The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are 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 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held every four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart.
The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years. The most recent Olympics were held 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 due to the success of the Summer Olympics.
Avery Brundage was the fifth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), serving from 1952 to 1972. The only American to attain that position, Brundage is remembered as a zealous advocate of amateurism and for his involvement with the 1936 and 1972 Summer Olympics, both held in Germany.
The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 15th of September 2017 during the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru.
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Berlin, Germany, from 1 August to 16 August. Berlin had previously been chosen to host the 1916 Summer Olympics, which were subsequently cancelled due to the First World War. The 1936 Games had 3,963 athletes from 49 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participating in a total of 129 events in 19 sports. This was the highest number of nations represented at any Games to date. Athletes from 32 NOCs won medals, of which 21 secured at least one gold medal. As a result, 17 NOCs were left without any medal. The host NOC, Germany, received a total of 89 medals, a record for a united German team, although East Germany broke that record in 1976, 1980 and 1988.
The Canadian Olympic Committee - COC is the private, non-profit organization that represents Canada at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is also a member of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO).
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games. They may nominate cities within their respective areas as candidates for future Olympic Games. NOCs also promote the development of athletes and training of coaches and officials at a national level within their geographies.
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the Olympic movement and organises the participation of athletes from across the Olympic sports which competes as Great Britain or at the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games.
The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics, and other countries would later boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is the world governing authority for surfing, SUP racing, SUP surfing, bodyboarding, and all other wave riding activities. The ISA is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa is an international organization that unites the 54 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of Africa. It is currently headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria. It serves as the successor to Standing Committee of African Sports or Comité permanent du sport africain founded in 1965 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine is a non-profit all-Ukrainian public organization responsible for development, reinforcement, and protection of the Olympic movement. The committee has an exclusive right to represent Ukraine in the Olympic Games and other competitions of the International Olympic Committee.
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, China. These were the second Olympic Games held in China after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Republic of China (ROC) participated in its first Summer Olympics in 1932 under the name of "China". After the Chinese Civil War the ROC retreated to the island of Taiwan, and only Taiwan-based athletes have competed on behalf of the country since then. The ROC protested the 1979 Nagoya Resolution by boycotting the 1976 Summer Olympics; this continued until the ROC competed under the deliberately ambiguous name "Chinese Taipei" in the 1984 Winter Olympics. China also took part in the Opening Ceremony of the 1924 Summer Olympics, but its four athletes withdrew from competition.
Pakistan Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Pakistan. It was established in 1948 to oversee the active participation of the newly independent state at the Olympiad. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the country's founder and first Governor-General, became the patron-in-chief of the new institution, and Ahmed E.H. Jaffar became its first President.
The 1998 World Youth Games was the first international multi-sport event of its kind. More than 7,500 young athletes representing 140 countries of the world participated in this event. It took place in Moscow, Russia from July 11 to 19, 1998.
This narrow-focus article concerns Chinese Olympic politics only. This is the politics, historical and present-day, surrounding the participation in the Olympics of the Chinese Olympic Team, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Team and to a much lesser extent the Hong Kong Olympic Team. This article is not concerned with Sport.
The Bhutan Olympic Committee was created in November 1983 with the King of Bhutan as its President, with its headquarters at Thimphu, Bhutan. Following this recognition, Bhutan participated for the first time in the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles when three men and three women archers represented Bhutan.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for South Africa, and the responsible body for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games. It is also responsible for high-performance sport in the country and coordinates the relationship with various international sports federations.
