Host Cities of the Olympic Games

Introduction

  • The ancient Olympic Games were always hosted by the Elians at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia.
  • The first ancient Olympic Games started sometime between 1100 – 780 BCE, not in 776 BCE. The exact date is unknown because all records were lost in ancient times — even the ancient Greeks didn’t know when they actually started.  The first recorded VICTOR in the ancient Olympic Games was designated by Hippias of Elis to be the first year of the the 1st Olympiad, which became the calendar used by the ancient Greeks. Modern historians have calculated the year to be 776 BCE.

 

  • The modern Olympic Games are always hosted by a city – not by a country.
  • The first modern Olympic Games were hosted by Athens (Greece) in 1896.
  • The most recent celebration of the modern summer Olympic Games was hosted by London (England / Great Britain / United Kingdom) in 2012.
  • The most recent celebration of the winter Olympic Games was hosted by Sochi (Russia) in 2014.
  • The next celebration of the modern summer Olympic Games will be hosted by Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2016.
  • The next celebration of the winter Olympic Games will be hosted by PyeongChang (South Korea) in 2018.
  • The 2020 summer Olympic Games will be hosted by Tokyo (Japan). The decision was made by the International Olympic Committee at the 125th IOC session held on September 7, 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • The 2022 winter Olympic Games will be hosted by Beijing (China). The decision was made by the International Olympic Committee on July 31, 2015.  There were originally three cities in the final selection phase of the bidding process: Oslo (Norway), Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China). But Oslo dropped out when the Norwegian government refused to guarantee the financial requirements of the host city.
  • There are several cities worldwide that have applied to host the 2024 summer Olympic Games including Budapest (Hungary), Los Angeles (USA), Paris (France), and Rome (Italy).

Boston, (USA) had been selected to be the US candidate to host the 2024 Olympic Games but withdrew in 2015 and was replaced by Los Angeles. Read about Boston’s efforts to bid for 2024.
Hamburg (Germany) had a formal bid in place but withdrew in November 2015 after 51% of the public voted against the bid in a referendum. See this article about Hamburg’s withdrawal.
Read more news about the Olympic Host City bidding process at the IOC web site: Host City Election News
Read about the formalities of the Host City bidding process at the IOC web site: All About the Candidature Process

Read more details about the Olympic Movement and current events at the IOC web site: International Olympic Committee

Host cities of the Ancient Olympic Games

Host cities of the Modern Olympic Games (Summer Games)

Host cities of the Winter Olympic Games

 

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