The modern Olympic Games are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition, with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating. By default, the Games generally substitute for any world championships during the year in which they take place. The Olympic Games are held every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in 2024 in Paris, France. This was the first international multi-sport event of its kind, organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded by Pierre de Coubertin. The tradition of awarding medals began in 1904; in each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals for second place, and bronze medals for third place. The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympic Games, which are regarded as the largest and most prestigious multi-sport international event in the world.
The 1932 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held during the worldwide Great Depression, with some nations not traveling to Los Angeles as a result; 37 countries competed, compared to the 46 at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and even then-U.S. President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games. The organizing committee did not report the financial details of the Games, although contemporary newspapers stated that the Games had made a profit of US$1 million.
The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games in Athens" by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, the medals that were distributed to the participants during these games were later not officially recognised by the IOC and are not displayed with the collection of Olympic medals at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The 1904 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 1 July to 23 November 1904. Many events were conducted at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. This was the first time that the Olympic Games were held outside Europe.
At the 1904 Summer Olympics, nine swimming events were contested. The 1904 swimming competition was the only time in Olympic history that racing distances were measured in yards. The competition was held September 4–6, 1904. There was a total of 32 participants from 5 countries competing. The 10 events at the swimming competitions were held at a man-made lake that was used for life-saving exhibitions by the coast guard.
A tug of war competition was held August 31 and September 1 at Francis Field in St. Louis, Missouri, as part of the 1904 Summer Olympics. Thirty athletes participated from six teams across three countries, and six games were played. Four American teams took the top four places, followed by Greek and South African teams unplaced.
At the 1904 Summer Olympics, seven wrestling events were contested, all in the freestyle discipline. Then known as catch wrestling, it was the first time freestyle wrestling was featured at the Olympic Games, as the first Olympic wrestling contests in 1896 had been in the Greco-Roman style. Weight classes also made their first appearance. The sport continues to be in the Olympic program to the present day. The event also doubled as that year's Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Catch Wrestling Championships.
The 1904 Summer Olympics were held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States from July 1 to November 23, 1904, as part of the St. Louis World's Fair.
Australia has sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games, as well as every Winter Olympics except 1924–32 and 1948. In 1908 and 1912 Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia.
Canada competed at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, United States. These Games were the second at which Canadian athletes participated. As in 1900 they did not compete under the Canadian flag, national teams not being introduced until the next Olympics. Unofficially, however, it was a very successful Olympics for Canada with Canadian competitors winning the fourth most medals. However, this was largely because most Europeans decided not to make the long trip to compete in the games. The Canadian athletes were a unified group for the first time and were unofficially regarded as a team.
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Summer Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
Norway first participated at the Summer Olympics in 1900, and has sent athletes to compete in every Games since then, except for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow when they participated in the American-led boycott and, as previously thought, the 1904 Games in St. Louis, United States. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, it was discovered that wrestlers Charles Ericksen and Bernhoff Hansen, who were Norwegian expatriates in America whose medals at the 1904 Summer Olympics were previously attributed to United States, still held Norwegian citizenship at the time of the games. They won the gold medals in the wrestling welterweight and heavyweight events respectively.
The United States hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. American athletes won a total of 231 medals, setting a record for the most medals won at a single Olympics that still stands today.
The all-time medal table for all Olympic Games from 1896 to 2024, including Summer Olympic Games, Winter Olympic Games, and a combined total of both, is tabulated below. These Olympic medal counts do not include the 1906 Intercalated Games which are no longer recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as official Games. The IOC itself does not publish all-time tables, and publishes unofficial tables only per single Games. This table was thus compiled by adding up single entries from the IOC database.
The men's 220 yard freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the Swimming at the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. It was the second time the event was held at the Olympics, though the only time yards were used instead of metres. The length of 220 yards was slightly longer than the 200 metres that had been held at the 1900 Summer Olympics and that would return at the 1968 Summer Olympics. It was held on 6 September in a man-made lake in Forest Park. 4 swimmers from 3 nations competed. The event was won by Charles Daniels of the United States. Francis Gailey of Australia took silver, while Emil Rausch of Germany earned bronze. It was the first medal in the 200 metre/220 yard freestyle for each of the United States and Germany; Australia had received gold in 1900.
Francis "Frank" Gailey was an Australian-born American competition swimmer who swam in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri.
The 1500 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 1500 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The women's event was not introduced until over seventy years later, but it has been a permanent fixture since it was first held in 1972. The Olympics final and the World Athletics Championships final are the most prestigious 1500 m races at an elite level. The competition format comprises three rounds: a heats stage, semi-finals, then a final typically between twelve athletes.
Australasia (1908–1912)
