Five interlocking rings on a white field
Designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913; the six colours, white included, were chosen to cover every national flag of the day
General knowledge · Sport
The Olympic Games
776 BC (traditional first games); revived 1896
Sport — multi-sport games
The world's foremost multi-sport festival, held at Olympia in honour of Zeus from a traditional founding date of 776 BC until AD 393, and revived in modern form at Athens in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Summer and Winter editions are now staged in alternating even-numbered years, organised by the International Olympic Committee, with the five-ring flag, the torch relay and the Olympiad as its most recognisable inheritances from antiquity.
How to spot them
- ▸Five interlocking rings; a flame relayed from Olympia; the Olympiad as a four-year period
- ▸Founded in its modern form by a French baron; first modern games in Athens, 1896
- ▸Ancient games held at Olympia in honour of Zeus; the prize was a wreath of wild olive
- ▸Questions about host cities, boycotts, cancelled wartime editions, and the motto
Key facts
'Citius, Altius, Fortius — Communiter' (2021)
Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together; the word 'Communiter' was added by the IOC in 2021
A flame kindled by the sun's rays at Olympia and carried by relay to the host city (1936)
The ancient sanctuary lights it with a parabolic mirror; the relay itself was introduced for the Berlin games of 1936
Revived at Athens in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1896)
Fourteen nations, 241 athletes, all men; the Panathenaic Stadium was rebuilt in marble for it
Cancelled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 because of world war
The Olympiads are still counted, which is why the numbering runs ahead of the editions actually held
Held at Milano Cortina in February 2026, with Norway topping the medal table (2026)
The XXV Winter Games, 6–22 February 2026, spread across venues in northern Italy
The ancient version was abolished by Theodosius I in AD 393 (AD 393)
The emperor suppressed pagan festivals; the site at Olympia was later buried by earthquake and flood
Quick-fire facts
- •The ancient games began, by tradition, in 776 BC and ran for 293 Olympiads; the only event at first was the stadion, a sprint of about 192 metres
- •Each Olympiad was named after the winner of the stadion race, giving Greece its first reliable chronology
- •The victor's prize was a crown of wild olive (the kotinos) cut from a sacred tree at Olympia
- •The modern motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' was coined by Coubertin's friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest
- •The rings were designed in 1913; the popular claim that each colour stands for a particular continent is a later invention
- •Winter Games began at Chamonix in 1924 and were held in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992; they were shifted to a separate two-year cycle from 1994
- •Greece leads the parade of nations at every opening ceremony and the host nation comes last
- •The 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles games were hit by Cold War boycotts; 1972 in Munich by the murder of eleven Israeli team members
- •Los Angeles hosts the Summer Games in 2028, having also staged them in 1932 and 1984
Drill it — 10 cards
1 / 10new card
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia — Olympic Games
- David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky — The Complete Book of the Olympics