The modern Olympic Games or Olympics 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 the year in which they take place. The Olympic Games are normally held every four years, and since 1994, have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year period.
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years on leap years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and the most recent Games were held in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for organising the Games and for overseeing the host city's preparations. 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 Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which mostly consists of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, has successively run every four years since. The event was called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams since 2002, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men's and women's medal events, and four years later they became the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad and commonly known as Montreal 1976, were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam on May 12, 1970, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. It was the first and, so far, only Summer Olympic Games to be held in Canada. Toronto hosted the 1976 Summer Paralympics the same year as the Montreal Olympics, which still remains the only Summer Paralympics to be held in Canada. Calgary and Vancouver later hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively.
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad and commonly known as Moscow 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia. The games were the first to be staged in an Eastern Bloc country, as well as the first Olympic Games and only Summer Olympics to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in a socialist state until the 2008 Summer Olympics held in China. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, before he was succeeded by Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Pocomoke City, dubbed "the friendliest town on the Eastern Shore", is a city in Worcester County, Maryland, United States. Although renamed in a burst of civic enthusiasm in 1878, the city is regularly referred to by its inhabitants simply as Pocomoke. The population was 4,184 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Pocomoke City is a center for commerce on the lower shore, home to an industrial park currently playing host to defense contractors, aerospace engineering, and plastics fabrication. Pocomoke City is located near the Wallops Island Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.
The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals.
The World Lacrosse Men's Championship, formerly World Lacrosse Championship, is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries/territories in Asia. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC) was the section of AFC who managed women's association football in Asia. The group was independently founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In 1986 ALFC merged with AFC.
The 1982 Commonwealth Games was held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium, in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the athletics and archery events venue. Other events were held at the purpose-built Sleeman Sports Complex in Chandler.
The 2009 World Games the eighth edition of the World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 16 July 2009 to 26 July 2009. The games featured sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games.
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with Paris as the main host city and 16 other cities spread across metropolitan France, plus one subsite in Tahiti—an island within the French overseas country and overseas collectivity of French Polynesia.
The OVO Hydro is a multi-purpose indoor arena located within the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, between 4 and 15 April 2018. It was the fifth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games and the first time a major multi-sport had an equal number of events for male and female athletes.
The International Ice Hockey Federation is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 82 member countries.
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest-ever loss of human life from a bushfire, with 173 fatalities. Many people were left homeless as a result.
Iran competed in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia from 18 August to 2 September 2018. Iran has competed at the Asian Games since the first event in 1951 Delhi, and the best achievement was in 1974, when the country hosted the event in Tehran, by ranked second with the acquisition of 36 gold, 28 silver and 17 bronze medals. At the latest edition in Incheon, the country wrapped up its campaign with 57 medals in all - 21 gold, 18 silver and 18 bronze.
The International Army Games is an annual international military sports event organized by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Russia. The event, which was first staged in August 2015, involves close to 30 countries taking part in dozens of competitions over two weeks to prove which is the most skilled. The games have been referred to as the War Olympics. In addition to the competition, the International Army Games includes a military theme park, a recruitment station, and souvenir shops.
The selection of the host for the 2032 Summer Olympics saw a new process being introduced from 2019. The bidding process saw Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, chosen as the preferred and expected host that was officially certified by the IOC on the eve of the 2020 Summer Olympics on 21 July 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
