Olympic history

776   BC – 393 AD The ancient games.

1776   Olympia is rediscovered.

1875 – 1881 Excavation of Olympia.

1889   Pierre de Coubertin organizes a congress during the World Exhibition in Paris.

1894   IOC constituent meeting in Paris. Demetrius Vikela's first IOC president.

1896   First modern Olympic Games are held in Athens. Pierre de Coubertin takes over the presidency.

1900   Olympics in Paris. First Norwegian participation.

1904   The Olympics are held in the USA for the first time: in St Louis.

1905   Norway becomes an independent nation, and Henrik Angell becomes the first
            representative of the IOC in Norway.

1906   The Extra Games in Athens. First Norwegian gold medals by shooter Gudbrand G. Skatteboe and
            the Norwegian gymnastics squad.

1908   Olympics in London. Suffragette action led to greater female participation in the Olympics.
            The first winter exercise is introduced.

1912   The Olympics in Stockholm is a success in terms of arrangements and a breakthrough for the Olympics.

1914-1918 First World War. The IOC's headquarters are moved from Paris to neutral Switzerland and Lausanne.

1916   The Olympics in Berlin was canceled.

1920   Olympics in Antwerp. Introduction of central Olympic symbols such as the Olympic rings, the flag,
            the athletes' medals, and the doves of peace. 

1924   The first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix.

1925   Pierre de Coubertin resigns as IOC president. The new president was the Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.

1928   Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Olympic flame is lit in the stadium for the first time.
            Women were allowed to participate in athletics for the first time.

1936   Summer Olympics in Berlin. First torch relay. The Olympics are used as propaganda for Nazism.
            First TV transmissions from the Olympics to a limited radius.

1937   Pierre de Coubertin dies aged 74. He is buried in Lausanne (Switzerland) but at the baron's request,
            his heart is cut out and placed in his own grave near the old Olympic stadium in Olympia (Greece).

1939-1945 World War II.

1940   Summer and Winter Olympics were canceled.

1946   Swedish Johannes Sigfrid Edström becomes IOC president.

1952   Norway organizes the Winter Olympics in Oslo. Cross-country skiing for women on the Olympic program
            for the first time despite Norwegian resistance.

1952   The American Avery Brundage becomes IOC president.

1956   Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The riding exercises were organized in Stockholm
            because of Australian quarantine regulations for horses.

1960   The Summer Olympics in Rome will be the first "TV Games". The TV agreements will become
            an essential source of income for the IOC.

1964   Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The Olympics are being held in Asia for the first time.

1968   Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Black-power demonstration. The first doping control was completed.

1972   Olympics in Sapporo. The Karl Schranz case becomes a symbol of outdated amateur regulations.

1972   Olympics in Munich. Terrorist action against the Israeli troops.

1972   Irish Lord Killanin becomes the new IOC president.

1980   The Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch becomes the new IOC president and opens up sponsorship in the Olympics.

1980   Norway participated in an international boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow due to the Soviet Union's
            invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

1984   Counter-boycott of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. 14 countries boycotted.

1984   Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The market potential of the IOC is fully exploited and the income from

            sponsors and TV rights increases dramatically.

1986   Norway lost the battle for the Winter Olympics in 1992.

1988   Norway was awarded the Winter Olympics in 1994. The intervals between the Summer and Winter Olympics
            change, and the Games are no longer held in the same year.

1988   Doping scandal at the Olympics in Seoul 1988. The world's fastest man Ben Johnsen is caught for doping.

1992   War and siege of the Olympic city of Sarajevo (1984) in the former Yugoslavia creates greater attention

            around the peace aspect of the Olympics. Lillehammer Olympic Aid is established.

1993   The UN resolution "Olympic Truce Resolution" is established.

1994   Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. The first "green" toys with an environmental profile.

1996   Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Women's football in the Olympics for the first time.

1998   Corruption scandal in the IOC was revealed in the Salt Lake process and led to a reform process.

1999   The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was founded, and initiated by the IOC.

2001   Jaques Rogge from Belgium becomes the new IOC president.

2001   The attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, USA, 11 September.

2004   Summer Olympics in Athens. Increased attention to security blows up budgets.

2010   First Youth Olympics in Singapore. First Olympic innovation since the Winter Olympics in 1924.

2014   Winter Olympics in Sochi. Women's jumping on the Olympic program for the first time.

2016   Youth Olympics in Lillehammer.

2016   The Summer Olympics will be held for the first time in South America - in Rio de Janeiro.

2018   The Winter Olympics will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea. The Olympics were used as an opportunity
            to resume dialogue between North and South Korea. During the opening, they march in under the same flag.

2020   A global pandemic causes the Olympic Games to be postponed for the first time.

2021   Tokyo 2020 will be held without the public present and with strict infection control restrictions.