The history of the Summer Olympics does not just show us how sports have evolved over time, but also holds a mirror up to the political and social contexts of the period.
In preparation for this summer’s Paris Olympics, Telegraph Sport has detailed the history of the modern Summer Olympics since the Games were first held in Athens in 1896, listing all summer Olympics host cities.
This year’s Olympics begin on Friday, July 26 with Team GB sending a delegation featuring 327 athletes. Paris is hosting the summer Games for the third time – and the first time in 100 years.
Click on the links below to go to a specific summer Olympics:
Athens 1896 | Paris 1900 | St Louis 1904 | London 1908 | Stockholm 1912 | Antwerp 1920 | Paris 1924 | Amsterdam 1928 | Los Angeles 1932 | Berlin 1936 | London 1948 | Helsinki 1952 | Melbourne 1956 | Rome 1960 | Tokyo 1964 | Mexico City 1968 | Munich 1972 | Montreal 1976 | Moscow 1980 | Los Angeles 1984 | Seoul 1988 | Barcelona 1992 | Atlanta 1996 | Sydney 2000 | Athens 2004 | Beijing 2008 | London 2012 | Rio 2016 | Tokyo 2020 | Paris 2024
Olympic Games list
1,500 years after the end of the ancient Olympics, the modern Olympic Games we know and love today were born. It was organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin.
Fourteen nations, represented solely by men, battled it out across 43 events in the newly-renovated Panathenaic stadium that was originally opened in 566 BC.
The competition’s first ever gold medal was awarded to American James Connolly for triple jump. He also finished second in the high jump and third in the long jump.
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Organisers under-promoted the Games – spread across five months and held as part of the World’s Fair – so much that many participants were reportedly not even aware they had competed in the Olympics.
Women made their first appearance in the modern Olympics, with 22 women competing across five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, golf and equestrian.
Equestrian sport made its Olympic debut in Paris, including long and high jump competitions for the first and only time in Olympic history. Tennis was one of five sports where athletes from different nations competed on the same team. The four others were football, polo, rowing and tug of war.
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Just 12 countries competed in the 1904 Olympics, with US athletes accounting for 83 per cent of participants. Again, the Games were spread out over a long period – four-and-a-half months- as part of the World’s Fair.
Women were only permitted to compete in archery out of the approximately 100 sports available. For the first time, gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded for first, second and third place.
American gymnast George Eyser took home six medals, three gold, after competing with a wooden left leg.
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The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906 forced the Olympics to relocate from Rome to London with very little notice, in what ended up being the longest Games in history (187 days). For the first time, a stadium was built especially for the Games, with the site in London’s Shepherd’s Bush becoming the centrepiece of the event, while swimming and diving events were held in a pool for the first time.
Athletes from Finland, then part of the Russian rule, chose not to march with a flag in protest against Russian rule’
Finnish athletes protested against Russian rule; several Irish competitors refused to compete as subjects of the British crown and Ralph Rose, the US shot-putter, refused to dip the American flag to King Edward VII.