What Are the Summer Olympic Games?

The Olympics happen every two years but they vacillate between the Summer and Winter Olympics, meaning the Summer Olympics occur once every four years. They each contain a various number of sports, 33 total, but the Summer Olympics contain more than half of the sports.

  1. Olympic Origin

    • There is no definite origin for the Olympics, but the version written by the Greek poet Pindar is the one most people recognize. Pindar wrote that Hercules started the games as part of a festival for his father, Zeus. The original sports were wrestling, boxing, chariot racing, javelin and discus. The only certainty is that the games were indeed a part of a celebration for Zeus.

    Summer Olympics

    • In 1896, the Olympic games were officially conducted in Athens, Greece, the fabled birthplace of the original Olympics. The opening day was April 6, and they closed on April 15, a little more than a week later. In 1932, the Olympics were held in Los Angeles. It was these Olympic games that exhibited the format of Summer Olympics that is still used today.

    Sports

    • There are 26 sports involved in the Summer Olympic games. They include rowing, sailing, shooting, archery, judo, triathlon, canoe/kayak (canoe/ kayak sprint and canoe/ kayak slalom), aquatics (diving, swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming), athletics (field events, track events, road events and combined events), equestrian (jumping, eventing, dressage), gymnastics (trampoline, artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics), tae kwon do, modern pentathlon, wrestling (wrestling Greco-Roman and wrestling freestyle), boxing, tennis, table tennis, handball, hockey, weightlifting, badminton, football (soccer), basketball, volleyball (volleyball and beach volleyball), cycling (cycling BMX, cycling road, cycling track, and mountain bike) and fencing.

    International Olympic Committee

    • The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing committee for the Olympic games. The committee's main goals are to make sure the games are celebrated on a regular schedule, to support the different organizations involved in the Olympics to and promote the Olympic values.

    Location Selection

    • Whenever there is a new location for the Olympic games needed, cities can turn in applications nine years ahead of time to the IOC and they then become "Applicant Cities." Then the IOC decides on a few of the cities, and they become "Candidate Cities." These Candidate Cities are then voted upon, and a final site is chosen.