History UsefulNotes / OlympicGames

Events for the games have varied over the years, with some early events (like lacrosse and tug of war) not lasting and some more recent additions, like badminton in 1992, taekwondo in 2000, rugby sevens from 2016, and Skatebording in 2020. Artistic events were also previously featured as a part of the Olympics in the early days from 1912 to 1948, with architecture, literature, music, paining, and sculpture all being a part of the Olympiad at one point (with the focus of sport in mind) due to the original intentions for the Olympics by Pierre de Coubertin himself. However, all artistic endeavors for the event stopped being considered events for the Olympics by 1954 due to a ruling saying all Olympic athletes had to be amateurs, while artists were considered professionals in their respective fields. Cultural Olympiads are considered official replacements for artistic fields with the Olympics since 1956, with more information on it found in Website/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Summer_Olympics here.]]

Events for the games have varied over the years, with some early events (like lacrosse and tug of war) not lasting and some more recent additions, like badminton in 1992, taekwondo in 2000 and rugby sevens from 2016. Artistic events were also previously featured as a part of the Olympics in the early days from 1912 to 1948, with architecture, literature, music, paining, and sculpture all being a part of the Olympiad at one point (with the focus of sport in mind) due to the original intentions for the Olympics by Pierre de Coubertin himself. However, all artistic endeavors for the event stopped being considered events for the Olympics by 1954 due to a ruling saying all Olympic athletes had to be amateurs, while artists were considered professionals in their respective fields. Cultural Olympiads are considered official replacements for artistic fields with the Olympics since 1956, with more information on it found in Website/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Summer_Olympics here.]]

'''Carriers of the Torch and Lighter of the Flame:''' Al Oerter [Outside] / Evander Holyfield[[note]]Atlanta native, 1984 bronze medalist at boxing and retired professional cruiserweight/heavyweight champion[[/note]] and Voula Patoulidou[[note]]1992 gold medalist at athletics and the first female Greek medalist, both as a nod to Greece as the birthplace of the Games and partly as consolation for Athens failing the 1996 bid[[/note]] / Janet Evans[[note]]3-time 1988 and 2-time 1992 gold medalist at swimming[[/note]] / ''UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli''[[note]]1960 gold medalist at boxing (as Cassius Clay) and one of the greatest professional heavyweight boxers of all time[[/note]]

-->Basketball fans probably remember that dunk by Vince Carter. Sydney 2000 was also dubbed the "Women's Games", celebrating 100 years of female participation (it was also the first Games to have women's weightlifting, and saw increased female participation, albeit then at 25% the number of men). The final torch relay was done entirely by women medalists from past Games, culminating with [[UsefulNotes/AustralianAborigines aboriginal]] runner Cathy Freeman, silver medalist from Atlanta 1996, who would win her event, the 400m run. Michael Phelps, then 15, made his Olympic debut here, finishing fifth in the men's 200m butterfly final, while fellow American Tom Malchow won the event, the only Olympic gold of Malchow's career. These Games are infamous in the US for the fact that ''everything'' that NBC and the cable channels they used to supplement their coverage[[note]]CNBC and MSNBC, in this case, the first time that NBC used cable networks to supplement Olympics coverage (when you don't count the Olympics Triplecast disaster they brought in for Barcelona '92)[[/note]] aired was taped, thanks to the 14-hour time difference between Sydney and the US's Eastern Time Zone. The ''only'' event NBC aired live was the men's basketball gold medal game between the US and France, since it fit into the primetime slot on their penultimate night of coverage, and even then, they only showed it live because US lost almost their semifinal to Lithuania, with Šarūnas Jasikevičius missing a three-point shot that he didn't get off in time anyway, as the ball was still in his hands when the clock hit zero.[[note]]Even though 99.9% of everything NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC aired was taped, their studio hosts - Bob Costas, Hannah Storm (both NBC), Jim Lampley (MSNBC), and Pat O'Brien (CNBC) - always appeared live on-camera, meaning, when events held for primetime were airing at night in the US, Costas was anchoring coverage live from Sydney, where it was late morning (when primetime coverage started) to early afternoon (when primetime coverage ended).[[/note]] Many American print outlets talked about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's commitment to showing the Games live, no matter what time they were going on, and also pointed out the fact that some northern US cities - Seattle, Detroit, and Buffalo, in particular - got CBC on cable packages, giving viewers in those cities a choice between NBC and CBC. Then-NBC Olympics executive producer Dick Ebersol angrily pointed out that those same print outlets didn't mention the fact that CBC's ratings for live coverage weren't very good, meaning people chose sleep over the Olympics. Sure enough, in those northern US cities where people had a choice between broadcasters, NBC's taped coverage crushed CBC's in the ratings.

'''Bearers of the Olympic Flag:''' Zhang Xielin[[note]]6-time World Table Tennis Championships medalist -- 2 each of gold, bronze and silver from 1961 to 1971 in singles and doubles[[/note]], Pan Duo[[note]]ethnic Tibetan mountaineer and the first Chinese woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest[[/note]], Zheng Fengrong[[note]]high jumper and China's first world record holder (1.77m in 1957)[[/note]], Yang Yang (A)[[note]]2006 bronze, 1998-2002 silver and 2-time 2002 gold medalist at short track speed skating and China's first Winter Olympic champion[[/note]], Yang Ling[[note]]1996-2000 shooting gold medalist[[/note]], Mu Xiangxiong[[note]]3-time breastroke world record setter[[/note]], Xiong Ni[[note]]1992 bronze, 1988 silver and 1996 and 2-time 2000 gold medalist at diving[[/note]] and Li Lingwei[[note]]badminton player and 4-time IBF World Championships medalist (3 golds, 1 silver)[[/note]]\\
'''Olympic Oaths:''' Zhang Yining[[note]]2-time 2004 and 2-time 2008 gold medalist at table tennis[[/note]] [Athletes] / Huang Liping[[note]]1996 silver medalist at gymnastics and referee[[/note]] [Judges]\\
'''Carriers of the Torch and Lighter of the Flame:''' Xu Haifeng[[note]]1984 gold medalist at shooting and China's very first gold medalist[[/note]] / Gao Min[[note]]1988-1992 gold medalist at diving and China's first back-to-back medalist[[/note]] / Li Xiaoshuang[[note]]1992-1996 gold medalist at gymnastics[[/note]] / Zhan Xugang[[note]]1996-2000 gold medalist at weightlifting[[/note]] / Zhang Jun[[note]]2000-2004 gold medalist at badminton doubles[[/note]] / Chen Zhong[[note]]2000-2004 gold medalist at taekwondo[[/note]] / Sun Jinfang[[note]]volleyball player and member of the gold-winning 1982 FIVB World Championship team, China's first major team sport championship[[/note]] / ''Li Ning''[[note]]1984 1-time bronze, 2-time silver and 3-time gold medalist at gymnastics and China's most decorated Olympian[[/note]]

'''Carriers of the Torch and Lighters of the Flame:''' David Beckham[[note]]East London native and retired football superstar, having played for the England national team, Manchester United of England's UsefulNotes/PremierLeague, Real Madrid of Spain's La Liga, AC Milan of Italy's Serie A, Los Angeles Galaxy of the USA's UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer and Paris Saint-Germain of France's Ligue 1[[/note]] [by motorboat] / Steve Redgrave[[note]]1988 bronze and 1984-2000 gold medalist in rowing, as well as one of the most decorated British Olympians[[/note]] / ''Seven teenage athletes nominated by seven legendary British Olympians, in the spirit of the Games' theme of "[[PassingTheTorch inspiring a generation]]": Callum Airlie (Shirley Robertson''[[note]]2000-2004 gold medalist at sailing[[/note]]''), Jordan Duckitt (Duncan Goodhew''[[note]]1980 bronze/gold medalist at swimming[[/note]]''), Desiree Henry (Daley Thompson''[[note]]1980/1984 gold medalist at decathlon[[/note]]''), Katie Kirk (Mary Peters''[[note]]1972 gold medalist at pentathlon[[/note]]''), Cameron [=MacRitchie=] (Steve Redgrave), Aidan Reynolds (Lynn Davies''[[note]]1964 gold medalist at long jump[[/note]]'') and Adelle Tracey (Kelly Holmes''[[note]]2000 bronze and 2-time 2004 gold medalist in athletics[[/note]]'')''

'''Bearers of the Olympic Flag:''' Emanuel Rego[[note]]2004 gold, 2008 bronze and 2012 silver medalist in beach volleyball[[/note]], Rosa Celia Pimentel Barbosa[[note]]pioneering pediatric cardiologist and children's rights activist[[/note]], Sandra Pires[[note]]1996 gold and 2000 bronze medalist at beach volleyball[[/note]], Torben Grael[[note]]most decorated Brazilian ever, with five medals, two of them gold, in sailing[[/note]], Joaquim Cruz[[note]]1984 gold and 1988 silver medalist at the 800m run, and one of the few men to run the course under 1 minute 42 seconds[[/note]], Marta[[note]]footballer and highest-scoring player at the FIFA Women's World Cup; won two Olympic silvers[[/note]], Ellen Gracie Northfleet [[note]]American-Brazilian judge and first female president of the Supreme Court of Brazil[[/note]] and Oscar Schmidt[[note]]basketball player, 1978 FIBA World Cup bronze medalist and member of the Naismith Memorial and FIBA Halls of Fame[[/note]]\\

'''Carriers of the Torch and Lighter of the Flame:''' Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten[[note]]Former world #1 tennis player and three-time French Open champion[[/note]] / Hortência Marcari[[note]]1996 silver medalist at basketball, and Naismith and FIBA Hall of Famer[[/note]] / ''Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima''[[note]]2004 bronze medalist at the marathon and recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his extraordinary display of fair play and sportsmanship despite losing an opportunity to win gold to a mid-race disruption; football legend Pelé was intended to be the lighter of the flame, but was unable to for health reasons[[/note]]
-->The first Games in South America, held two years after Brazil hosted [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup the 2014 FIFA World Cup]]. Despite concerns over the Zika virus, alarming pollution on the city waters, infrastructure problems, inadequate security and some pre-Games violence, and a massive doping scandal that shaved off almost the entire Russian athletics team[[note]]the sole exception was USA-based Darya Klishina[[/note]], the Games are best remembered for an [[GreenAesop environmentally-themed opening ceremony]], featuring athletes marching in carrying seedlings which will be planted after the Games and culminating in a small, low-emission cauldron accented by a wind-powered kinetic sculpture, the final performances of Michael Phelps, who finished with five gold and one silver, and Usain Bolt, who completed a "triple-triple" (gold at the 100m, 200m and 4×100m on all three Games he attended[[note]]In 2017, he lost this tag, after a retest of Nesta Carter's drugs sample from 2008 - he was one of the 4x100m relay members - came back positive.[[/note]], American gymnast Simone Biles adding four gold and one silver to her ten gold and two each of silver and bronze from the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Somali-born British runner Mo Farah becoming the second athlete to successfully defend his 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals after Finland's Lasse Virén in 1972 and 1976, and hosts Brazil finally winning its first football gold, in some ways gaining both redemption for its fourth-place disappointment at said World Cup, as well as some measure of vengeance for its 1-7 semifinals humiliation from Cup winner Germany through penalty kicks (5-4, 1-1 after 120 minutes). Kuwait's Fehaid Al-Deehani won the Men's Double Trap shooting event, becoming the first Independent Olympic Athlete to win a gold medal. The record for oldest individual Olympic gold medalist in swimming history was broken twice during these Games: On August 9, Michael Phelps won the Men's 200-Meter Butterfly at age 31; three days later, American Anthony Ervin shattered that record, winning the Men's 50 Free at ''35''. Ervin won the same event at the Sydney Games, ''16 years prior'', in a tie for gold with fellow American and former training partner Gary Hall Jr. American Simone Manuel became the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in swimming, tying for gold with Canada's Penny Oleksiak in the Women's 100 Free. Oleksiak made her own history in the process: while it was the third tie for gold in Olympic swimming history, Oleksiak was the first non-American to tie for gold in an individual Olympic swimming event. After a century away, golf returned to the Olympics. Many of the big names in the men's game opted to skip the Olympics, some citing the Zika virus[[note]]Tiger Woods didn't qualify, as he was in the midst of a miserable period in his career where injuries, plus perhaps depression, kept him off the course.[[/note]] Fortunately for the sport's Olympic future, the men's podium had recognizable names: claming Gold was Britain's Justin Rose (finishing at 16-under par), the 2013 US Open champion, who would go on to become the World No. 1 later in his career; the Silver went to Sweden's Henrik Stenson (14-under), who won the Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland just a month before the Games; and Bronze went to American Matt Kuchar (13-under), considered one of the best players of his generation to not win a major. The women's tournament had many of its big names come down to Rio, and thus, they were rewarded with a podium they could be proud of: South Korea's Inbee Park, a winner of seven majors, won Gold, shooting 16-under, and having three rounds of 66 in the tournament; Silver went to New Zealand youngster Lydia Ko (11-under), at the time the top-ranked player in the women's game; and Bronze was won by China's Shanshan Feng (10-under), the 2012 LPGA Championship (now Women's PGA Championship) winner. These Olympics were Bob Costas's last as primetime host of NBC's coverage; on February 9, 2017, Costas announced that he would stand down from the role. Mike Tirico, a longtime ESPN personality who joined NBC Sports in July 2016, replaced Costas beginning with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

'''Bearers of the Japanese Flag:''' Yoshinobu Miyake[[note]]weightlifter and 3-time medalist (silver at Rome 1960 and gold at Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968)[[/note]], Naoko Takahashi[[note]]marathon gold medalist at Sydney 2000[[/note]], Momoha Tabata[[note]]member of the silver-winning curling team at Lausanne 2020 YOG[[/note]], Hibiki Sakai[[note]]12-year-old blind drummer[[/note]], Keita Dohi[[note]]sport climbing gold medalist at Buenos Aires 2018 YOG[[/note]], and Mizuki Asano[[note]]rescue worker, representing her fellow rescuerts during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami[[/note]]\\

-->These Games make Australia just the second country, after the USA, to host the Summer Games on three different cities, as well as the first to win its bid unopposed since Los Angeles 1984, and the first to win under a new host selection format wherein the IOC will directly enter into discussions with interested host cities without the need to pit them against each other.

-->These Games make Paris the second three-time host after London, as well as the city's first in exactly a century. After three failed bids for 1992, 2008 and 2012, there were fears within the IOC that Paris, the birthplace of Pierre de Coubertin, may never put forth a bid again if fourth time is still unlucky, and with competitors Rome, Hamburg and Budapest all withdrawing due to lack of popular support and/or opposition, leaving only Los Angeles, a wild scenario popped up: the ''2028'' Summer Games could be a consolation prize to whoever lost the rights for 2024. Despite initial opposition, both parties eventually warmed up to the idea, though Paris lobbied harder to earn 2024 due to development of proposed venues being earmarked for no later than that date. With Los Angeles conceding for 2028, Paris easily won its bid virtually unopposed. Apart from being the first Games to debut breakdancing, Paris 2024 will be a groundbreaker for taking the opening and closing ceremonies out of the stadium (which had a precedent in the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games) and onto the streets, in particular along the banks of the Seine River and finishing at Trocadéro, across the river from the iconic Eiffel Tower. These Games will see the debut of breaking (aka breakdancing) as an Olympic sport. The surfing events will set a new Olympic record for greatest distance between a host city and an event venue; the venue of Teahupo'o in the French overseas territory of [[UsefulNotes/FrenchPolynesia Tahiti]] is 15,716 km from Paris (about 130 km farther than the 1956 equestrian venue of Stockholm was from the host city of Melbourne). On May 11, 2023, [=NBCUniversal=] announced that, for the first time ever at a European Olympics, all major event finals would be televised live instead of being held for primetime, with NBC broadcasting '''nine hours''' of live coverage each day during the daytime hours.

-->These Games make Paris the second three-time host after London, as well as the city's first in exactly a century. After three failed bids for 1992, 2008 and 2012, there were fears within the IOC that Paris, the birthplace of Pierre de Coubertin, may never put forth a bid again if fourth time is still unlucky, and with competitors Rome, Hamburg and Budapest all withdrawing due to lack of popular support and/or opposition, leaving only Los Angeles, a wild scenario popped up: the ''2028'' Summer Games could be a consolation prize to whoever lost the rights for 2024. Despite initial opposition, both parties eventually warmed up to the idea, though Paris lobbied harder to earn 2024 due to development of proposed venues being earmarked for no later than that date. With Los Angeles conceding for 2028, Paris easily won its bid virtually unopposed. Apart from being the first Games to debut breakdancing, Paris 2024 will be a groundbreaker for taking the opening and closing ceremonies out of the stadium (which had a precedent in the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games) and onto the streets, in particular along the banks of the Seine River and finishing at Trocadéro, across the river from the iconic Eiffel Tower. These Games will see the debut of breaking (aka breakdancing) as an Olympic sport. The surfing events will set a new Olympic record for greatest distance between a host city and an event venue; the venue of Teahupo'o in the French overseas territory of [[UsefulNotes/FrenchPolynesia Tahiti]] is 15,716 km from Paris (about 130 km farther than the 1956 equestrian venue of Stockholm was from the host city of Melbourne).

Originally a strictly amateur affair in the truest sense of the word, some early winners literally were just in town and decided to have a go. The rule against professionalism was extremely serious. Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox), who won two medals at the 1912 Games hosted by Stockholm, Sweden, was actually stripped of them when it emerged he'd earlier played baseball semi-professionally.[[note]]His family received duplicate gold medals 30 years after he died, but ''it took 110 years'' for him to be reinstated in the official Olympic record as sole winner of the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912.[[/note]] (However, the rule against professional athletes competing in what were considered amateur events had been lifted in part due to how the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc areas implemented the idea of a "full-time amateur athlete" where they were considered either students, soldiers, or workers in another profession, but were actually paid by the state to play in well-developed leagues and modern facilities to train year-round. The result of that loophole led to events like basketball allowing for professionals to play in the Olympics by the end of the 20th century. One famous example of professional players being able to play in the Olympics and do incredibly well was the 1992 U.S. DreamTeam, a men's basketball team filled with eventual Hall of Fame players from the NBA (alongside a player from the NCAA and a recently retired NBA player having one last hurrah for himself), that curb stomped the competition of the entire event that year.

-->This marked the second time the Games were held in Los Angeles, and the first to turn a profit since 1932. After the financial disaster of Montreal 1976, there were ''no'' other bidders and as the only game in town (or rather, the only town in the game) LA was able to dictate terms to the IOC that allowed them to host a Diet Lite Olympics that used mainly already-existing facilities. A smaller, USSR-led Eastern boycott for this one in retaliation for the USA-led one four years prior. This allowed America to earn its most medals since Saint Louis 1904. Also had a theme by Music/JohnWilliams that is still played by NBC to this day and a guy fly a jet-pack during the opening ceremonies, and the appearance of a fake UFO during the closing ceremonies. Widely considered the most financially successful Games, according to [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]. Many of the Games' notable events come from athletics, with USA's Carl Lewis matching Owens' feat in winning the 100m, 200m, 4×100m and long jump (in the first of his four appearances), Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel becoming the first woman from an Islamic nation to win a gold medal (in the 400m hurdles), and Great Britain's Sebastian Coe the first back-to-back 1500m winner. Other notables include British rower Steve Redgrave winning the first of his five consecutive gold medals, Chinese gymnast Li Ning winning 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze -- the most of any Chinese athlete -- presaging his country's ascendancy in future editions, and the first appearance of future Dream Team players UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin, then amateurs, as the US basketball team wins gold. These are the last Summer Games to date to be telecast in the United States on a network other than NBC (in this case, ABC). They were also the last Summer Games, and the first since 1960, held in a city without rail transit.[[note]]The Pacific Electric "Red Car", still in its prime in 1932, was long gone by '84 and UsefulNotes/LosAngelesMetroRail didn't start operation until 1992[[/note]]

-->Also cancelled due to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The same town would later be awarded the 1956 edition.

-->These Games make Paris the second three-time host after London, as well as the city's first in exactly a century. After three failed bids for 1992, 2008 and 2012, there were fears within the IOC that Paris, the birthplace of Pierre de Coubertin, may never put forth a bid again if fourth time is still unlucky, and with competitors Rome, Hamburg and Budapest all withdrawing due to lack of popular support and/or opposition, leaving only Los Angeles, a wild scenario popped up: the ''2028'' Summer Games could be a consolation prize to whoever lost the rights for 2024. Despite initial opposition, both parties eventually warmed up to the idea, though Paris lobbied harder to earn 2024 due to development of proposed venues being earmarked for no later than that date. With Los Angeles conceding for 2028, Paris easily won its bid virtually unopposed. Apart from being the first Games to debut breakdancing, Paris 2024 will be a groundbreaker for taking the opening and closing ceremonies out of the stadium (which had a precedent in the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games) and onto the streets, in particular along the banks of the Seine River and finishing at Trocadéro, across the river from the iconic Eiffel Tower. These Games will see the debut of breaking (aka breakdancing) as an Olympic sport. The surfing events will set a new Olympic record for greatest distance between a host city and an event venue; the venue of Teahupo'o in the French overseas territory of UsefulNotes/{{Tahiti}} is 15,716 km from Paris (about 130 km farther than the 1956 equestrian venue of Stockholm was from the host city of Melbourne).

-->These Games make Paris the second three-time host after London, as well as the city's first in exactly a century. After three failed bids for 1992, 2008 and 2012, there were fears within the IOC that Paris, the birthplace of Pierre de Coubertin, may never put forth a bid again if fourth time is still unlucky, and with competitors Rome, Hamburg and Budapest all withdrawing due to lack of popular support and/or opposition, leaving only Los Angeles, a wild scenario popped up: the ''2028'' Summer Games could be a consolation prize to whoever lost the rights for 2024. Despite initial opposition, both parties eventually warmed up to the idea, though Paris lobbied harder to earn 2024 due to development of proposed venues being earmarked for no later than that date. With Los Angeles conceding for 2028, Paris easily won its bid virtually unopposed. Apart from being the first Games to debut breakdancing, Paris 2024 will be a groundbreaker for taking the opening and closing ceremonies out of the stadium (which had a precedent in the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games) and onto the streets, in particular along the banks of the Seine River and finishing at Trocadéro, across the river from the iconic Eiffel Tower.

'''First medals (gold):''' Belgium[[note]]Aimé Haegeman (equestrian showjumping)[[/note]], Canada[[note]]George Orton (men's 2500m steeplechase)[[/note]], Cuba[[note]]Ramón Fonst (men's épée fencing)[[/note]], Italy[[note]]Gian Giorgio Trissino (equestrian high jump)[[/note]], and Spain[[note]]Men's Basque pelota team (José de Amézola y Aspizúa and Francisco Villota)[[/note]]\\

The Games became increasingly commercialized over the centuries as Greece lost power and prestige in the world. They were no longer considered a religious festival but a secular event. Non-Greeks were allowed to enter, and winners sought not just prestige and laurels but money. Invaders tore down the temples and shrines, while people like UsefulNotes/{{Nero}} "competed" and won, with the playing field tilted in his favor. The Games were ultimately banned by Emperor Theodosius I, who established UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} as the state religion of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire and viewed the Olympics as a pagan festival.

** ''LightNovel/GinbanKaleidoscope'' is about a Japanese figure skater whose Olympic journey hits a snag when she finds herself possessed by the ghost of a Canadian stunt pilot.

-->Montreal 1976 saw a 24-nation African boycott over New Zealand's national rugby team touring South Africa (then banned from the Olympics due to apartheid), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq-C5-vIim8 a guy win a gymnastics medal with a broken knee]] and the first perfect score in a gymnastics event by fourteen-year-old Nadia Comăneci from Romania. [[BrokeTheRatingScale The scoreboards couldn't handle it.]] The Games were also notorious for Canada not winning a gold medal on its home Games, a streak that continued in Calgary 1988 but finally broken come Vancouver 2010. The Games also put Montreal in debt for the next three decades. Other highlights include Georgian Soviet triple jumper Viktor Saneyev complete a rare three-peat, Cuban Alberto Juantorena winning track's so-called "impossible double" of the 400 and 800 m, American decathlete Caitlyn (then Bruce) Jenner setting a world record with 8,634 points, and American boxers Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks his brother Michael Spinks, and Leo Randolph winning gold medals before launching successful professional careers. Lowlights included the ramp-up of East Germany's infamous government-mandated [[note]]with athletes given no choice in the performance-enhancing substances they used or in some cases being informed they were taking anything other than "vitamins", even if they could see alarming changes going with it[[/note]] and extensively-documented doping program, particularly then noticeable amongst its female athletes — [[ProperlyParanoid when the US women's swimming team complained]], they were called "sore losers" in the media. Also among the athletes was Thomas Bach, member of the gold-winning West German fencing team, who in 2013 would become the very first Olympic medalist to become IOC President.

'''Olympic Oaths:''' Heidi Schüller[[note]]Long jumper[[/note]] (Athletes) / Heinz Pollay[[note]]Equestrian judge, 1952 bronze and 2-time 1936 gold medalist in dressage[[/note]] (Judges)\\

** ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} [[Recap/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames at the Olympic Games]]''

-->This made London the first city to host the Games thrice, as well as the first Games where all 204 participating nations, including individual athletes from recently-dissolved Netherlands Antilles and newly-independent South Sudan, had female athletes. These Games boast Great Britain's best medal haul since 1908 (ending with a respectable third-place finish behind perennial board-leaders USA and China), Usain Bolt's continued domination of sprint events, and Michael Phelps surpassing Latynina's record with four golds and two silvers, marking a new world record of 22 medals (eighteen gold and two each of silver and bronze). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4As0e4de-rI The Opening Ceremonies]], directed by Creator/DannyBoyle, will probably also go down in history as "the one where [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen the Queen]] parachuted into the arena with Film/JamesBond" and "the one where [[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/07/27/sports/27oepning16/27oepning16-blog480.jpg Paul [=McCartney=] performed]]." These ceremonies were so hugely complex they [[https://blog.oup.com/2012/08/oxford-companion-london-2012-opening-ceremony/ inspired their own Oxford Companion guide]]. Mention should also be made of the original cauldron design, comprising a loose assembly of 204 copper "petals" (one carried in by a member of each participating nation's team) with thin copper gas pipes as "stalks". Once lit these rose up to form [[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/07/27/sports/27opening13/27opening13-blog480.jpg a tight cluster so that the flames merged]], symbolizing unity.

** ''Film/RunningBrave'', Canadian film featuring Sioux runner Billy Mill's path to winning the gold medal for the 10,000m race at the 1964 Olympics.

** ''Series/TheGoldbergs'' has an episode where Barry is inspired by Eddie the Eagle to try and become a champion athlete. (It's probably not a coincidence that it aired at about the same time as the above-listed {{Biopic}}.)

** ''Film/ITonya'', a dramedy {{Biopic}} about figure skater UsefulNotes/TonyaHarding and the scandal she was involved in.

** ''Literature/RainbowSix'' involves a plot to start a global plague via the air conditioning at the Sydney opening ceremony. Clancy failed to realise the games actually took place in the late winter/early spring of Australia.

** ''The Cutting Edge: Going For The Gold''. An [[Creator/{{Freeform}} ABC Family]] film that's essentially a remake of its 1992 parent film, right down to the impossible winning move the team pulls off. Additionally, the female protagonist is the daughter of the couple from the first film, but is four years older than she could possibly be (a {{Retcon}} moves the first film back to 1988 instead of 1992).

** The sixth episode of 2031-set {{Mockumentary}} ''Series/TimeTrumpet'' briefly discusses what happened at the (then future) 2012 Olympics. Apparently, the [=UK=] getting the rights to it would have turned out to be a big prank by Justin Lee Collins, with the actual rights having gone to Paris instead. Thankfully, this did not happen in real life.

-->This marked the second time the Games were held in Los Angeles, and the first to turn a profit since 1932. After the financial disaster of Montreal 1976, there were ''no'' other bidders and as the only game in town (or rather, the only town in the game) LA was able to dictate terms to the IOC that allowed them to host a Diet Lite Olympics that used mainly already-existing facilities. A smaller, USSR-led Eastern boycott for this one in retaliation for the USA-led one four years prior. This allowed America to earn its most medals since Saint Louis 1904. Also had a theme by Music/JohnWilliams that is still played by NBC to this day and a guy fly a jet-pack during the opening ceremonies, and the appearance of a fake UFO during the closing ceremonies. Widely considered the most financially successful Games, according to [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]. Many of the Games' notable events come from athletics, with USA's Carl Lewis matching Owens' feat in winning the 100m, 200m, 4×100m and long jump (in the first of his four appearances), Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel becoming the first woman from an Islamic nation to win a gold medal (in the 400m hurdles), and Great Britain's Sebastian Coe the first back-to-back 1500m winner. Other notables include British rower Steve Redgrave winning the first of his five consecutive gold medals, Chinese gymnast Li Ning winning 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze -- the most of any Chinese athlete -- presaging his country's ascendancy in future editions, and the first appearance of future Dream Team players UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin, then amateurs, as the US basketball team wins gold. These are the last Summer Games to date to be telecast in the United States on a network other than NBC (in this case, ABC). They were also the last Summer Games, and the first since 1960, held in a city without rail transit.[[note]]The Pacific Electric "Red Car", still in its prime in 1932, was long gone by '84 and UsefulNotes/LosAngelesMetroRail didn't start operation until 1992[[/note]]

** ''The Final Game (2022), a dramatization of the Spanish water polo team's run in the Olympic games of Barcelona.

'''Mascot:''' Hodori the tiger and Hosuni the tigress[[note]]The tiger is an auspicious animal in Korean culture[[/note]]\\

'''Mascot:''' Cobi the sheepdog[[note]]Cobi is drawn with elements of avant-garde, of which Spain is one of its birthplaces, and cubism, in honor of eminent Spanish artist Creator/PabloPicasso[[/note]] / Petra the armless girl (Paralympics)[[note]]Petra was specifically designed to complement Cobi[[/note]]\\

'''Mascots:''' Wenlock (Olympics) and Mandeville (Paralympics) the steel blobs[[note]]Following Vancouver 2010's lead, they were the first Summer Olympic/Paralympic mascot tandem, representing Britain's leading role in the UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution; the former is named after the town of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Wenlock Much Wenlock]] in Shropshire, which hosted [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenlock_Olympian_Games a local precursor]] to the Olympic Games; the latter, after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoke_Mandeville_Hospital Stoke Mandeville Hospital]] in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, which specialized in spinal injury research and also hosted [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWAS_World_Games a precursor]] to the Paralympic Games[[/note]]\\

'''Mascot:''' Vinicius (Olympics) and Tom (Paralympics), representatives of Brazilian fauna and flora, respectively[[note]]Both are also respectively named after poet [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinicius_de_Moraes Vinicius de Moraes]] and musician [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4nio_Carlos_Jobim Antônio Carlos "Tom" Jobim]], co-creators of the famous bossa nova song "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_from_Ipanema The Girl from Ipanema]]"[[/note]]\\

'''Mascot:''' Miraitowa (Olympics) and Someity (Paralympics), {{Cartoon Creature}}s with checkered patterns[[note]]They are a nod to Japan's fascination for cute mascots as well as anime; respectively, the former is colored blue after the Games' official logo, and whose name is based on the Japanese words for "future" and "eternity", while the latter is colored pink in allusion to cherry blossoms, a cherished part of Japanese culture, and is named after the ''somei-yoshino'' (''Prunus × yedoensis'', a kind of cherry blossom) and the English words "So mighty"[[/note]]\\

'''Duration:''' August 2-18

'''Mascots:''' Powder the hare, Copper the coyote, Coal the black bear and and Otto the otter (Paralympics)[[note]]These mascots are based on animals indigenous to Utah and are also named after important mineral resources in the state; in addition, the three animals play important roles in Native American mythologies, and also respectively symbolize the elements of the Olympic motto--"Citius" ("Faster"), "Altius" ("Higher"), and and "Fortius" ("Stronger")[[/note]] / Otto the otter (Paralympics)[[note]]Otto was specifically designed to complement Powder, Copper and Coal[[/note]]\\

'''Mascots:''' Neve the snowball and Gliz the ice cube (Olympics)[[note]]Neve is a female red snowball representing softness, friendship and elegance, and Gliz is a male blue ice cube representing enthusiasm and joy[[/note]] / Aster the snowflake (Paralympics)[[note]]Though independently created, Aster was specifically designed to complement Neve and Gliz, as a precursor to the next Winter Games introducing a tradition of joint Olympic and Paralympic mascots[[/note]]\\

'''Participating athletes:''' 651 (645 men, 6 women) from 12 [=NOCs=][[note]]South Africa debuts; Argentina, Belgium, Bohemia, Denmark, Haiti, India, Iran, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Romania, Russian Empire, Spain and Sweden withdraw[[/note]]\\

Events for the games have varied over the years, with some early events (like lacrosse and tug of war) not lasting and some more recent additions, like badminton in 1992, taekwondo in 2000 and rugby sevens from 2016. Artistic events were also previously featured as a part of the Olympics in the early days from 1912 to 1948, with architecture, literature, music, paining, and sculpture all being a part of the Olympiad at one point (with the focus of sport in mind) due to the original intentions for the Olympics by Pierre de Coubertin himself. However, all artistic endeavors for the event stopped being considered events for the Olympics by 1954 due to a ruling saying all Olympic athletes had to be amateurs, while artists were considered professionals in their respective fields. Cultural Olympiads are considered official replacements for artistic fields with the Olympics since 1956, with more information on it found in Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Summer_Olympics here.]]

** ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'': The final two chapters show a glimpse of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (taking place in 2021), with [[spoiler:many of the characters -- including protagonists Hinata and Kageyama-- being a part of Japan's volleybal team ''and'' Oikawa being a part of the opposing Argentina team]].

-->A confusing, badly organized mess, with the Russo-Japanese War and the traveling keeping many Europeans away. Like Paris 1900, these were basically a sideshow for the big World's Fair that year -- the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (which lasted longer and was the main reason why the Olympics were as long as it was that year) -- and indeed, de Coubertin had been browbeaten into accepting St. Louis in lieu of Chicago, which actually won the hosting rights fair and square. The marathon was a farce and a half.[[note]]To summarize: the race day was brutally humid and hot and only one water-station was provided on the course. The athletes were running on open dirt roads and thus had to dodge oncoming traffic as they ran, the traffic also kicked up dustclouds that nearly killed one runner (William Garcia, USA). The judges mistakenly gave the gold medal to Frederick Lorz (USA), who dropped out nine miles away, and was just jogging to pick up his clothes, not realizing the mistake until after the medals ceremony. The actual winner, British-American Thomas Hicks, was doped with strychnine (the performance enhancer of the day) and had to be carried half-dead past the finish line. The race also included South African Len Tau (also spelled Lentauw) and Yamasani, the first Africans in the Games. Lentauw placed ninth, but only because he was chased a mile off course by dogs (he worked as a sideshow freak during off-hours as a "savage", but he was actually a university student) and Yamasani twelfth. Finally, there is Félix Carbajal, a Cuban postman running in homemade shorts (because he lost all his money gambling in New Orleans), who, despite taking a snack break at an orchard en route (the apples he ate gave him mild food poisoning, so he had to take a nap too), still came in fourth.[[/note]] In short, these were the Games that almost ''ended'' the Olympics! This is also the main reason why Chicago has continuously bid on a spot for the Olympics many years later, even though they never have ben awarded a new year to make up for it. [[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1904-olympic-marathon-may-have-been-the-strangest-ever-14910747/ More bizarre details here!]]