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Olympics Index
The Summer Olympics

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Paris 1900
St. Louis 1904
London 1908
Stockholm 1912
Antwerp 1920
Paris 1924
Amsterdam 1928
Berlin 1936
London 1948
Helsinki 1952
Melbourne 1956
Rome 1960
Tokyo 1964
Mexico City 1968
Munich 1972
Montreal 1976
Moscow 1980
Los Angeles 1984
Seoul 1988
Barcelona 1992
Atlanta 1996
Sydney 2000
Athens 2004
Beijing 2008
London 2012
Rio de Janeiro 2016
Tokyo 2020

The Summer Olympics

Paris 1900

The first woman to win an Olympic gold medal: Click for more information Name Click to show or hide the answer
Nationality Click to show or hide the answer
Sport Click to show or hide the answer
The first ever individual women's Olympic champion: Name Click to show or hide the answer
Nationality Click to show or hide the answer
Sport Click to show or hide the answer

St. Louis 1904

US marathon runner, finished first but was disqualified after admitting that he rode 11 miles of the course in a car Click to show or hide the answer

London 1908

Stadium built for the 1908 Olympics: also hosted greyhound racing, swimming, speedway and one match of the 1966 World Cup, before being demolished in 1985 Click to show or hide the answer
Italian marathon runner, finished first but was disqualified for receiving assistance as he staggered the last few yards around the stadium Click to show or hide the answer
A City of London Police team (captained by H. Duke) won the first of Great Britain's two gold medals in Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer

Stockholm 1912

Native American athlete who won two gold medals, but was disqualified because he was found to have accepted money for playing baseball three years earlier, which made him a professional (they were restored in 1983, thirty years after his death) Click to show or hide the answer

Antwerp 1920

Carried the flag for Great Britain, and won a silver medal in the 1500m; went on to be a politician, was Commonwealth Secretary, later Minister for Fuel and Power, in Atlee's government; won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959 for his advocacy of multilateral nuclear disarmament – the only person to win an Olympic medal and a Nobel prize Click to show or hide the answer

Paris 1924

Won Rugby gold when contested for the last time before Sevens in 2016 Click to show or hide the answer
Ran in the 400m instead of the 100m to avoid the Sunday final – as told in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire Click to show or hide the answer
Fifth in the 1924 Modern Pentathlon Click to show or hide the answer
Gold medal in rowing (eight–oared shell with coxswain) Click to show or hide the answer
As well as 3 swimming golds (and 2 in 1928), Johnny Weissmuller won Bronze in Click to show or hide the answer
British career soldier (eventually a Lieutenant General) who won gold in the Running Deer (shooting) – the only person to win an Olympic gold medal and the Victoria Cross Click to show or hide the answer

Amsterdam 1928

Not the original 'Flying Finn', but probably the most successful and the most famous: won a record 9 Olympic golds (3 in 1920, 5 in 1924, 1 in 1928)Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer

Berlin 1936

US athlete who won four gold medals in 1936 (100m, 200m, long jump, 4 x 100m relay) Click to show or hide the answer
Son of a famous explorer, better known as a naturalist: won a bronze medal in sailing (O–Jolle class solo dinghy) Click to show or hide the answer

London 1948

Dutch mother of two, won four gold medals (three individual and one relay) Click to show or hide the answer
Manager of Great Britain's football team Click to show or hide the answer

Helsinki 1952

Czech runner: winner of the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon; also won gold in the 10,000m, and silver in the 5,000m, in London 1948; died in 2000, aged 78 Click to show or hide the answer

Melbourne 1956

Carried the Olympic torch on part of its journey to Melbourne – played Aussie rules football and cricket to a high standard; also a boxer and a champion surfer; but best known as a snooker player Click to show or hide the answer
Soviet (Ukrainian) 5,000m and 10,000m champion in 1956 Click to show or hide the answer
Because of Australian quarantine laws, the equestrian events were held in Click to show or hide the answer
Won six consecutive men's hockey golds, 1924–56; also won in 1964 and 1980 Click to show or hide the answer
Paul Anderson (USA), who won gold at Melbourne (his only Olympic medal), is a legendary figure in Click to show or hide the answer
Beat the USSR 4–0 in the so–called 'Blood in the Water' water polo match, when one of its team was punched in the eye by a Soviet player Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer

Rome 1960

Broke India's domination of Hockey by winning gold in 1960; also won in 1968 and 1984 Click to show or hide the answer
Britain won Silver at every Summer Olympics between 1936 and 60 (inclusive), in Women's Click to show or hide the answer
Light Heavyweight boxing gold medallist Click to show or hide the answer
First person to win gold medals at four consecutive Olympiads (Danish yachtsman, 1948–60) Click to show or hide the answer
British winner of the women's 200m breaststroke – the last British woman to win Olympic swimming gold until Rebecca Adlington at Beijing, 48 years later Click to show or hide the answer

Tokyo 1964

Tokyo was the first Asian city to host the Summer Olympics.

First British woman athlete (track & field) to win Olympic gold (long jump) Click to show or hide the answer
Second British woman athlete (track & field) to win Olympic gold (800m); also won silver in the 400m Click to show or hide the answer
First Welsh athlete to win a track & field gold medal (also long jump) Click to show or hide the answer
Men's marathon champion, 1960 and 1964 (Ethiopian) Click to show or hide the answer
First swimmer to win the same Olympic event three times (100m freestyle – Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964; Australian woman) Click to show or hide the answer

Mexico City 1968

US long jumper: set a world record that lasted for 24 years Click to show or hide the answer
Bronze medallist in the men's 200m – also gave the Black Power salute Click to show or hide the answer
British middleweight gold medallist (boxing) Click to show or hide the answer
British athlete: won gold in the 400m hurdles, then knocked all the hurdles down on his lap of honour Click to show or hide the answer
Australian silver medallist in the men's 200m – showed solidarity with Smith and Carlos by wearing the badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights Click to show or hide the answer
Men's 200m gold medallist – gave the Black Power salute on the winners' rostrum Click to show or hide the answer
The only pony ever to compete at the Olympics: won a silver medal (a pony is simply a small horse) Click to show or hide the answer
Rider of the above – they later appeared in a Monty Python sketch (she married in 1969 and took the surname Mould) Click to show or hide the answer

Munich 1972

Broke Indian/Pakistani domination of Hockey (see 1956 and 1960) by winning in 1972 Click to show or hide the answer
Ugandan 400m hurdles champion Click to show or hide the answer
Men's 100m and 200m champion – Soviet (Ukrainian) Click to show or hide the answer
US swimmer, won 7 golds – a record for the most medals at one Olympiad, broken by Michael Phelps (another US swimmer) in 2008 Click to show or hide the answer
Men's 5,000m and 10,000m champion (in 1972, and also in 1976) – Finnish Click to show or hide the answer

Montreal 1976

Canada in 1976 was the only host nation not to win a single gold medal.

Cuban winner of the 400m and 800m – the only man to achieve this 'double' Click to show or hide the answer
Britain's only track & field medal winner (bronze in the 10,000m) Click to show or hide the answer
De facto leader of Britain's gold–medal–winning modern pentathlon team (10 times British champion; competing in his 4th Olympiad) Click to show or hide the answer
Romanian gymnast, scored the first ever perfect 10 (seven altogether) Click to show or hide the answer
Soviet gymnast (born in Tajikistan, moved in childhood to Kazakhstan), scored three perfect 10s Click to show or hide the answer
Soviet (Ukrainian) modern pentathlete, disqualified for cheating in the fencing event – using a modified sword that would allow him to score points without making a legal hit Click to show or hide the answer
Britain's first men's swimming gold medal for 68 years (200m breast stroke) Click to show or hide the answer
The only woman competitor not given a sex test at the 1976 Olympics Click to show or hide the answer
Princess Anne's horse in the 1976 Olympics Click to show or hide the answer
Planted in sterilised soil and presented to all athletes and officials Click to show or hide the answer

Moscow 1980

Countries that boycotted the Moscow games Click to show or hide the answer
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Mascot (a bear) Click to show or hide the answer

Los Angeles 1984

Competed in 1984 for the first time since 1952 Click to show or hide the answer
Winner of the first women's marathon (USA) Click to show or hide the answer
Won both 100m and 200m, also the long jump and the 4 x 100m relay – 4 golds in total Click to show or hide the answer
US athlete, collided with Britain's Zola Budd (tripped over her heel) in the 3000m final Click to show or hide the answer
British discus thrower, and formerly Europe's Strongest Man, who carried the above from the track after the incident referred to (they married on New Year's Day, 1985) Click to show or hide the answer
Steve Redgrave won his first gold medal in the Click to show or hide the answer
Jamaica–born athlete, competed for Great Britain in 6 Olympiads, 1976–96; won gold in 1984; the first black woman to win Olympic gold for Britain Click to show or hide the answer
British athlete (born London 1961): finished third behind Tessa Sanderson (and Tiina Lillack of Finland) to win bronze in the javelin Click to show or hide the answer
British athlete: finished second behind Sebastian Coe to win silver in the 800m Click to show or hide the answer

Seoul 1988

Captain of Britain's winning men's hockey team Click to show or hide the answer
Steve Redgrave's partner in the coxless pairs Click to show or hide the answer
Canadian winner of the men's 100m, disqualified after testing positive for drugs Click to show or hide the answer
Finished second behind the above, but awarded the gold medal after the disqualification Click to show or hide the answer
Canada's super heavyweight boxing gold medallist Click to show or hide the answer
US boxer, super heavyweight silver medallist – defeated in the final by Lewis Click to show or hide the answer
British gold medallist in the men's 100 metres breast stroke Click to show or hide the answer
East German swimmer, won four gold medals Click to show or hide the answer
US swimmer, won five golds (including three in relays) Click to show or hide the answer
Winner of the women's singles tennis (first time since 1924) Click to show or hide the answer
Czech winner of the men's singles tennis Click to show or hide the answer
British athlete, finished second behind Petra Felke of East Germany to win silver in the javelin (see also 1984) Click to show or hide the answer
Yoo Nam–kyo of South Korea and Chen Jing of China won the first gold medals in the men's and women's singles, in Click to show or hide the answer

Barcelona 1992

British gold medallist in the 4,000m individual pursuit (cycling) Click to show or hide the answer
Prestige car manufacturer that made Chris Boardman's gold medal winning carbon fibre bike Click to show or hide the answer
1988 pole vault champion – widely regarded as the best pole vaulter ever – failed to clear his opening height in Barcelona 1992 Click to show or hide the answer
Baseball gold – the first ever – won by Click to show or hide the answer

Atlanta 1996

Lit the flame at the opening ceremony; presented with a gold medal to replace the one he threw away (or lost) Click to show or hide the answer
American athlete: first to win the men's 200 metres and 400 metres at the same Olympics Click to show or hide the answer
Guadeloupe–born French sprinter: won the women's 200m and 400m; also won the 400m in 1992 Click to show or hide the answer
British athlete, finished second to Michael Johnson in the men's 400m Click to show or hide the answer
Britain's triple jump world record holder, finished second Click to show or hide the answer
Britain's only gold medal at Atlanta in 1996 Sport Click to show or hide the answer
Event Click to show or hide the answer
Competitors Click to show or hide the answer
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US winner of the men's 100m Click to show or hide the answer
Irish swimmer: won three gold medals, but was banned from competition for 4 years after being found to have "manipulated" urine samples Click to show or hide the answer
Carl Lewis' only gold medal in 1996 – his 9th and last – was in the Click to show or hide the answer
Association Football gold Click to show or hide the answer

Sydney 2000

Britain's first gold medal at Sydney 2000: 1km time trial (cycling) Click to show or hide the answer
Sailing: British gold medallist in the Laser class Click to show or hide the answer
Australian Aboriginal competitor: lit the flame, and went on to win gold in the 400 metres Click to show or hide the answer
First British superheavyweight gold medallist Click to show or hide the answer
US female athlete: gold medallist in the women's 100m, 200m, and 4 x 400m relay; also won bronze in the long jump and 4 x 100m relay; later disqualified, and forfeited the medals, after admitting taking performance–enhancing drugs Click to show or hide the answer
British decathlete, finished 4th Click to show or hide the answer
British gold medallist in the inaugural women's modern pentathlon Click to show or hide the answer
Equatorial Guinea's only competitor, nicknamed "Eric the Eel" – finished last in the 100m freestyle, with a time of 1:52.72 (over twice as long as the winner) Click to show or hide the answer
Jamaican sprinter: the oldest female track and field medallist (winning silver in the women's 4 x 100m); later awarded bronze in the individual 100m after Marion Jones was disqualified Click to show or hide the answer
Romanian gymnast, stripped of his gold medal after taking a cold remedy Click to show or hide the answer
Blind US athlete who reached the 1500m final Click to show or hide the answer

Athens 2004

Horse, ridden by Cian O'Connor, that failed a drugs test – leading to the loss of the Republic of Ireland's only gold medal of these games and the disqualification of its entire show jumping team Click to show or hide the answer
British gold medallist in the Finn class (sailing) Click to show or hide the answer
US sprinter: 100m gold, 200m bronze, 100m relay silver; later banned after testing positive for a banned substance (believed to be testosterone) Click to show or hide the answer
Double gold medallist in the women's 800 metres and 1500 metres Click to show or hide the answer
British bronze medallist in the heptathlon Click to show or hide the answer
British cyclist (born in Belgium with an Australian father): won Gold, silver and Bronze medals Click to show or hide the answer
Leon Taylor and Peter Waterfield won Britain's first medal since 1960, in (sport) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer

Beijing 2008

Start date and time Click to show or hide the answer

8 is considered a lucky number in China.

Popular nickname for the Beijing National Stadium, built for the 2008 Summer Olympics Click to show or hide the answer
Winner of the 400m and 800m freestyle – the first British swimmer since 1908 to win two Olympic golds Click to show or hide the answer
Jamaican sprinter, won gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay – all in world record times Click to show or hide the answer
Won silver for Britain in the triple jump – having been favourite for gold Click to show or hide the answer
US swimmer: won 8 gold medals – beating Mark Spitz's record for the most golds at one Olympiad; see also London 2012 Click to show or hide the answer
Won silver for Britain in rowing, Athens 2004, and gold in cycling, Beijing 2008 Click to show or hide the answer
The first British gymnast to win an Olympic medal since 1928 – bronze on the pommel horse – went on to win silver at London 2012, only narrowly missing out on gold Click to show or hide the answer
Team GB's "three blondes in a boat" (sailing gold medallists) and the class in which they won Click to show or hide the answer
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London 2012

Mascot of the 2012 Summer Olympics: named after the town in Shropshire where the first Olympian Games were held in 1850 Click to show or hide the answer
Mascot of the 2012 Paralympics: named after the hospital in Buckinghamshire that first held a competition for disabled World War II veterans in 1948 Click to show or hide the answer
First person to carry the Olympic torch in Britain on its way to London (picking it up at Land's End) Click to show or hide the answer
Artistic Director of the opening ceremony Click to show or hide the answer
Title of the opening ceremony – also used for the subsequent soundtrack album Click to show or hide the answer
Iran attended under protest, because they claimed that the logo resembled the word Click to show or hide the answer
Venue for the sailing events (Dorset seaside town) Click to show or hide the answer
Venue for archery Click to show or hide the answer
Venue for beach volleyball Click to show or hide the answer
Held at Hadleigh Farm in Essex Click to show or hide the answer
British flyweight: the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing; also won in 2016 Click to show or hide the answer
GB's individual dressage gold medallist (also a member of the gold–medal–winning dressage team; and also won individual gold and team silver in 2016; shares her surname with an award–winning French actor) Click to show or hide the answer
Her horse (also in 2016) Click to show or hide the answer
Won gold for Great Britain in Taekwondo, in both 2012 and 2016 Click to show or hide the answer
US swimmer: won 4 golds and 2 silvers, making him the most–decorated Olympian of all time (18 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze – total 22 – beating the record set in 1964 by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina; went on to win a further 5 golds and 1 silver in 2016) Click to show or hide the answer

Venues for football

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Rio de Janeiro 2016

Sport included for the first time since 1904 (men) and 1900 (women) Click to show or hide the answer
Included for the first time ever Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer

American gymnast, hailed as the greatest of all time when taking four golds and a bronze at Rio in 2016 (in 2019 she became the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history, with 19 career golds) Click to show or hide the answer
Defeated Great Britain 43–7 in the final of the men's rugby (sevens); also won in 2020 (2021), defeating New Zealand 27–12 in the final; its women's team won bronze in 2020 (2021), and these are its only three Olympic medals to date Click to show or hide the answer
Inbee Park of South Korea was the first women's champion since 1900, in Click to show or hide the answer
Goalkeeper in Great Britain's gold–medal–winning women's hockey team: saved all four penalties in the final shoot–out against the Netherlands Click to show or hide the answer
Majlinda Kelmendi, gold medallist in the women's 52 kg judo, was the first ever Olympic medallist from (partially–recognised state, declared independence in 2008) Click to show or hide the answer
Member of the USA's 4 x 200m swimming relay team: claimed that he and his team–mates had been held up by armed robbers posing as policemen; it later emerged that the 'armed robbers' were security guards from a petrol station where the US swimmers had caused minor damage while drunk Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Represented Great Britain in the women's 10,000 metres, aged 42 (her fifth Olympiad; finished 15th; European champion in 2006 and 2014) Click to show or hide the answer
Great Britain's first medallist, and first gold medallist (100m breaststroke); broke the world record twice – once in the heat and again in the final; GB's first men's swimming gold since 1988 (Adrian Moorhouse in the same event) Click to show or hide the answer
The first Olympic men's golf champion since 1904 Click to show or hide the answer
Winner of the individual show jumping gold (after a six–way jump–off): aged 58, Britain's second–oldest Olympic gold medallist (after Joshua Millner – shooting gold in 1908 aged 61); GB's first individual show jumping medal since Anne Moore's silver in 1972 Click to show or hide the answer
His horse (also in 2012 when they won team gold) Click to show or hide the answer
Britain's Lutalo Muhammad was denied a gold medal in the very last second, in (sport) Click to show or hide the answer
Jamaican winner of the women's 100m and 200m Click to show or hide the answer
Bryony Page's silver was Britain's first ever medal in Click to show or hide the answer
Became the first British gymnast to win an individual Olympic gold, when he won the individual floor exercise at Rio; two hours later, won a second gold in the individual pommel horse Click to show or hide the answer
Gold medallists in the synchronised 3 metre springboard – Britain's first ever diving gold(s) Click to show or hide the answer
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Captain of Britain's gold medal–winning women's hockey team (their first ever Olympic gold) – carried the GB flag at the closing ceremony Click to show or hide the answer

Tokyo 2020

The games of the XXXII Olympiad were held in July and August 2021.

Italian winner of the men's 100 metres: born in Texas, with an Italian mother and an American father Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Japanese–born Sky Brown, aged 13 years and 28 days, became Britain's youngest ever medallist, winning bronze in (sport) Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23