The Summer Olympic Games also known as the Games of the Olympiad, are a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The Games were first held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and were most recently held in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) organises the Games and oversees the host city's preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and bronze medals are awarded for third place; this tradition began in 1904. The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympics.
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona at the 29th IOC Session on 26 April 1931. The 1936 Games marked the second and most recent time the International Olympic Committee gathered to vote in a city that was bidding to host those Games.
The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The flame then continues to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it is extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony.
The 1956 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1956.
The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo, Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from July 20 to August 4, 1940, but were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II. Helsinki and Tokyo eventually hosted the 1952 and 1964 Summer Olympics respectively.
The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. The country also hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in Berlin. It was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games both took place in the same country.
Carl Diem was a German sports administrator, and as Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the Berlin Olympic Games, the chief organizer of the 1936 Olympic Summer Games.
The Olympic symbols are icons, flags and symbols used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to elevate the Olympic Games. Some—such as the flame, fanfare and theme—are more commonly used during Olympic competition, but others, such as the flags, can be seen throughout the years. The Olympic flag was created under the guidance of Baron de Coubertin in 1913 and was released in 1914. It was first hoisted in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium at the 1920 Summer Olympics in the main stadium. The five rings represent the five continents of the world.
The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, and also known as Tokyo 2020, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. Originally due to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the event was postponed in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being rescheduled for 2021, the Games have retained the "Tokyo 2020" name for marketing and branding purposes. This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled.
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, also called by the organizers as the "Journey of Harmony", lasted 129 days and carried the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi) – the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition was started ahead of the 1936 Summer Olympics.
The 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games, officially known as II Summer Youth Olympic Games, were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports, education and cultural festival for teenagers, held from 16 to 28 August 2014 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. These were the second Olympic Games held in China after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, making it the first country to host both regular and Youth Olympics.
The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics torch relay was run from 23 July until 14 August 2010, prior to the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics held in Singapore. The torch relay was termed The Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame, or JYOF, by the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC). It began with the traditional flame lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece on 23 July 2010, and was followed by a 13-day round the world tour across five cities, namely Berlin, Germany; Dakar, Senegal; Mexico City, Mexico; Auckland, New Zealand; and Seoul, South Korea. Following the international leg, the torch arrived in host city Singapore on 6 August 2010 for the domestic leg.
The 2020 Summer Paralympics are an upcoming major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee. Scheduled as the 16th Summer Paralympic Games, they are scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan between 24 August and 5 September 2021. Originally due to take place between 25 August and 6 September 2020. On 24 March 2020, the IOC and the Tokyo Organizing Committee officially announced that the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics would be postponed to 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the first time that the Paralympics has been postponed. They will still be publicly marketed as the 2020 Summer Paralympics, even with the change in scheduling to one year later. The new dates were later confirmed as 24 August to 5 September 2021.
The 1948 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from 17 July until 29 July 1948, prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics, held in London, United Kingdom. The relay was nicknamed the "relay of peace". It was only the second occasion that a torch relay was held for the Olympics; the first was at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind, following on from the reintroduction of the Olympic Flame at the 1928 Games. It pioneered the modern convention of moving the flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue. Leni Riefenstahl filmed the relay for the award-winning but controversial 1938 film Olympia.
The 1976 Summer Olympics torch relay celebrated the first time that a Canadian city had hosted the Games. Convention states that the flame should be lit at Olympia in Greece and then transported to Athens, making its way onwards to the host city. On this occasion a signal was sent via satellite to transmit the flame to Ottawa where it would then make its way to the 1976 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Montreal and a second ceremony in Kingston, Ontario.
The 1952 Winter Olympics torch relay was the first time that a flame was transported as part of the build-up to the Winter Olympics. While similar to the inaugural Summer Olympics torch relay of 1936 the Olympic Flame did not start in Olympia, instead the relay began in Morgedal, Norway, the birthplace of competitive skiing. Indeed, the Norwegian Olympic Committee were keen to stress that this was not the traditional transfer of the Olympic flame but a separate event that symbolised the use of torches while skiing in the dark. It was not until the 1964 Winter Olympics that the relay could be said to transport a true Olympic flame originating from Olympia.
The 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay was the transferral of the Olympic Flame to Sydney, Australia that built up to the 2000 Summer Olympics. The torch travelled to various island nations as part of a tour of Oceania before beginning an extensive journey around Australia. For the first time the Flame was taken underwater, with a special flare-like torch taken on a dive down to the Great Barrier Reef. At the opening ceremony the cauldron was lit by Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman.
The 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay was scheduled to run from 12 March 2020 and will end on 23 July 2021. After being lit in Olympia, Greece, the torch was handed over to the Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki, who became the first woman to be first Olympic torchbearer. It was then transported to Athens on 19 March by official airliner Japan Airlines. The Japanese leg will begin in Fukushima, and is scheduled to end in Tokyo's New National Stadium, the main venue of the 2020 Olympics. It will make a tour of Japanese cities, including all 47 prefectural capitals. The torch is even scheduled to go to two remote island groups which are part of Tokyo. The end of the relay will be the finale of the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Toyota, NTT, JXTG, Nippon Life, JAL, ANA and Japan Post Holdings are the presenting partners of the relay, with the slogan being "Hope Lights Our Way".
