern that the widespread Games would suffer from logistics problems and low attendance. The concerns proved to be unfounded, as the competitions were both exciting and well-attended. The festive side of the Games was greatly helped by the nightly medal ceremonies held in the Piazza Castello, Turin's main piazza. IOC president Jacques Rogge, impressed with the large, happy crowds that the medal ceremonies routinely attracted, suggested that the concept be carried over to subsequent Olympiads.

The Alpine competition was marked by the surprising success of the Austrian skiers, who won 14 medals in all, including gold medals in the women's downhill and super-G by Michaela Dorfmeister, and by the disappointing performance of the American team led by World Cup champion Bode Miller, who was entered in five events but earned no Olympic medals. Michael Greis of Germany won three gold medals in biathlon events, but his success was overshadowed by the drug controversies in the Nordic skiing competition. Olga Pyleva, a Russian silver medalist in the biathlon, was disqualified after failing her drug test. Coach Walter Mayer, who had been banned for suspicion of blood doping, was discovered in the Austrian camp, resulting in an investigation of 10 athletes.

Canadian Cindy Klassen (Klassen, Cindy) and Italian Enrico Fabris were the stars of the speed skating competition. Klassen won five medals in all—one gold, two silver, and two bronze. The young Italian collected two gold and a bronze, outshining American favourites Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis. German speed skater Claudia Pechstein won two medals in Turin, bringing her career total to nine and making her the top medal winner in her sport's Olympic history. Ahn Hyun-soo (Ahn Hyun Soo) of South Korea dominated the short-track skating, winning three gold medals and one bronze.

General studies of ancient Greek athletics include Mark Golden, Sport and Society in Ancient Greece (1998); H.A. Harris, Greek Athletes and Athletics (1964, reissued 1979); E. Norman Gardiner, Athletics of the Ancient World (1930, reprinted 2002); and Stephen G. Miller, Ancient Greek Athletics (2004). The history of the ancient Olympic Games is examined in M.I. Finley and H.W. Pleket, The Olympic Games: The First Thousand Years (1976); and David C. Young, A Brief History of the Olympic Games (2004).William Mellors Henry and Patricia Henry Yeomans, An Approved History of the Olympic Games, new ed. (1988); and Nicolaos Yalouris (ed.), The Eternal Olympics, trans. from Greek (1979), are reports of the Games up to modern times. Konstantinos Georgiadou, Olympic Revival (2003); and David C. Young, The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival (1996), use original 19th-century documents to examine the origins of the modern Olympics. Jeffrey O. Segrave and Donald Chu (eds.), The Olympic Games in Transition (1988), explores the development of and changes in the modern Games, and their Olympism (1981) focuses on the philosophy of the Olympics. Olympism is further analyzed in John Hoberman, The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics, and the Moral Order (1986). David B. Kanin, A Political History of the Olympic Games (1981), is an important study of the political aspects of the Games. An analysis of politics as well as athletics is found in Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games, 2nd ed. (2002). Bill Mallon, The Olympics: A Bibliography (1984), covers the Games from 1896 to 1980. Ian Buchanan and Bill Mallon, Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement (1995), is a concise but comprehensive reference work. John A. Lucas, Future of the Olympic Games (1992), addresses various problems of the modern Games and proposes solutions. Robert K. Barney, Stephen R. Wenn, and Scott G. Martyn, Selling the Five Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Rise of Olympic Commercialism (2002), is a thorough history of the growth of commercialism in the Games.Pierre de Coubertin, Olympic Memoirs (1979, reprinted 1997; originally published in French, 1931), is an autobiographical record of the author's contribution to the modern Games. John J. MacAloon, This Great Symbol: Pierre de Coubertin and the Origins of the Modern Olympic Games (1981), is a scholarly biography. Allen Guttmann, The Games Must Go On: Avery Brundage and the Olympic Movement (1984), concentrates on Brundage's tenure as president of the IOC (1948–72). Lord Killanin (Michael Morris, Baron Killanin), My Olympic Years (1983), provides a personal account of Killanin's time as IOC president (1972–80).Harold Maurice Abrahams David C. Young Ed.