Portal:Olympic Games
The Olympic Games Portal
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; French: Jeux olympiques) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports events in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of athletic competitions. The Olympic Games, open to both amateur and professional athletes, involve more than 200 teams, each team representing a sovereign state or territory. The Games often, but not always, 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.
Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, which encompasses all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. The Olympic Charter defines their structure and authority.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in numerous changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Olympic Games for snow and ice sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental Games (Pan American, African, Asian, European, and Pacific), and the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The IOC also endorses the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics. The IOC has adapted to a variety of economic, political, and technological advancements. The abuse of amateur rules prompted the IOC to shift away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to the acceptance of professional athletes participating at the Games. The growing importance of mass media has created the issue of corporate sponsorship and general commercialisation of the Games. World Wars I and II led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Olympics; large-scale boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics; and the 2020 Olympics were postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
2026 Winter Olympics Celebration
Today Medal events
21 February 2026
- All times and dates use Central European Time (UTC+1)
2026 Winter Olympics Medal Table
| Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Norway | 18 | 11 | 11 | 40 |
| 2 |  United States | 11 | 12 | 9 | 32 |
| 3 |  Netherlands | 10 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
| 4 |  Italy* | 10 | 6 | 14 | 30 |
| 5 |  France | 8 | 9 | 6 | 23 |
| 6 |  Germany | 7 | 9 | 8 | 24 |
| 7 |  Switzerland | 6 | 8 | 6 | 20 |
| 8 |  Sweden | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 |
| 9 |  Austria | 5 | 8 | 5 | 18 |
| 10 |  Japan | 5 | 7 | 12 | 24 |
| 11–29 | Remaining | 25 | 30 | 34 | 89 |
| Totals (29 entries) | 111 | 113 | 112 | 336 | |
Notes
- ^ a b Although the IOC does not include Individual Neutral Athletes in the official medal tables,[1] they are listed here for comparison and historical purposes.
- ^ Individual Neutral Athletes is the name used to represent approved individual Belarusian and Russian athletes at the 2026 Winter Olympics, after the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee and Belarus Olympic Committee due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The IOC country code is AIN, after the French name Athlètes Individuels Neutres.[1]
- ^ a b "Individual Neutral Athletes to compete at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games under same conditions as for Paris 2024". International Olympic Committee. 19 September 2025. Archived from the original on 13 January 2026.
- ^ "Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026: Live medal count". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 6 February 2026. Retrieved 6 February 2026.
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The Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics took place on February 26, 2006 beginning at 20:00 CET (19:00 UTC) at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Italy.
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| “ | The road to the Olympics, leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads — in the end — to the best within us. | ” |
| — Jesse Owens, African-American athlete, winner of 4 Gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics. | ||
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Current Events
- 20 February 2026 – 2026 Winter Olympics
- Norway breaks the record for most gold medals at a single Winter Olympics event after skier Johannes Dale-Skjevdal won the country's 17th gold medal in Milan–Cortina, surpassing their own record of 16 gold medals. (The Independent)
- 19 February 2026 – 2026 Winter Olympics
- Ski mountaineer Oriol Cardona wins the men's sprint event and captures Spain's first Winter Olympics gold medal in 54 years. (NBC)
- 14 February 2026 – 2026 Winter Olympics
- Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins gold at the men's giant slalom, becoming the first Brazilian and first South American athlete to win a medal at a Winter Olympics. (AP)
- 12 February 2026 – 2026 Winter Olympics
- The International Olympic Committee disqualifies Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from competing due to his helmet, which has images of Ukrainian athletes killed by Russian Armed Forces. (NPR)
- 7 February 2026 – 2026 Winter Olympics
- Suspected saboteurs damage rail infrastructure in different locations near Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, disrupting journeys on the first full day of the Winter Olympics. (CBC News)
- Anti-Olympics protestors and police clash in Milan, Italy, with officers and their vans being targeted with fireworks and firecrackers. (CNN)
Did You Know...-
- ... that basketball center Jānis Krūmiņš won 1956 Olympic silver only three years after he started playing basketball?
- ... that in 1904, gymnast George Eyser won six Olympic medals, including gold in the vault, even though he had a wooden prosthesis for a leg?
- ... that professional wrestler Olímpico's ring name was inspired by the 1992 Summer Olympics?
- ... that Zali Steggall was the first Australian to win an individual medal at the Winter Olympics?
- ... that the Zappas Olympics were a series of four athletic contests held in Athens between 1859 and 1889 and are considered as precursors to the modern Olympic Games?
Upcoming Olympic Games
2026 Winter Olympics
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The 2026 Winter Olympics (Italian: Olimpiadi invernali del 2026), officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games and commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an international multi-sport event currently taking place from 6 to 22 February 2026 at multiple sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy, with competition in selected events beginning 4 February 2026. The 2026 Games are scheduled to feature the debut of ski mountaineering as a Winter Olympic event, and are the first Olympic Games under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency of Kirsty Coventry.
A joint bid by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo was awarded the 2026 Winter Olympics at the 134th IOC Session on 24 June 2019, beating another joint bid made by Stockholm and Åre, Sweden. Milano Cortina 2026 is the first Olympic Games to be officially co-hosted by two cities. Milan primarily hosts the ice events, while the remaining events are hosted in clusters around Cortina, Livigno, and Fiemme. These marked the third Winter Olympics, and the fourth Olympics overall, to be hosted by Italy; Cortina d'Ampezzo previously hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics.
All-time Combined Olympic Games Medal Table
Separate current and precursor NOCs (records not combined):
| No. | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States |
1,219 | 1,000 | 876 | 3,095 |
| 2 |  Soviet Union |
473 | 376 | 355 | 1,204 |
| 3 |  China |
325 | 258 | 221 | 804 |
| 4 | Germany |
318 | 317 | 320 | 955 |
| 5 |  Great Britain |
310 | 344 | 360 | 1,014 |
| 6 | France |
281 | 319 | 354 | 954 |
| 7 | Italy |
271 | 244 | 284 | 799 |
| 8 | Sweden |
216 | 232 | 243 | 691 |
| 9 | Norway |
213 | 187 | 177 | 577 |
| 10 | Japan |
206 | 191 | 221 | 618 |
2028 Summer Olympics
The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to 30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles will be the host city, with various events also scheduled to be held at other cities spread across the Greater Los Angeles area, plus two subsites in Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles had originally bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Following multiple withdrawals, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Games to Los Angeles and Paris as the two remaining candidates; Paris was preferred as host for 2024, while Los Angeles agreed to host in 2028. Los Angeles was formally awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017. They will mark the fifth Summer Olympics, and ninth Olympics overall to be hosted by the United States; having previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, Los Angeles becomes the third three-time host city after London (1908, 1948, 2012) and Paris (1900, 1924, 2024), and the first non-European city to do so. These will be the first Summer Olympics held under the IOC presidency of Kirsty Coventry.
After debuting in 2020 as optional events, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have been promoted to the Summer Olympics' core event program. The Games will feature the debut of flag football and squash as optional sports, joined by the return of baseball/softball, cricket (for the first time since 1900) and lacrosse (for the first time as a medal event since 1908).
Olympic Sports
- Archery
- Artistic swimming
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Beach volleyball
- Boxing
- Canoeing
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Diving
- Equestrian
- Fencing
- Football
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Handball
- Field hockey
- Judo
- Lacrosse
- Modern pentathlon
- Rowing
- Rugby
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Skateboarding
- Softball
- Sport climbing
- Squash
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
- Triathlon
- Volleyball
- Water polo
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
Olympic Games Countdown
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Topics
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