The Olympics

The oldest and the largest sporting event in the World, Olympics were first started in 776 BC in Greece. The games were first played in the ancient Greek kingdom of Elis to honour Zeus, the Greek god of Sky and Thunder. But after the initial games in 776 BC, they became an irregular feature and were restricted only to Greece. It was only after 1500 years, in 1892 that revival of games was undertaken by Baron Pierre de Coubretin. In June, 1894 Baron and his associates decided to make the games a regular sporting event and created the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Presently, the IOC is headqutered at Laussane, Switzerland.

Olympic Symbol (five rings)

The Olympic Symbol comprises of five rings linked together to represent sporting friendship amongst countries. The rings represent the five continents – Europe, Africa, America, Asia and Australia.

Year	Place
1896	Athens
1900	Paris
1904	St. Louis
1908	London
1912	Stockholm
1920	Antwerp
1924	Paris
1928	Amsterdam
1932	Los Angeles
1936	Berlin
1948	London
1952	Helsinki
1956	Melbourne
1960	Rome
1964	Tokyo
1968	Mexico City
1972	Munich
1976	Montreal
1980	Moscow
1984	Los Angeles
1988	Seoul
1992	Barcelona
1996	Atlanta
2000	Sydney
2004	Athens
2008	Beijing
2012	London (scheduled)