The International Olympic Committee is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC is the authority responsible for organizing the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics. The IOC also is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and of the worldwide Olympic Movement, the IOC's term for all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. As of 2020, 206 NOCs officially were recognized by the IOC. The IOC president has been Thomas Bach since 2013.
The modern Olympic Games are the world's leading international sporting events. They feature 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 Olympics are staged every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It marked the second time the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, and in the Southern Hemisphere, the first being in Melbourne, in 1956.
The 2008 Summer Olympics (2008年夏季奥运会), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (第二十九届夏季奥林匹克运动会) and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (北京2008), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports and 302 events, one event more than those scheduled for the 2004 Summer Olympics. This was the first time China had hosted the Olympic Games, and the third time the Summer Olympic Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were also the second Summer Olympic Games to be held in a communist state, the first being the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.
The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million.
The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was the last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organizing Committees. In this edition, a record 3,801 athletes from 120 National Paralympic Committees participated in 551 events in 18 sports, and until the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, it was the second largest sporting event ever until that date held in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. Sydney was the eighth city to host the Olympics and the Paralympics on same venues at the same year, and the first since Barcelona 1992 that they were organized in complete conjunction with the Olympics. They were also the first Paralympic Games outside the Northern Hemisphere and also in Oceania.
The 2004 Summer Paralympics, the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece from 17 to 28 September 2004. 3,808 athletes from 136 countries participated. During these games 304 World Records were broken with 448 Paralympic Games Records being broken across 19 different sports. 8,863 volunteers worked along the Organizing Committee.
Ten cities submitted bids to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics that were recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), five of which made the IOC Executive Committee's shortlist. The games were awarded to Beijing, China on July 13, 2001. The other shortlisted cities were Toronto, Paris, Istanbul and Osaka. Beijing won an absolute majority of votes after two rounds of voting, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds of voting. IOC delegates and the media identified a number of factors in its favor, including the size of the country, improvements in Chinese anti-doping enforcement, and its close loss to Sydney, Australia eight years earlier. In that bidding process, which chose the host city for the 2000 Summer Olympics, Beijing led every round of voting but lost in the final round to Sydney by two votes.
Three cities made the shortlist with their bids to host the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which were awarded to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on July 2, 2003. The other shortlisted cities were Pyeongchang and Salzburg. Although Bern was originally shortlisted along with Vancouver, Pyeongchang and Salzburg, a referendum held in September 2002 revealed that a majority of the citizens of Bern did not support pursuing the candidacy. There were four other cities vying for the hosting honour, that had been dropped by the International Olympic Committee: Andorra la Vella, Harbin, Jaca and Sarajevo.
National Olympic Committees that wish to host an Olympic Games select cities within their territories to put forth bids for the Olympic Games. The staging of the Paralympic Games is automatically included in the bid. Since the creation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, which successfully appropriated the name of the Ancient Greek Olympics to create a modern sporting event, interested cities have rivaled for selection as host of the Summer or Winter Olympic Games. 51 different cities have been chosen to host the modern Olympics: three in Eastern Europe, five in East Asia, one in South America, three in Oceania, nine in North America and all the others in Western Europe. No Central American, African, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, South Asian, or Southeast Asian city has ever been chosen to host an Olympics.
Six cities submitted bids to host the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Atlanta, on September 18, 1990. The other candidate cities were Athens (Greece), Toronto (Canada), Melbourne (Australia), Manchester and Belgrade (Yugoslavia).
John Dowling Coates is an Australian lawyer, sports administrator and businessman. He is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having been a vice president from 2013 to 2017 and again since 2020, and is the former president of the Australian Olympic Committee and chair of the Australian Olympic Foundation. Alongside these roles Coates is also the president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Council of Arbitration for Sport.
The Madrid bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was an unsuccessful bid, first recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on September 14, 2007. The IOC shortlisted four of the seven applicant cities—Chicago, United States; Tokyo, Japan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Madrid, Spain; over Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; and Prague, Czech Republic—on June 4, 2008 during a meeting in Athens, Greece. This was followed by an intensive bidding process which finished with the election of Rio de Janeiro at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2009.
There were six bids initially submitted for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Tokyo was ultimately elected as the host city at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 7 September 2013.
A total of six bids were initially submitted for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Four of the bids were subsequently withdrawn by 1 October 2014, citing either the high costs of hosting the Games or the lack of local support, leaving Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing, China as the only two remaining candidate cities. Beijing was then elected as the host city at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 31 July 2015.
The Manchester bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was an unsuccessful campaign, first presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 1 February 1993. Ultimately it lost, having made it to the third round of voting with Sydney, Australia, going on to win the right to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Beijing 2022 was a successful bid by Beijing, China and the Chinese Olympic Committee for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The IOC selected the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 31, 2015, which Beijing won.
Five bids were initially submitted for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Following withdrawals, two bidding cities—Paris and Los Angeles—were left in the process. In July 2017, the IOC agreed to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously. Los Angeles agreed to bid for the 2028 Games, effectively ceding the 2024 Games to Paris.
The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032 or the abbreviation Bris2032, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August 2032, with Brisbane, Queensland, Australia as the main host city. It will be the third Olympic Games held in Australia, after the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Victoria and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales. It will be the first Summer Olympics to be hosted in more than one city, with multiple cities/regions hosting it. After the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it will be the second Summer Olympics held during the host country's winter season.
