Olympic Summer Games

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China. The Games featured 302 events and are remembered for the iconic Bird's Nest stadium and Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals.

Women first competed in the modern Olympics at the 1900 Paris Games. Twenty-two women participated in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian, and golf.

The United States led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Around 65 countries joined the boycott.

Carl Lewis won the 100 meters at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the first of his four gold medals at those Games (100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100m relay).

The 1936 Berlin Olympics were the first to be televised, though the broadcast was limited to local viewing halls in Berlin. The 1960 Rome Games were the first widely broadcast internationally.

The Olympic motto is 'Citius, Altius, Fortius,' which is Latin for 'Faster, Higher, Stronger.' It was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin and adopted in 1894. In 2021, 'Communiter' (Together) was added.

Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics, running barefoot. He became the first African to win an Olympic gold medal and successfully defended his title in 1964.

The 1896 Athens Olympics featured 9 sports: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.

Greece has competed in every Summer Olympic Games since the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. Australia, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland have also competed in every Summer Games.

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Palestinian terrorists from the group Black September took 11 Israeli team members hostage. All 11 hostages, 5 terrorists, and 1 German police officer were killed.

The United States won the most total medals at the 2012 London Olympics with 104 medals (46 gold, 29 silver, 29 bronze), followed by China with 87 medals.

Muhammad Ali, competing as Cassius Clay, won the gold medal in light heavyweight boxing at the 1960 Rome Olympics at the age of 18.

Muhammad Ali, despite trembling from Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Games in one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history.

The 1916 Summer Olympics, originally scheduled for Berlin, were cancelled due to World War I. The Games resumed in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium.

Both golf and rugby sevens were reintroduced at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Golf had last been played at the 1904 Games, and rugby (15-a-side) at the 1924 Games.