Sport and Leisure/Summer Olympics

Ancient Olympics

The original Olympic Games began in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, as part of a festival to honour Zeus, and were celebrated until 393 AD when Emperor Theodosius the Great (I) banned the games as he considered them pagan

Held in Elis

In the first Olympic Games, the only event was the stadion, a sprint of 192.27m

The first recorded Olympic champion was Koroibos, a cook from Elis

The olive wreath, also known as kotinos, was the prize for the winner at the ancient Olympic Games

Pankration – a no-holds-barred combination of boxing and wrestling

Tethrippon – a four-horse chariot race of about 14km. Started in 689 BC

Pentathlon – stadion, long jump, discus, javelin, wrestling. Started in 708 BC

Apene – chariot race with mules

The most decorated champion was the runner Leonidas of Rhodes, who won 12 championships between 164 BC and 152 BC

The 6th century BC wrestler Milo of Kroton is the only athlete in history to win in six Olympics

The first female champion was Kyniska of Sparta, who won the tethrippon in 396 BC

The last recorded champion of the ancient Olympics was Varasdates, Prince of Armenia, who won the boxing in 369

The term halteres comes from the Greek word for dumbbells. In ancient Greek sports, halteres were used as lifting weights, and also as weights in their version of the long jump, which was probably a set of three jumps. Halteres were held in both hands to allow an athlete to jump a greater distance

The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch commemorates the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, when a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since. The torch relay of modern times which transports the flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem, with the support of Joseph Goebbels, at the Berlin Olympics in 1936

1896 Athens

At the inaugural meeting of the IOC held at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1894, Baron Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games should be revived. The Greek delegate at the Congress, Demetrius Vikelas, was elected as the first president of the IOC, which had 13 members

Motto proposed in 1894 by de Coubertin

On 6 April 1896, King George I of Greece declared open the first modern Olympic Games. There were 245 athletes representing 14 nations, all of them men. 43 separate events were contested

Events were held at the Panathenaic Stadium. Alexandrian billionaire Georgios Averoff donated one million drachma towards the reconstruction of the stadium

The first race was a heat of the 100m dash, which was won by Francis Lane of USA

The first gold medal was in the triple jump, which was won by James Connolly of USA. Connolly performed two hops and a jump. Every other competitor performed a hop, a step and a jump

First place winners were awarded a silver medal, a crown of olive branches and a diploma

Second place winners were awarded a bronze medal, a crown of laurel and a diploma

The front of the medal had a picture of Zeus. The back of the medal had a picture of the Acropolis

USA won most gold medals. Many athletes were students from Princeton

Greece won most medals

At the closing ceremony George Robertson (GB) read an ode which he had written in ancient Greek to honour the Olympic Games

The 40km marathon race was won by Greek shepherd Spiridon Louis

Stamata Revithi (Greece) ran the marathon course one day after the men’s race. Women were excluded from competing in the Games

The swimming contests were held outdoors in open water, in the Bay of Zea

Alfred Hajos-Guttmann was the first-ever Olympic swimming champion and the first Hungarian Olympic gold medalist. He won two gold medals in Athens: the 100m freestyle, and the 1200m freestyle. Hajos-Guttmann became a world renowned architect, specializing in sport facilities. In a special arts competition at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, he was awarded an Olympic silver medal for architecture, the highest honour presented in that competition

100m freestyle for sailors – restricted to members of the Greek navy

100m – Thomas Burke (USA)

Cycling events included a 12-hour race, won by Adolf Schmal (Austria)

Regattas cancelled due to bad weather

Tennis – John Boland (GB / Ireland), who travelled to the Games as a spectator

Masters foil – Leonidas Pyrgos. Greece’s first modern Olympic champion

Carl Schuhmann won four Olympic titles in gymnastics and wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete at the inaugural Olympics of the modern era. He also competed in weightlifting

One-handed weightlifting was an event for the only time

1900 Paris

Baron Pierre de Coubertin insisted that the 1900 games were held in Paris as part of the World’s Fair (Universal Exposition)

The events were spread over five months and went almost unnoticed

France won most medals and most gold medals

Women were allowed to compete for the first time. First women competitors represented France at croquet (Filleul Brohy and Marie Ohnier)

The first female champion was in tennis: Charlotte Cooper (GB)

Margaret Abbott was the first US woman to win an Olympic gold medal, in golf

Poster had a woman fencer, even though women were not allowed to compete in fencing

Helen de Pourtales was a member of the Swiss boat Lerina, which won the gold medal in the first race of 2-3 ton class and silver medal in the second race of 2-3 ton class^. Her husband, Hermann, was also a crew member

Tennis was one of five sports in which athletes from different nations were allowed to compete on the same team

Several athletes from USA refused to compete on Sunday

Ray Ewry (USA) won three events in one day

The swimming obstacle race required the entrants to climb a pole, scramble over a row of boats and swim under another row of boats

Events included underwater swimming, equestrian high and long jumps

In the coxed pairs rowing event, the Dutch team chose a small French boy for their coxswain. He is probably the youngest Olympic champion

Professional races took place alongside the official amateur programme

Swimming races were held in the River Seine and swum with the current

Men’s 1500m freestyle – John Jarvis (GB)

4000m freestyle, 200m team swimming, 200m obstacle race, and underwater swimming raced for the only time

Water polo won by Osbourne Swimming Club, Manchester. GB also won water polo gold medals in 1908, 1912 and 1920

Alvin Kraenzlein (USA) was the first sportsman to win four Olympic titles in a single Olympic Games (60m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles, long jump), and is the only track and field athlete to achieve such a haul in individual events

4000m steeplechase – John Rimmer. GB won all three medals

Marathon – Michel Theato (France). Won by over 40 minutes

Standing high jump – Ray Ewry (USA). Retained the title in 1904, 1906 and 1908

Standing long jump – Ray Ewry. Retained the title in 1904, 1906 and 1908

Standing triple jump – Ray Ewry. Retained the title in 1904

Hammer – John Flanagan (USA). Retained the title in 1904 and 1908

Equestrian high jump and long jump events were held

Men’s singles – Laurie Doherty

Men’s doubles – Reg and Laurie Doherty, who were brothers

Mixed doubles – Reg Doherty and Charlotte Cooper

Football – GB (Upton Park Football Club)

Cricket – GB bt France. GB was represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers cricket club, France by a team made up of players from the British embassy in Paris

Three women took part in the croquet tournament

Polo – GB. Retained the title in 1908 and 1920

Pelota was held in 1900

Live pigeon shooting is not included in the official IOC Olympic results list

First black gold medalist – French rugby player Constantin Henrique de Zubiera

1904 St Louis

The 1904 Games were awarded to Chicago, but moved to St Louis to coincide with the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition. The games were spread over 4 ½ months

First Olympics at which gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded

Decathlon, boxing and freestyle wrestling made their debuts

George Eyser (USA) won six medals in gymnastics. He had a wooden leg

Fred Lorz won the 1904 Olympic marathon, but was disqualified as he hitched a lift. Thomas Hicks was awarded the gold medal – he had survived the hot, dusty conditions by drinking strychnine and brandy

Marathon runners Len Tau and Jan Mashiani of the Tswana tribe were in St Louis for the Exposition as part of a Boer War show, and became the first African athletes to compete at an Olympic Games

The Games were hijacked by two ‘Anthropological Days’, when native tribes were forced to make a humiliating exhibition of their links with sport

Six female athletes in 1904 – all archers

The most unusual event was the plunge for distance

Triathlon was part of a combined gymnastics and track and field competition

Men’s 50m freestyle was held, and was then discontinued until 1988

Men’s 200m freestyle was held, and was then discontinued until 1968

880 yard freestyle raced for the only time

Archie Hahn (USA) won the 100m, and also won in 1906

Archie Hahn also won the 60m. Known as ‘the Milwaukee Meteor’

200m was on a straight track

Americans took the first six places in the 400m

Jim Lightbody (USA) won gold medals in the 2500m steeplechase, 800m and 1500m

Decathlon – Thomas Kiely (Ireland). All 10 events were held on the same day

Football – Canada (Galt Football Club)

Rugby – France. Silver – GB, represented by Moseley Wanderers

Roque was an Olympic sport in the 1904 Summer Games, replacing croquet from the previous games

1906 Athens

Known as the Intercalated or Intermediary games. Not considered official by the IOC

Pierre de Coubertin permitted Greece to stage the Games as compensation for losing the right to host every Summer Olympics

First Olympics to limit entries to athletes sent by national Olympic committees and the first at which there was a Parade of Nations

Rowing events included six-man and seventeen-man naval rowing boats

The participants in the two dueling pistol events shot at dummies dressed in frock coats

Men’s pentathlon, held from 1906 to 1924, was decided according to placement points. Events were – standing long jump, discus (Greek-style), javelin, 192m race, and Greco-Roman wrestling)

GB won 8 gold, 11 silver and 6 bronze medals

1908 London

The 1908 Olympics were awarded to Rome. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 1906, the Italian government decided that their limited financial resources were needed to rebuild Naples. The Olympics were reassigned to London and White City stadium was built

The Games were opened by Edward VII

Parade of the Delegations (or Nations) took place for the first time

The Irish Whales was a nickname given to a group of Irish and Irish-American athletes who dominated weight-throwing events in the first two decades of the 20th century. The Irish Whales included John Flanagan and Martin Sheridan

It is often claimed that Martin Sheridan fueled a controversy, when USA flag bearer Ralph Rose refused to dip the flag to King Edward VII. Sheridan is supposed to have supported Rose by explaining "This flag dips to no earthly king"

Also missing was the Swedish flag, leading some Swedes to boycott the Games

Americans abandoned tug-of-war when one of the British team was found to be wearing spiked shoes to prevent slipping

Last Games in which the host country had full jurisdiction over all the sports

Australia and New Zealand competed as one team, known as Australasia

GB won 56 gold medals. USA were second with 23 gold medals

Bishop of Pennsylvania declared “The important thing about these Olympic Games is less the winning than the taking part”. This quote was later taken up by Baron de Coubertin

First appearance of diving, field hockey, and figure skating (which was transferred to the Winter Olympics in 1924)

Sophus Nielsen scored 10 goals for Denmark in a football match against France

Ray Ewry won the standing high jump and the standing long jump for the third time. He won 8 gold medals at the Olympic Games and 2 gold medals at the Intercalated Games

Ray Ewry is the only athlete to win eight gold medals in individual events

First marathon to be run over 26 miles 385 yards, extended so that the royal family would be able to get a good view of the start from the balcony at Windsor Castle

Dorando Pietri (Italy) was disqualified from the marathon as he was helped across the line. Johnny Hayes (USA) was awarded the gold medal

At the presentation ceremony, the Queen summoned Pietri, and presented him with a special gold cup

Henry Taylor (GB) won the 400m freestyle and 1500m freestyle, and a third gold in the 4 x 200m relay

100m – Reggie Walker (South Africa)

Wyndham Halswelle (GB) won the 400m running the final alone after John Carpenter (USA) was disqualified and the other two Americans refused to race in a rerun. The controversy over this race resulted in the formation of the IAAF, and from 1912 onwards all 400m races were run in lanes

800m and 1500m – Melvin Sheppard (USA)

1500m. Silver – Harold Wilson (GB)

110m hurdles – Forrest Smithson (USA). There is a widespread story about Smithson winning the gold medal while carrying a Bible in his left hand (ostensibly to protest against the decision to run the 110m hurdles final on a Sunday). However, the final was held on a Saturday

In the men’s 4 x 400m relay, the first-ever Olympic relay race, the runners did not pass a baton, but touched hands instead

Featherweight – Richard Gunn (GB), aged 37

Middleweight – John Douglas. Captained the England cricket team 18 times

Archery York Round – Willy Dod

Women’s archery National Round – Sybil ‘Queenie’ Newell (GB). Silver – Lottie Dod

Newell is the oldest female medalist in Olympic history, aged 53

Archers Willy and Lottie Dod (GB) became the first brother and sister medalists in Olympic history

Tennis – Arthur Wentworth Gore

Individual all-around. Silver – Walter Tysall

Football – GB. Retained the title in 1912

Tug of war – GB (City of London Police)

Motor boating was held in 1908

Rackets was held in 1908

Jeu de Palme (Real Tennis) contested for the only time. Won by Jay Gould (USA)

1912 Stockholm

Coubertin won the gold medal for literature at the 1912 Summer Olympics for his poem Ode to Sport

First use of unofficial electronic timing devices, a photo-finish machine, and a public address system

Modern pentathlon, women’s swimming and women’s diving were introduced

Equestrian events were introduced

Sweden would not allow boxing contests to he held

First Olympics in which Japan participated

Finland had to march under a Russian flag at the Parade of Nations, as Finland was ruled by Russia at the time

USA won most gold medals, Sweden won the most medals

Last Games at which solid gold medals were awarded

Winter sports not held as Swedish organizers preferred the Nordic Games

Oscar Swahn (Sweden) became the oldest person ever to win a gold medal when, aged 64, he was a member of the team that won the the single shot running deer shooting event

The course for the cycling road race was 196 miles, the longest race of any kind in Olympic history. Won by Okey Lewis (South Africa) in 10’ 42”

Hannes Kolehmainen (Finland) won three gold medals in long-distance running

Jim Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon. He was disqualified (and later reinstated) as he has played professional baseball

Avery Brundage finished sixth in the pentathlon. Also entered high jump and long jump

“Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world” – King Gustav of Sweden to Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics. Thorpe replied “Thanks, King”

Otto Herschmann, president of the Austrian Olympic Committee, won a silver medal in the team sabre fencing event

A Greco-Roman wrestling bout between Martien Klein and Alfred Asikainen lasted 11 hours and forty minutes – the world's longest wrestling match. After Klein finally took the victory, he was too tired to compete in the final

In the final of the light heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling, Anders Ahlgren and Ivar Bohling wrestled for nine hours until officials called the contest a double loss. As neither wrestler had won, they were both awarded silver medals

5000m and 10000m – Hannes Kolehmainen (Finland)

Marathon – Kenneth McArthur (South Africa)

Javelin – Eric Lemming (Sweden). First ever 60m throw. Also won in 1908

Modern pentathlon. 5^th George Patton (USA)

Women’s 100m freestyle – Fanny Durack (Australia)

Belle White – first UK diving medal, bronze in 10m platform

Gottfried Fuchs scored 10 goals for Germany in a 16–0 win against Russia

England deliberately missed a penalty against Finland in semi-final as the team thought the decision of the referee too harsh

1916 Berlin

The 1916 Olympics were scheduled to be held in Berlin, but were cancelled due to World War I

1920 Antwerp

The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honour the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgium people during the war

Candidate cities – Amsterdam and Lyon

Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were not allowed to compete

Russia was absent due to the civil war

Olympic flag was adopted for the Olympic movement at the 1914 Congress

The Opening Ceremony was notable for the introduction of the Olympic flag and the presentation of the Athletes’ Oath, spoken by Victor Boin. Doves were released as a symbol of peace for the first time

The five rings signified the unity of the five continents

Games opened by King Albert

The Nadi brothers, Nedo and Aldo (Italy) won eight gold medals in fencing. Nedo Nadi won the individual sabre in 1920, the only break in Hungary’s 56-year domination of the event

Suzanne Lenglen won the tennis singles and mixed doubles (with Max Decugis), and a bronze medal in the women’s doubles

One of the members of the gold medal-winning USA rugby team was Daniel Carroll, who had also been a member of Australia’s winning team in 1908

American boxer Eddie Eagan triumphed in the light-heavyweight division. 12 years later he won Olympic gold in bobsledding. He is the only person to have won a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games

Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn earned a silver medal to become the oldest medalist ever, aged 72

Ice hockey was included in the Summer Games for the first and only time

Figure skating was included for the second and final time

The 12-foot dinghy yachting event was the only event in Olympic history to be held in two countries – Belgium and the Netherlands, because both entrants were Dutch

Just before the start of the 100m, the US sprint coach gave his athletes a mixture of sherry and raw egg

The diving events were held outdoors in a moat. Aileen Riggin (USA) won the women’s springboard gold medal, aged 14, 4’ 7” tall

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (USA) who was born in Honolulu defended his 100m freestyle title. Nicknamed ‘The Duke’ after the Duke of Edinburgh who visited Hawaii in 1869

800m and 1500m – Albert Hill

1500m. Silver – Philip Baker, who became MP and Nobel Peace Prize winner Philip Noel-Baker

5000m. Silver – Paavo Nurmi

10000m – Paavo Nurmi

Marathon – Hannes Kolehmainen

3000m steeplechase – Percy Hodge (GB)

Cross-country – Nurmi. Retained the title in 1924, the last time the event was run

Cross-country team race – Finland (including Nurmi)

Harry Mallin was world champion in the middleweight class between 1920 and 1928. He never lost an amateur bout and never turned professional. He won a gold medal in middleweight division in 1920. He went on to win another gold medal in the same weight class in boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics

Hockey – GB

Egypt were first non-European team to enter Olympic football

In the football final against Belgium, Czechoslovakia walked off the field when a player was sent off, and were disqualified

Tug of war – GB (the last time the event was held)

Rugby – USA

Morris Kirksey won two gold medals. (4 x 100m relay, and rugby). He is one of four athletes to win gold medals in two different Olympic sports

GB completed a hat-trick of wins in water polo

1924 Paris

The Olympic motto was introduced, as was the closing ceremony ritual of raising three flags: the flag of the IOC, the flag of the host nation and the flag of the next host nation

Events held at Colombes Stadium

Women’s fencing made its debut

Ireland competed for the first time. Prior to 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Irish competitors at earlier Games are counted as British in Olympic statistics

William DeHart Hubbard (USA) became the first black athlete to win an individual event, the long jump

Robert Legendre (USA) broke the long jump world record in the pentathlon

Johnny Weissmuller won three gold medals in swimming (100m, 400m, 4 x 200m freestyle relay) and a bronze medal in water polo

Benjamin Spock was a member of the Yale University crew that won the eights

Gertrude Ederle won a gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 100m freestyle and 400m freestyle

Paavo Nurmi won five gold medals in five events, including the 1500m, 5000m (with only 26 minutes between the final races; he broke the world record for both of them), the 3000 m team race, and both cross country events (10000m and team race). He also won three gold medals in 1920

Last Olympics to feature cross country events

Men’s plain high dive was discontinued

Marathon distance fixed at 42.195 km, the distance run in 1908

200m breaststroke – Lucy Morton

100m – Harold Abrahams. Eric Liddell withdrew as he refused to run on a Sunday

200m – Jackson Scholz (USA). Bronze – Eric Liddell. 6^th Harold Abrahams

400m – Eric Liddell (last Briton to hold 400m Olympic record)

800m – Douglas Lowe. Retained the title in 1928

Solly Abrahams, older brother of Harold Abrahams, competed in the long jump in the 1912 Games

10000m – Ville Ritola (Finland)

3000m steeplechase – Ville Ritola

3000m team race – Finland (including Nurmi and Ritola)

Cross-country team race – Finland (including Nurmi and Ritola)

Middleweight – Henry Mallin. Lost to Roger Brousse (France) in the quarter-finals, but Brousse was later disqualified for biting

Light Heavyweight – Harry Mitchell (GB)

Women’s tennis – Helen Wills (USA)

Mixed doubles – USA (Hazel Wightman and Dick Williams). Williams was a passenger on the Titanic

Women’s doubles – Wills and Wightman

Football – Uruguay. Retained the title in 1928

Polo – Argentina. Retained the title in 1936 (the last time the event was held)

Rugby – USA (the last time the event was held)

Philip Neame was a member of Great Britain's Running Deer shooting team and is the only Victoria Cross recipient who has won an Olympic Gold Medal

Clay pigeon shooting held for the last time

1928 Amsterdam

Los Angeles was the only rival candidate city

At the opening ceremony, the team from Greece led the Parade of Nations and the host Dutch team marched in last

Olympic flame lit for the first time

Germany returned to the Games

Stadium designed by Jan Wils, who won the gold medal in architecture

Women were allowed to compete in gymnastics and track and field

Tennis was withdrawn

Several finalists collapsed with exhaustion in the 800m final, leading to a ban on all women’s races longer than 200m for 32 years

Discus was the first women’s track and field event to be decided in the history of the Olympics

Coca-Cola became the first sponsors, providing the American team with 1000 crates

India won the field hockey, the first of six straight gold medals

Hungary won the first of seven straight gold medals in team sabre fencing

Crown Prince Olav of Norway was part of the crew that won the six-metre yachting event

100m freestyle – Johnny Weissmuller

4 x 200m freestyle relay – USA, including Johnny Weissmuller

100m and 200m – Percy Williams (Canada)

100m. Silver – Jack London (GB)

5000m – Ville Ritola (Finland). Silver – Nurmi

10000m – Nurmi. Silver – Ritola. Nurmi’s ninth gold medal

Marathon – Boughera El Ouafi (France). Born in Algeria

400m hurdles – (Lord) David Burghley

3000m steeplechase. Silver – Nurmi

Triple jump – Mikio Oda (Japan). Asia’s first gold medal in an individual event. The pole that bore the Olympic flag during the 1964 Olympics was 15.21 metres high in honour of Oda’s jump

Hammer – Patrick O’Callaghan (Ireland). Retained the title in 1932

Women’s 100m – Betty Robinson (USA). The first women’s track event to be contested in the Olympics

Women’s high jump – Ethel Catherwood (Canada), known as ‘The Saskatoon Lily’

Single sculls – Henry ‘Bobby’ Pearce (Australia). Won his quarter-final despite stopping to let a family of ducks pass. Won the gold medal, and retained the title in 1932

1932 Los Angeles

Football tournament cancelled due to lack of entrants

First Games to make a profit

First Games to last 16 days. The duration of the Olympics has remained between 15 and 18 days ever since

Medal ceremonies took place shortly after each event has finished. Previously, the medals were presented at the closing ceremony

At the victory ceremonies the medal winners stood on a victory podium, the flag of the winner was raised, and the national anthem was played

Official automatic timing was introduced for the track events, as well as the photo-finish camera

Prohibition was suspended to allow foreign athletes to import and drink wine

Main stadium – Memorial Coliseum

Olympic Village for male athletes created for the first time

Demonstration sports – American football and lacrosse

In order to finance their visit, the Brazilians travelled with a cargo of coffee

Franz and Toni Schmid won an Olympic prize for mountaineering after they were the first to scale the north face of the Matterhorn

Nurmi was not allowed to compete, as he was classed as a professional

Sprinter Liu Changchun was the first and only representative of China

Mildred ‘Babe’ Didrikson Zaharias won two gold medals (80m hurdles, javelin) and one silver medal (high jump)

Bertil Sandstrom (Sweden) was relegated to last place in the dressage for encouraging his horse by making clicking noises

Men’s 400m freestyle – Clarence ‘Buster’ Crabbe, who was signed by Paramount Studios

Japanese swimmers won gold in all other men’s swimming events

1500m freestyle – Kusuo Kitamura (Japan). Aged 14, the youngest male to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event in any sport

Women’s 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle – Helene Madison (USA). Also won gold medal in 4 x 100m relay

Women’s 100m backstroke – Eleanor Holm (USA). Holm was banned from the 1936 Olympics due to indiscipline on the boat (SS Manhattan) to Germany

Maria Lenk was the first Brazilian and South American woman to participate in the Summer Olympic Games, in swimming

100m – Eddie Tolan (USA)

800m – Tommy Hampson

400m hurdles – Bob Tisdall (Ireland). Silver – Glenn Hardin (USA), who was awarded the world record as Tisdall knocked over a hurdle

3000m steeplechase – Volmari Iso-Hollo (Finland), who retained the title in 1936. Thomas Evenson (GB) won silver, but should have won bronze as an extra lap was run by mistake

50 km walk – Tommy Green

Gymnastics events included rope climbing, club swinging, and tumbling

Women’s 100m champion, Stanislawa Walasiewicz, known as Stella Walsh, was a Polish athlete with ambiguous genitalia and a condition known as mosaicism in which she had both male and female chromosomes

Freestyle wrestling light heavyweight – Pete Mehringer (USA). Perfected his technique by taking a correspondence course

1936 Berlin

A boycott proposal led by Ernest Jahnke in the USA was narrowly defeated

An alternative People’s Olympics was scheduled to take place in Barcelona, but was cancelled when the Spanish Civil War broke out

During the long jump competition, Owens’ German rival, Luz Long, publicly befriended him

Torch relay was introduced. Olympia to Berlin. Torch designed by Lemcke

25 large TV screens were set up throughout Berlin

Official film – Olympia, directed by Leni Riefenstahl

Basketball, canoeing and handball were introduced

Basketball final, won by USA, was played outdoors in heavy rain

Handball was played on a football patch with two teams of 11

Polo was included for the last time

13-year-old Marjorie Gestring (USA) won the gold medal in springboard diving

12-year-old Inge Sorenson (Denmark) won the bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke, making her the youngest medalist ever in an individual event

Hendrika Mastenbroek (Netherlands) won three gold medals in swimming

Jack Beresford (GB) won a gold medal in the double sculls event, marking the fifth Olympics at which he earned a medal

Jacob Thams (Norway) won a silver medal in yachting. In 1924 he won the ski jump at the first Winter Olympics

GB team ‘eyes right’ instead of Nazi salute at opening ceremony

100m – Jesse Owens. Silver – Ralph Metcalfe (USA), who also won silver in 1932

200m – Jesse Owens

400m. Silver – Godfrey Brown

1500m – Jack Lovelock (NZ)

Finland won all three10000m medals

Marathon – Sohn Kee-chung (Korea), who was forced to adopt a Japanese name as Korea was occupied by Japanese forces

4 x 100m relay – USA, including Owens

4 x 400m relay – GB. Godfrey Rampling was a member of the team

50 km walk – Harry Whitlock

Long jump – Jesse Owens. Silver – Luz Long

Long was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal for Sportsmanship

Decathlon – Glenn Morris (USA)

Women’s 4 x 100m relay – USA, including Betty Robinson, who was injured in a plane crash in 1931

Dora Ratjen competed in the high jump at the Olympics for Germany, but in 1938 was found to be a man called Heinrich Ratjen

Peru withdrew from the Games in protest at being ordered to replay a quarter-final football match after beating Austria

Rowing eights – USA. All members of the University of Washington

Ilona Elek (Hungary) was was the first woman to win two Olympic gold medals in the individual foil competition, in 1936 and 1948. Won silver in same event in 1952

1940 Tokyo; Helsinki

The 1940 Olympics were awarded to Japan, but when Japan invaded China in 1937 the games were reassigned to Helsinki. When Soviet troops invaded Finland in 1939, the games were cancelled

1944 London

The 1944 Olympics were scheduled for London, but were cancelled due to World War II

1948 London

Germany and Japan were banned. A record 59 nations took part

Soviet Union were invited to compete, but declined

Opening ceremony in Wembley Stadium on 29 July. Games opened by King George VI

The first political defection took place. Marie Provaznikova, the president of women’s gymnastics, refused to return to Czechoslovakia

Women’s canoeing was held for the first time

First photo finish in Olympics

Starting blocks used for the first time

Demonstration sports – lacrosse and Swedish system team gymnastics

Rowing events were held at Henley

Audrey Patterson became the first black woman to earn an Olympic medal, in 200m

Alice Coachman (USA) became the first black woman to win a gold medal, in the high jump

Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals – 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles, 4 x 100m relay

Shirley Strickland won bronze in 100m and 80m hurdles

First time that the Women’s 200m was run

Concert pianist Micheline Ostermeyer (France) won the shot put and the discus

Sweden were disqualified from the dressage as one of their members was only a noncommissioned officer and thus ineligible to compete

Emil Zatopek won gold in 10000m and silver in 5000m

Vicki Draves (USA) became the first female diver to win two gold medals in one Olympics

100m – Harrison Dillard (USA)

5000m – Gaston Reiff (Belgium)

Hammer – Imre Nemeth (Hungary)

Decathlon – Bob Mathias (aged 17). Retained the title in 1952

Women’s 80m hurdles. Silver – Maureen Gardner (GB)

Women’s high jump. Silver – Dorothy Tyler, who won the silver medal in 1936 as Dorothy Odam

Middleweight – Laszlo Papp (Hungary)

Kayak singles 100m – Gert Fredriksson (Sweden). Retained the title in 1952 and 1956, and six gold medals in total

Cycling sprint. Silver – Reg Harris

Sailing events held in Torbay

Harold Sakata won the silver medal for USA in light heavyweight weightlifting. He wrestled professionally using the name Tosh Togo

GB gold medals in 1948 Olympics – Dickie Burnell and Bert Bushnell (double skulls),

Jack Wilson and William Laurie (coxless pairs), Morris and Bond (swallow class yachting)

Dickie Burnell and his father Charles Burnell are the only father and son in Olympic history to have won gold medals in rowing. First father and son to win Olympic gold medals

Burnell and Bushnell were coached by Jack Beresford

William Laurie is the father of Hugh Laurie

Star class yachting – gold and silver medals both won by father-son teams

1952 Helsinki

Germany invited back. West Germany competed as the Federal Republic of Germany. East Germany, as the German Democratic Republic, did not send any athletes to the 1952 Games

Japan invited back

The Soviet Union entered for the first time

Israel made their first appearance

China competed, but Taipei did not. China’s first appearance at the Summer Olympic Games after 1952 was the 1984 Summer Olympics

Saar Protectorate competed for the only time

Male civilians and women were allowed to enter dressage for the first time

Women’s individual gymnastics introduced

Flame lit by Nurmi and Kolehmainen

Demonstration sports – baseball and rugby

Zatopek won 10000m, 5000m and marathon. His wife, Dana, won the javelin

Aleksandra Chudina (Russia) won medals in the long jump, high jump and javelin

Lars Hall (Sweden) became the first non-military winner of the modern pentathlon. Retained the title in 1956

1500m – Josy Barthel (Luxembourg). 4^th Roger Bannister

5000m – Emil Zatopek (Czechoslovakia). 4^th Gordon Pirie. 5^th Chris Chataway

Alain Mimoun (France) was second in 5000m and 10000m

4 x 400m relay – Jamaica

110m hurdles – Harrison Dillard (USA)

Pole vault – Bob Richards (USA). Known as ‘The Vaulting Vicar’. Retained the title in 1956

Triple jump – Adhemar da Silva (Brazil). Retained the title in 1956

Shot put – Parry O’Brien (USA). Retained the title in 1956

Women’s 100m and 200m – Marjorie Jackson (Australia)

Women’s 80m hurdles – Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (Australia). Retained the title in 1956

Pat McCormick (USA) won both women’s diving gold medals in 1952 and 1956

Light Middleweight – Laszlo Papp. Retained the title in 1956

Middleweight – Floyd Patterson

Heavyweight – Ed Sanders (USA) defeated Ingemar Johansson in the final. Johansson was disqualified for not ‘giving of his best’

Show jumping team – GB (Wilf White, Duggie Stewart, and Harry Llewellyn riding Foxhunter). Only gold medal won by GB

Football – Hungary. Team included Ferenc Puskas

Jacques Anquetil won a bronze medal as part of the French time trial team

Heavyweight wrestling. Bronze – Ken Richmond. Became a gongman seen on Rank films

Tommy Kono (USA) won a weightlifting gold medal at both the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games, and a silver medal at the 1960 Olympics

1956 Melbourne

Melbourne beat Buenos Aires by one vote

Equestrian events were held in Stockholm in May due to Australia’s six-month quarantine law imposed on foreign horses

Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon withdrew in protest at the Suez Canal invasion

Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland withdrew in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary

People’s Republic of China withdrew because the Republic of China (under the name Formosa) had been allowed to compete

West and East Germany entered a combined team

North Borneo competed for the only time

Games opened by Duke of Edinburgh in Melbourne Cricket Ground

Ron Clarke lit the Olympic flame

John Landy gave the Olympic oath

In the closing ceremony, the athletes entered the stadium together for the first time

Laszlo Papp of Hungary became the first boxer to win three gold medals

The butterfly stroke was separated from the breaststroke, and was contested over 200m

Underwater swimming was banned from the breaststroke after the Olympics

Australia won all the freestyle races

Hammer gold medalist Harold Connolly (USA) married discus gold medalist Olga Fikotova (Czechoslovakia)

The water polo semi-final between Hungary and the Soviet Union degenerated into a brawl, and is known as ‘the blood in the water match’. Ervin Zador had his eyebrow cut open

100m freestyle – Jon Henricks (Australia)

400m and 1500m freestyle – Murray Rose (Australia)

100m backstroke – David Thiele (Australia). Retained the title in 1960

Dawn Fraser won her first gold medal, in Women’s 100m freestyle

Women’s 100m backstroke – Judy Grinham

100m and 200m – Bobby Morrow (USA)

800m – Tom Courtney (USA). Silver – Derek Johnson (GB)

1500m – Ron Delany (Ireland)

5000m – Vladimir Kuts (Soviet Union). Silver – Pirie. Bronze – Ibbotson

10000m – Kuts

Marathon – Alain Mimoun, after a false start

Lee Calhoun (USA) won the 110m hurdles and retained the title in 1960

Glenn Davis (USA) won the 400m hurdles and retained the title in 1960

3000m steeplechase – Chris Brasher. First Briton to win a gold medal in track and field since 1932. GB’s only track and field gold medal

Discus – Al Oerter. Retained the title in 1960, 1964 and 1968

Women’s 100m and 200m – Betty Cuthbert (Australia)

Women’s 4 x 100m relay – Australia, including Shirley Strickland de la Hunty

Flyweight – Terry Spinks

Lightweight – Dick McTaggart. Won bronze in same event in 1960

Women’s foil – Gillian Sheen (GB)

Rings – Albert Azaryan (Soviet Union). Inventor of the Olympic cross

Women’s All-Around – Larissa Latynina. Retained the title in 1960

Team show jumping. Bronze – GB, including Pat Smythe

Football – Russia, with Lev Yashin in goal

1960 Rome

USSR won most gold medals

Gymnastics took place in the Caracalla Baths

Wrestling took place in the Basilica of Maxentius

Marathon finished beneath the Arch of Constantine

Official Olympic hymn adopted

Egypt and Syria, as the United Arab Republic, competed

Athletes from the West Indies Federation competed under the name Antilles

Knud Enemark Jensen of Denmark participated in the 1960 Games riding under the influence of amphetamines. He collapsed during the 100 km team time trial, fracturing his skull, and in a nearby Rome hospital shortly thereafter, he was pronounced dead

Dawn Fraser became the first woman to defend an Olympic swimming title

200m breaststroke – Anita Lonsbrough

100m – Armin Hary (Germany). Bronze – Peter Radford (GB). First non-American winner since 1928

200m – Livio Berruti (Italy). First non-American in Olympic history to win 200m

Peter Snell won the 800m and retained the title in 1964

1500m – Herb Elliott (Australia)

Marathon – Abebe Bikila. First black African Olympic champion

50 km walk – Don Thompson

Germany won the men’s 4 x 100m relay after the USA team was disqualified

Long jump – Ralph Boston

Triple jump – Josef Schmidt (Poland). Retained the title in 1964

Decathlon – Rafer Johnson

Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three track and field gold medals (100m, 200m, 4 x 100m relay) at an Olympiad

Women’s 100m – Wilma Rudolph (USA). Silver – Dorothy Hyman

Women’s 200m – Wilma Rudolph. Bronze – Dorothy Hyman

Women’s 80m hurdles – Iryna Press (Soviet Union). Silver – Carole Quinton (GB)

Women’s high jump – Iolanda Balas (Romania). Retained the title in 1964

Women’s high jump. Silver – Dorothy Shirley (GB)

Women’s shot put – Tamara Press. Retained the title in 1964. Sister of Iryna Press

Light Heavyweight – Cassius Clay. Silver – Pietryskowsky (Poland)

Light-welterweight boxer Ike Quartey (Ghana) became the first black African Olympic medalist

Show jumping – Raimondo D’Inzeo. Silver – Piero D’Inzeo (brother of Raimondo). Bronze – David Broome

Danish cyclist Knud Jensen died from a drug overdose during the road race. His death led the International Olympic Committee to form a medical commission in 1967 and institute drug testing at the 1968 Summer Olympics

King Constantine II of Greece won a gold medal in sailing (Dragon Class)

Paul Elvstrom (Denmark) won the gold medal in Finn class yachting for the fourth successive games

Pakistan beat India in the final of the field hockey, to win their first ever gold medal

Boris Shakhlin won four gymnastics gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal to add to the two gold medals he had won in 1956

1964 Tokyo

Final torchbearer Yoshinori Sakai was born in Hiroshima on the day of the atomic bomb

South Africa were banned

Games opened by Emperor Hirohito

In 1962 Indonesia refused to let Israel and Taiwan compete in the Asian Games, and was suspended by the IOC. Indonesia withdrew its team from the Olympics, as did North Korea

Judo and volleyball were introduced. Women’s volleyball was the first ever women’s team sports event at an Olympic Games

Last Games to use a cinder running track

TV broadcast to USA was first TV programme to cross the Pacific Ocean

A qualifying football match between Peru and Argentina in Lima was suspended leading to riots in which 328 people died

Ewa Klobukowska (Poland) won the gold medal in the women's 4 x100m relay and the bronze medal in the women's 100m. Klobukowska failed a traditional gender test for European Cup women's track and field competition in Kiev in 1967 and was subsequently banned from competing in professional sports

Larysa Latynina brought her career medal total to 18

American swimmer Don Schollander won four gold medals (100m freestyle, 400m freestyle and two relays)

100m freestyle. Silver – Bobby McGregor (GB)

Dawn Fraser won the 100m freestyle for the third time

100m – Bob Hayes, in 10.0 seconds

1500m – Peter Snell

10000m – Billy Mills (USA). Bronze – Ron Clarke

3000m steeplechase – Gaston Roelants (Belgium). Silver – Maurice Herriott (GB)

400m hurdles. Silver – John Cooper

20 km walk – Ken Matthews

50 km walk. Silver – Paul Nihill

Marathon – Abebe Bikila. Silver – Basil Heatley (GB)

Abebe Bikila became the first repeat winner of the marathon, six weeks after having his appendix removed

High jump – Valery Brumel (Soviet Union)

Long jump – Lynn Davies. Silver – Ralph Boston

Women’s 100m – Wyomia Tyus (USA). Retained the title in 1968

Women’s 400m – Betty Cuthbert. Silver – Ann Packer. First time the event was held

Women’s 800m – Ann Packer

Women’s long jump – Mary Rand. First British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field

Women’s discus – Tamara Press

Pentathlon – Iryna Press. Silver – Mary Rand. 4^th Mary Peters

Women’s 4 x 100m relay. Bronze – GB, including Mary Rand

Heavyweight – Joe Frazier

Women’s All-Around – Vera Caslavska (Czechoslovakia). Retained the title in 1968

Super heavyweight – Leonid Zhabotynsky. Retained the title in 1968

Football – Hungary. Retained the title in 1968

Volleyball – Soviet Union. Retained the title in 1968

Women’s volleyball – Japan

Featherweight wrestling – Osamu Watanabe (Japan). Won every match without conceding a point

Although Japan dominated three of the four judo weight divisions (light, middle and heavy), Anton Geesink (Netherlands) won the final of the open weight division, defeating Akio Kaminaga in front of his home crowd

Hockey – India

Epee. Silver – Bill Hoskyns. The last individual fencing medal won by GB

1968 Mexico City

Detroit, Lyon and Buenos Aires bid unsuccessfully

The high altitude (2300m) proved disastrous for many endurance athletes but led to world records in all the men’s races of 400m or shorter

Bob Beamon’s world record long jump of 8.90m stood for 22 years

Lee Evan’s world record of 43.86 in the 400m stood for 19 years

First Games to a synthetic athletics track

Demonstration sport – Pelota basque

Norma de Sotelo was the first woman to light Olympic flame

First Summer Games to include sex testing for women

First Games to have a mascot – an unnamed red jaguar

Every gold medal winner was required to undergo a drug test

Wyomia Tyus (USA) became the first repeat winner of the 100m

Vera Caslavska (Czechoslovakia) won four gold medals and two silver medals. Married Josef Odlozil at the Olympics

Mikhail Voronin and his wife Zinaida Voronina won 10 gymnastics medals between them

Al Oerter (USA) won the discus for the fourth time

Protest by Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) at medal ceremony for 200m. Peter Norman (Australia) won the silver medal. All three athletes on the podium wore OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights) badges

First drug disqualification – modern pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall (Sweden) tested positive for excessive alcohol

Klaus Dibiasi became the first Italian to earn swimming or diving gold, winning the platform. He also won gold in the platform in 1972 and 1976

100m and 200m freestyle – Mike Wenden (Australia)

Mike Burton (USA) won gold in the 400m and 1500m freestyle, and in the 1500m at the 1972 Summer Olympics

100m backstroke – Roland Matthes (GDR). Matthes won four gold medals and married Kornelia Ender

200m butterfly. Silver – Martin Woodroffe

Debbie Meyer (USA) became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals in one Olympics (200m, 400m, and 800m)

Mark Spitz won two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal

100m – Jim Hines. First 100m final with eight black athletes

200m – Tommie Smith. Silver – Peter Norman. Bronze – John Carlos

400m – Lee Evans. USA won all three medals, and showed support for Tommie Smith on the podium

1500m – Kip Keino. Silver – Jim Ryun

5000m – Mohamed Gammoudi (Tunisia)

110m hurdles – Willie Davenport (USA)

400m hurdles – David Hemery. Bronze – John Sherwood

Hemery received his gold medal from David Burghley

High jump – Dick Fosbury

Pole vault – Bob Seagren

Long jump – Bob Beamon. Silver – Klaus Beer (GDR). Bronze – Ralph Boston

Triple jump – Victor Saneyev (Soviet Union). Retained the title in 1972 and 1976

Decathlon – Bill Toomey

Women’s 200m – Irena Szewinska (Poland)

Raelene Boyle (Australia) won silver in 200m, and silver in 100m and 200m in 1972

Women’s 400m – Colette Besson (France). Silver – Lillian Board

Women’s long jump. Silver – Sheila Sherwood

Middleweight – Chris Finnegan

Heavyweight – George Foreman

Three-day event. Silver – Derek Allhusen (GB)

Three-day event, team – GB (Allhusen, Richard Meade riding Cornishman V, Reuben Jones)

Show jumping – Bill Steinkraus (USA). Silver – Marion Coakes, riding Stroller. Bronze – David Broome, riding Mister Softee

Flying Dutchman – GB (Rodney Pattison, Iain Macdonald-Smith)

Rodney Pattisson also won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics, all in the Flying Dutchman class. He was Great Britain’s most successful Olympic yachtsman until Ben Ainslie overtook him with three gold medals at three different Olympic Games at the 2008 Olympics

Trap – Bob Braithwaite

1972 Munich

Candidate cities – Detroit, Madrid and Montreal

On 5 September, eight Palestinian terrorists from the Black September faction broke into the Olympic village. Two Israelis were killed and nine taken hostage. At Furstenfeldbruck military airport, all nine Israeli hostages were killed, as were five of the terrorists and one policeman. Competition resumed after a pause of 34 hours. Avery Brundage insisted “The Games must go on!”

Archery and handball were re-introduced

Athletes’ oath sworn by a woman for the first time

Officials’ oath taken for the first time

Official emblem – the ‘Bright Sun’

Official slogan – ‘the Happy Games’

Slalom canoeing was introduced

Women’s 1500m run for the first time

First games to have a named mascot – Waldi the dachshund

Mark Spitz won seven gold medals (100, 200m, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 4 x 100 freestyle relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay, 4 x 100m medley relay)

The last gold medal won by Spitz was the 100m freestyle, beating Jerry Heidenreich (USA)

Wrestler Chris Taylor (USA) weighed 412 pounds, and is the heaviest athlete in Olympic history

British horse Cornishman V appeared in Dead Cert and International Velvet

Aged 69, Lorna Johnstone became the oldest ever British competitor to appear in the Olympic Games, in the Dressage

Since 1936, USA teams had won 62 straight basketball games and seven straight gold medals before losing the final to USSR. Aleksandr Belov scored the winning basket in a 51-50 victory in the last second

Rick DeMont (USA) won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle, but was disqualified as his asthma medicine, Marax, contained ephedrine. The gold medal was awarded to Brad Cooper (Australia)

200m breaststroke – John Hencken (USA). Silver – David Wilkie

Women’s 200m freestyle – Shane Gould. Silver – Shirley Babashoff

Women’s 400m freestyle – Shane Gould

After winning the 200m individual medley, Shane Gould was presented with a worn-out toy kangaroo by Dawn Fraser

100m – Valeriy Borzov. Some American athletes missed their heats as their coaches failed to inform them of a change in start time

200m – Valeriy Borzov

400m – Vince Matthews (USA). Silver – Wayne Collett (USA). Both athletes were banned from further competition for lack of respect during the medal ceremony

800m – Dave Wottle (USA). Wore a golf cap. Known as “The Head Waiter” and “the Throttle”

1500m – Pekka Vasala (Finland). Silver – Keino. 5^th Brendan Foster

5000m – Lasse Viren. Silver – Gammoudi. Bronze – Ian Stewart

10000m – Viren. Silver – Emiel Puttemans. 6^th Dave Bedford. Viren fell during the race

Marathon – Frank Shorter (USA). A hoaxer ran a full lap of the track

110m hurdles – Rod Milburn (USA)

400m hurdles – John Akii-Bua (Uganda). Bronze – Hemery

3000m steeplechase – Kip Keino

4 x 400m relay – Kenya. Silver – GB (Martin Reynolds, Alan Pascoe, David Hemery, David Jenkins)

Dwight Stones won bronze in the high jump in 1972 and 1976

Pole vault – Wolfgang Norgwig (GDR). Silver – Seagren. First non-US winner. Controversy over banning of the new model of Cata-Poles

Women’s 100m and 200m – Renate Stecher (GDR)

Women’s 4 x 100m relay – Germany, including Heide Rosendahl

Women’s high jump – Ulrike Meyfarth (Germany). Aged 16, Meyfarth became the youngest person to win an individual track and field gold medal in the Olympics

Women’s long jump – Heide Rosendahl

Women’s javelin – Ruth Fuchs (GDR). Retained the title in 1976

Pentathlon – Mary Peters. Silver – Heide Rosendahl

Light Middleweight. Bronze – Alan Minter

Heavyweight – Teofilo Stevenson. Retained the title in 1976 and 1980

Half-heavyweight judo. Silver – Dave Starbrook. Won bronze in same event in 1976

Three-day event – Richard Meade, riding Laurieston

Three-day event, team – GB (Richard Meade, Mary Gordon-Watson riding Cornishman V, Bridget Parker)

Show jumping. Silver – Ann Moore, riding Psalm

High bar – Mitsuo Tsukahara. Retained the title in 1976. First gymnast to perform the vault sideways

Women’s All-Around – Lyudmila Turischeva

Olga Korbut from Belarus won gold medals in floor and beam, and in the team event. Known as ‘the sparrow from Minsk’

Uneven bars – Karin Janz (GDR). Silver – Korbut

Sailing events held at Kiel, along with water skiing (demonstration sport)

Flying Dutchman – GB (Rodney Pattison, Chris Davies)

After the Tempest event, Allen Warren and David Hunt set their boat (Gift ‘Orse) on fire after performing poorly

Super heavyweight – Vassily Alekseyev. Retained the title in 1976

1976 Montreal

Candidate cities – Los Angeles and Moscow

Many citizens regard the Olympiad as a financial disaster for the city as it faced debts for 30 years after the Games had finished

Julius Nyerere of Tanzania called for a boycott because the New Zealand rugby team had toured South Africa. 26 African nations, Iraq and Guyana boycotted the games

The Republic of China (Taiwan) team withdrew after Canada's government informed it that it could not compete under the name ‘Republic of China’

Mascot – Amik, a beaver

Games opened by the Queen

Olympic flame was sent in the form of electronic signal to a receiver where it was restored to a physical flame

Canada remains the only host nation of a Summer Olympics that did not win at least one gold medal in its own games

Women’s events were included for the first time in basketball, rowing and handball

Irena Szewinska (Poland) won the 400m, bringing her career total to seven medals (three gold medals), in five different events (100m, 200m, 400m, 4 x 100m and long jump)

Miklos Nemeth (Hungary) won the javelin to become the first son of a track and field gold medalist to win a gold medal – his father, Imre, had won the hammer in 1948

Clarence Hill won a bronze medal in boxing to give Bermuda the honour of being the least populous nation ever to win a medal in the Summer Olympics

Cycling events held indoors for the first time

USA won 12 of the 13 men’s swimming events

James Montgomery (USA) became the first person to swim under 50 seconds in the 100m freestyle final. Jack Babashoff (brother of Shirley) won the silver medal

100m backstroke – John Naber (USA)

200m backstroke – John Naber broke the two-minute barrier

100m breaststroke – John Hencken (USA). Silver – David Wilkie

200m breaststroke – David Wilkie. Silver – John Hencken

East Germany won 11 of the 13 women’s swimming events. East German men only won one swimming medal, a bronze for Roland Matthes in the 100m backstroke

Kornelia Ender won four gold medals

100m freestyle – Kornelia Ender. Bronze medal won by Enith Brigitha (Netherlands), the first black swimmer to win an Olympic medal. Born in Curacao

200m freestyle – Kornelia Ender, silver – Shirley Babashoff. Ender won the 100m butterfly 27 minutes earlier

Babashoff won one gold medal (freestyle relay) and four silver medals

100m – Hasely Crawford (Trinidad). Silver – Don Quarrie (Jamaica)

200m – Don Quarrie

Alberto Juantorena (Cuba) became the first person to win the 400m and 800m double. Known as ‘White Lightning’

Ivo van Damme won silver in the 800m and 1500m

1500m – John Walker

5000m – Viren. 5^th Brendan Foster

10000m – Viren. Bronze – Foster. Viren accused of advertising after taking off his shoes, so the logo of the manufacturer could be seen

Marathon – Waldemar Cierpinski (GDR). Retained the title in 1980

Frank Shorter won silver in the marathon. Lasse Viren was fifth

110m hurdles – Guy Drut

400m hurdles – Ed Moses

Victor Saneyev of Soviet Georgia won his third triple jump gold medal

Geoff Capes finished 6^th in the shot put, and finished 5^th in 1980

Decathlon – Bruce Jenner

3000m steeplechase – Anders Garderud (Sweden)

Women’s 100m – Annegret Richter (West Germany). Only female athlete from outside Eastern Europe to win a track gold medal

Women’s 200m – Barbel Eckert (Wockel). Retained the title in 1980

Women’s 400m – Irena Szewinska

Women’s 800m and 1500m – Tatyana Kazankina (Soviet Union)

Women’s high jump – Rosemarie Ackermann (GDR)

Light Welterweight – Sugar Ray Leonard

Middleweight – Michael Spinks

Light Heavyweight – Leon Spinks

Open Class judo. Silver – Keith Remfry

Show jumping – Alwin Schockemohle

Women’s All-Around – Nadia Comaneci (aged 14). Silver – Nelli Kim. Comaneci scored the first 10, on the uneven bars. Comaneci scored seven 10s (shown as 1.00 as the scoreboard could only display three figures), and Kim scored two

Nadia Comaneci won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze

Women’s floor – Nelli Kim

Shun Fujimoto achieved fame by continuing to compete in the team event right after breaking his knee during the floor exercise, helping Japan to win gold in the team competition

Modern pentathlon – GB (Adrian Parker, Danny Nightingale, Jim Fox). Boris Onyschenko (Soviet Union) disqualified for having a push-button circuit breaker in his epee sword

Sailing events held at Kingston

Tornado – GB (Reg White, John Osborn)

Women’s basketball – Soviet Union, including Uļjana Semjonova, born in Latvia, who was 2.13m (6’ 11”) tall

Double sculls. Silver – GB (Mike Hart and Chris Bailliau)

1980 Moscow

Los Angeles was the only other candidate city

65 nations turned down their invitations, due to a USA-led boycott over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

15 national teams (including GB) marched under the Olympic flag, and had the Olympic hymn played at medal ceremonies

Mascot – Misha, a bear cub

Games opened by Leonid Brezhnev

Flame lit by Aleksandr Belov

Russian gymnast Nikolai Andrianov took the Athletes’ Oath and won five medals to bring his career total to 15 (seven gold, five silver and three bronze)

Alexandr Dityatin won eight gymnastic medals, and became the first male gymnast to receive a 10 in an Olympic competition, in the vault

Cuban super-heavyweight Teofilo Stevenson became the first boxer to win the same weight division three times

Vladimir Salnikov (Russia) broke the 15 minute barrier in the 1500m freestyle. He retained the title in 1988

Zimbabwe won the first women’s field hockey competition. The team was selected the weekend before the Olympics opened

100m breaststroke – Duncan Goodhew. GB’s first gold medal

200m butterfly. Silver – Philip Hubble

East Germany won 11 of the 13 women’s swimming events. East German men only won one swimming gold medal, Jorg Woithe in the 100m freestyle

Christiane Knacke (GDR) won bronze in the 100m butterfly. In 1998 she became the first Olympic athlete to volunteer to return her medals because she had been doped. The British representatives in the race were Ann and Janet Osgerby, 17-year-old twins

400m individual medley – Petra Schneider (GDR). Silver – Sharron Davies

100m – Allan Wells. Silver – Silvio Leonard

200m – Pietro Mennea (Italy). Silver – Allan Wells

800m – Ovett. Silver – Coe. 8^th Dave Warren

1500m – Coe. Silver – Jurgen Straub (GDR). Bronze – Ovett. 8^th Steve Cram

5000m and 10000m – Miruts Yifter (Ethiopia)

400m hurdles. Bronze – Gary Oakes

3000m steeplechase – Bronislaw Malinowski (Poland). Silver – Filbert Bayi

Decathlon – Daley Thompson

Heather Hunte (Oakes) reached the final of the 100m at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics

Three GB girls in 200m final – Smallwood, Goddard and Lannaman

Women’s 400m – Marita Koch (GDR). Silver – Kratochvilova (Czechoslovakia)

Women’s 1500m – Tatyana Kazankina

Women’s high jump – Sara Simeoni (Italy)

Nadia Comaneci won two gold medals and two silver medals

Heavyweight judo – Angelo Parisi (France), formerly a member of the British team

Open Class judo. Bronze – Arthur Mapp

Sailing events held at Tallinn

Basketball – Yugoslavia

Rowing eights – GB, coxed by Colin Moynihan

Coxless pairs – gold and silver teams were both identical twins

Individual sprint cycling – Lutz Hesslich (East Germany). Retained the title in 1988

Medal table – 1^st Soviet Union 80 golds, 195 medals 2^nd East Germany 47 golds, 126 medals, 3^rd Bulgaria 8 golds

1984 Los Angeles

No other cities bid for the Games

Profit of $223 million

Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) oversaw the 1984 Games

14 nations stayed away as a result of a Soviet-led boycott, and held their own Friendship Games at the same time as the Olympics

The only Warsaw Pact country to compete was Romania, who finished second in the medal table

Iran and Libya also boycotted the Games, citing reasons other than Soviet support

During the opening ceremony Bill Suitor flew into the Coliseum powered by a Jet Pack

Mascot – Sam the Eagle. Games opened by Ronald Reagan. Oath taken by Ed Moses. Flame lit by Rafer Johnson (winner of decathlon in 1960)

Women’s 400m hurdles held for the first time

Men’s windsurfing (sailboard) included for the first time

Women’s events were included for the first time in rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming and the cycling road race

Athletics

Carl Lewis matched Jesse Owens’ 1936 feat of winning the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4 x 100m relay

100m. Bronze – Ben Johnson

800m – Joaquim Cruz (Brazil). Silver – Coe

1500m – Coe. Silver – Cram. First time an athlete has retained the 1500m

5000m – Said Aouita (Morocco)

10000m. Silver – Mike McLeod

Marathon – Carlos Lopes (Portugal). Silver – John Treacy (Ireland). Bronze – Charlie Spedding. Lopes was hit by a car two weeks before the Olympics

110m hurdles – Roger Kingdom. Silver – Greg Foster

Nigel Walker represented GB in the 110m hurdles and later played rugby for Wales

400m hurdles – Ed Moses. Silver – Danny Harris. Second gold medal for Ed Moses

4 x 400m relay. Silver – GB (Kriss Akabusi, Gary Cook, Todd Bennett, Phil Brown)

Triple jump – Al Joyner. Bronze – Keith Connor

Al Joyner married Florence Griffith in 1987

Javelin. Silver – Dave Ottley

Pole vault – Pierre Quinon (France)

Decathlon – Daley Thompson. Silver – Jurgen Hingsen (Germany). Thompson failed to beat Hingsen’s world record by one point

Women’s 100m – Evelyn Ashford

Women’s 200m – Valerie Brisco-Hooks. Silver – Florence Griffith. 4^th Kathy Cook

Women’s 400m – Valerie Brisco-Hooks. Bronze – Cook

First 200m / 400m double in Olympic history

Women’s 800m – Doina Melinte (Romania)

Women’s 100m hurdles. Silver – Shirley Strong

Women’s 400m hurdles – Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco). First Muslim and first African Olympic champion

Women’s 3000m – Maricica Puica (Romania). Silver – Wendy Sly. 7^th Zola Budd, who collided with Mary Decker

Joan Benoit (USA) won the first women’s marathon, ahead of Grete Waitz and Rosa Mota

Women’s high jump – Ulrike Meyfarth, to become the oldest person to win an Olympic high jump competition

Women’s shot put. 4^th Judy Oakes

Women’s javelin – Tessa Sanderson. Silver – Tina Lillak (Finland). Bronze – Fatima Whitbread

First heptathlon won by Glynis Nunn (Australia). Silver – Jackie Joyner

Chandra Cheesborough (USA) became the first woman to win gold medals in both Olympic relays

USA won all four Olympic relays

Swimming

100m freestyle – Ambrose ‘Rowdy’ Gaines (USA)

200m freestyle – Michael Gross (Germany), 6’7”, known as ‘The Albatross’

The winner of the ‘B’ final in the 400m freestyle, Thomas Fahrner (Germany) posted a faster time than the gold medal winner, George DiCarlo (USA)

100m butterfly – Michael Gross

Women’s 400m freestyle – Tiffany Cohen (USA). Silver – Sarah Hardcastle, bronze – June Croft

Women’s 800. Bronze –Sarah Hardcastle

Women’s 100m and 200m butterfly – Mary Meagher. Known as ‘Madame Butterfly’

Tracy Caulkins won three gold medals (200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 4 x 100m medley relay)

Boxing

Evander Holyfield won a bronze medal after a controversial disqualification in the second round of the Light Heavyweight semi-final against New Zealand's Kevin Barry. Barry was knocked out by Holyfield's illegal punch; under IABA health regulation he was not allowed to box for 28 days, so scratched from the final. Anton Josipovic (Yugoslavia) was awarded the gold medal without having to box

Super Heavyweight – Tyrell Biggs (USA). Biggs beat Lennox Lewis in the quarter-finals

Rowing

Coxed pairs – Abbagnale brothers (Italy). Retained the title in 1988

Coxed fours – GB (Martin Cross, Richard Budgett, Holmes, Redgrave; cox – Adrian Ellison)

Ann Callaway rowed in the women's eight. Married Steve Redgrave in 1988

Gymnastics

Parallel bars – Bart Conner (USA), who married Nadia Comaneci

Li Ning (China) won three gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal

Mary Lou Retton (USA), aged 16, first female gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title

Ecaterina Szabo (Romania) won three of the four apparatus finals

Equestrian

Three-day event – Mark Todd, riding Charisma. Bronze – Virginia Holgate

Sailing

Sailing events held at Long Beach

Finn – Russell Coutts (NZ), who won the America’s Cup three times

Paul Elvstrom and his daughter Trine finished fourth in the Tornado class

Half-middleweight judo. Silver – Neil Adams

Super heavyweight wrestling – Bruce Baumgartner (USA). Retained the title in 1992 and won medals in 1988 and 1996

Modern pentathlon. 4^th Richard Phelps

Small-bore rifle, three positions – Malcolm Cooper. Retained the title in 1988

Hockey. Bronze – GB

USA won men’s volleyball for the first time

David Mercer – last UK weightlifting medal, bronze

Tracy Ruiz (USA) won two gold medals in synchronized swimming

For the first time, professionals were allowed in the football tournament, as long as they had not played in the World Cup. France beat Brazil in the final, watched by 101,799 spectators at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena

1988 Seoul

Nagoya was the only other candidate city

South Korea turned democratic in order to host the Summer Games

North Korea boycotted, and was joined by Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua

At the Opening Ceremony the torch was run into the stadium by Sohn Kee-chung, the winner of the 1936 marathon. In 1936 Sohn had been forced to enter using a Japanese name because Korea was occupied by Japan

North Yemen competed as the Yemen Arab Republic

South Yemen competed as the Yemen Democratic Republic

One Moment In Time – official song

Mascots – Hodori and Hosuni, two tigers

Table tennis was introduced

Tennis returned to the Olympics, having been left out since the 1924 Summer Olympics

Fencer Kerstin Palm (Sweden) became the first woman to take part in seven Olympics

Jan Boersma is the only Netherlands Antillean athlete to win an Olympic medal, a silver medal in sailing in 1988

Athletics

Ben Johnson won the 100m, but tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. Carl Lewis was awarded the gold medal, Linford Christie was awarded the silver medal, and Calvin Smith was awarded the bronze medal

Lewis became the first athlete to retain the 100m title

Christie tested positive for the banned stimulant pseudophredine but was cleared by the IOC when it was discovered that the substance could have come from ginseng

200m – Joe DeLoach (USA). Silver – Carl Lewis

400m – Steven Lewis (USA). Silver – Butch Reynolds

1500m – Peter Rono (Kenya). Silver – Peter Elliott

5000m – John Ngugi (Kenya)

110m hurdles – Roger Kingdom. Silver – Colin Jackson

Colin Jackson competed in the next three Olympic finals

400m hurdles – Andre Phillips. Silver – Dia Ba (Senegal). Bronze – Ed Moses

3000m steeplechase. Bronze – Mark Rowland

4 x 100m relay. Silver – GB (Elliott Bunney, John Regis, Mike McFaralane, Linford Christie)

Pole vault – Sergei Bubka, his only Olympic medal

Long jump – Lewis. Silver – Mike Powell

Javelin – Tapio Korjus (Finland). Silver – Jan Zelezny (Czechoslovakia)

Decathlon. Silver – Torsten Voss (GDR), who switched to bobsleigh in 1994

Daley Thompson finished fourth in decathlon after his pole snapped in pole vault

Women’s 100m – Florence Griffith-Joyner. Silver – Ashford

Women’s 200m – Florence Griffith-Joyner

Women’s 1500m – Paula Ivan (Romania). 4^th Christina Cahill (Boxer)

Women’s 3000m. Silver – Paula Ivan. Bronze – Yvonne Murray

Women’s 10000m held for the first time. Gold – Olga Bondarenko (Soviet Union). Silver – Liz McColgan

Women’s 400m hurdles – Debbie Flintoff-King (Austrtalia)

Women’s marathon – Rosa Mota

Women’s long jump – Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Women’s javelin – Petra Felke (GDR). Silver – Whitbread

Heptathlon – Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Retained the title in 1992

Florence Griffith-Joyner is the sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Swimming

Kristin Otto became the first woman to win six gold medals (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly, and two relays) at an Olympic Games. Born in East Germany

Matt Biondi (USA) won seven medals including five gold medals (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and three relays)

100m breaststroke – Adrian Moorhouse

200m breaststroke. Silver – Nick Gillingham

100m butterfly – Anthony Nesty (Suriname). First black swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal

Janet Evans (USA) won three gold medals (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 400m individual medley) and also won the 800m freestyle in 1992

Boxing

After a bantamweight fight against Hristov (Bulgaria), Byun Jong-il sat in the ring for 67 minutes and staged a silent protest. Referee Keith Walker (New Zealand) was attacked

Heavyweight – Ray Mercer

Super Heavyweight – Lennox Lewis (Canada). Silver – Riddick Bowe

Light Middleweight – Park Si-hun. Silver – Roy Jones Jr. Park won all his fights on dubious decisions

Rowing

Pair-oared shell without coxswain, i.e. coxless pairs – GB (Holmes and Redgrave)

Coxed pair. Bronze – GB (Holmes and Redgrave)

Equestrian

Three-day event – Mark Todd, riding Charisma. Silver – Ian Stark. Bronze – Virginia Holgate

Sailing

Sailing events were held in Pusan

Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux saved two sailors in a Finn class race, and was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal for Sportsmanship

Star – GB (Michael McIntyre, Philip Bryn Vaile)

Tennis

Men’s single final – Mecir bt Mayotte

Women’s singles final – Graf bt Sabatini

Men’s doubles – USA (Flach and Seguso)

Women’s doubles – USA (Shriver and Garrison)

Greg Louganis (USA) became the first man to win both diving events twice, despite hitting his head on the springboard. Louganis tested HIV-positive six months before the Olympics

British judo player Kerrith Brown was stripped of his bronze medal after showing up positive for a diuretic

Super Heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling – Alexandr Karelin (Soviet Union). Retained the title in 1992 and 1996

Women’s 1000m cycling sprint introduced

Modern pentathlon. Bronze – GB (Richard Phelps, Dominic Mahony, Graham Brookhouse)

Featherweight weightlifting – Naim Suleymanoglu (Turkey), who was born Naim Suliemanov in Bulgaria but defected to Turkey. Retained the title in 1992 and 1996

Super heavyweight – Aleksandr Kurlovich. Retained the title in 1992

Basketball – Soviet Union

Hockey – GB. Imran Sherwani scored two goals in the final against Germany

Honours for hockey team – OBE Richard Dodds (captain), MBE Sean Kerly, Stephen Martin

Women’s volleyball – Soviet Union. Silver – Peru

Bulgaria withdrew its athletes after two weightlifters were stripped of their gold medals after failing drugs tests

Hungarian fencer Pal Szekeres won a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, then was disabled in a bus accident, and went on to win three gold medals and three bronze in wheelchair fencing at the Paralympics. He has the distinction of being the first person to have won medals at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games

1992 Barcelona

Birmingham and Brisbane bid unsuccessfully

Games opened by King Juan Carlos I

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, formerly known as the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuic or Barcelona Olympic Stadium , was main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics

Cauldron lit by arrow fired by paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo

Independent teams from Estonia and Latvia made their first appearance since 1936, and Lithuania fielded its first team since 1928

The remaining ex-Soviet republics competed as the ‘Unified Team’, although individual winners were honoured by the raising of the flag of their own republic

Yugoslavia was banned from taking part in any team sports, but individual Yugoslav athletes were allowed to compete as ‘independent Olympic participants’

South Africa and unified Germany and Yemen teams participated

Mascot – Cobi, a cubist Catalan sheepdog

Musical theme – Barcelona, written by Freddie Mercury, and sung by Montserrat Caballe

Badminton and women’s judo were added to the Olympic programme

Baseball, which had appeared as a demonstration sport at six Olympic Games, received full accreditation as a medal sport

Modern pentathlon team event contested for the last time

Women’s windsurfing (sailboard) included for the first time. Won by Barbara Kendall (New Zealand), brother of Bruce won won gold in 1988

Men’s basketball was opened to all professionals for the first time, leading to the creation of the US ‘Dream Team’

Athletics

Linford Christie became the oldest winner of the men’s 100m, aged 32. Silver – Frankie Fredericks (Namibia), who also won silver in the 200m

200m – Mike Marsh (USA)

400m – Quincy Watts (USA)

Derek Redmond was helped across the line in the 400m semi-final by his father after tearing a hamstring

1500m – Fermin Cacho Ruiz (Spain)

10000m – Khalid Skah (Morocco), with assistance from lapped teammate Hammou Boutayeb

400m hurdles – Kevin Young, beating Moses’ world record. Bronze – Kriss Akabusi

4 x 400m relay. Bronze – GB (Black, David Grindley, Akabusi, Regis)

High jump – Javier Sotomayor (Cuba)

Sergei Bubka failed to clear a height in the pole vault

Long jump – Lewis. Silver – Mike Powell

Triple jump – Mike Conley (USA)

Javelin – Zelezny, Bronze – Steve Backley

Women’s 100m – Gail Devers. Retained the title in 1996

Women’s 200m – Gwen Torrence

Juliet Cuthbert (Jamaica) won silver medal in 100m and 200m

Women’s 400m – Marie-Jose Perec (France)

Women’s 800m – Ellen van Langen (Holland)

Women’s 1500m – Hassiba Boulmerka (Algeria)

Derarta Tulu (Ethiopia) won the women’s 10000m, the first black African female gold medalist in Olympic history

Women’s 400m hurdles – Sally Gunnell. Silver – Sandra Farmer-Patrick (USA)

Evelyn Ashford was the oldest US women’s gold medalist in track and field, aged 35, in 4 x 100m relay. She is one of only six women to have won four gold medals in track and field Olympic history

Women’s 4 x 400m. Bronze – GB (Sally Gunnell, Phyllis Smith, Sandra Douglas, Jennifer Stoute)

Women’s long jump – Heike Drechsler (Germany)

Women’s javelin – 4^th Tessa Sanderson

Swimming

Kieran Perkins (Australia) won the 1500m freestyle and retained the title in 1996

200m breaststroke. Bronze – Nick Gillingham

Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungary) won three gold medals (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 400m individual medley)

Boxing

Bantamweight. Silver – Wayne McCullough (Ireland)

Lightweight – Oscar De La Hoya. Only USA gold medal in boxing

Welterweight – Michael Carruth (Ireland). First Irish Olympic champion since Ron Delany in 1956

Light Middleweight. Bronze – Robin Reid

Heavyweight – Felix Savon (Cuba). Retained the title in 1996 and 2000

Rowing

Coxless pairs – GB (Redgrave and Pinsent)

Coxed pairs – GB (Johnny and Greg Searle; cox – Garry Herbert). Silver – Abbagnale brothers

Coxed pairs and coxed fours rowed for the last time

Spain’s cox in the eights, 11-year-old Carlos Front, was the youngest competitor in the Summer Games since 1900

Gymnastics

Vitaly Scherbo (Belarus) won six gold medals including a record four in one day

Women’s All-Around. Silver – Shannon Miller

Equestrian

Show jumping – Ludger Beerbaum (Germany). Also won three gold medals in three team competitions (1988, 1996, and 2000)

Cycling

Individual pursuit – Chris Boardman, riding a bike designed by Mike Burrows and built by Lotus. Silver – Jens Lehmann (Germany)

Tennis

Men’s singles – Marc Rosset (Switzerland)

Men’s doubles – Germany (Becker and Stich)

Women’s singles – Jennifer Capriati. Silver – Graf

Women’s doubles – USA (Gigi and Mary Joe Fernandez)

The gold and silver medals in the duet synchronized swimming were both won by identical twin sisters

Half-heavyweight judo. Silver – Ray Stevens

Women’s half-lightweight judo. Bronze – Sharon Rendle

Women’s lightweight judo. Silver – Nicola Fairbrother

Women’s middleweight judo. Bronze – Kate Howey

Archery individual. Bronze – Simon Terry (GB)

Table tennis singles – Jan-Ove Waldner (Sweden). He is known as "the Mozart of table tennis"

Deng Yaping (China) won the women’s table tennis singles and doubles, and repeated the feat in 1996

Light heavyweight weightlifting – Pyrros Dimas (Greece). Ibragim Samadov dropped his bronze medal and walked away from the presentation ceremony. He was banned for life. Dimas retained the title in 1996 and 2000

Baseball – Cuba. Retained the title in 1996

Basketball – USA. ‘Dream Team’ managed by Chuck Daly, included Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley

Women’s hockey – Spain. Bronze – GB

Women’s volleyball – Cuba. Retained the title in 1996 and 2000

1996 Atlanta

Manchester bid unsuccessfully

Bill Clinton opened the Games at the Centennial Olympic Stadium

The cauldron at the Opening Ceremony was lit by Muhammad Ali

On 27 July a bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person

Beach volleyball, mountain biking, lightweight rowing, women’s football (won by USA), and softball were added to the Olympic programme

Professional cyclists allowed to race for the first time

Mascot – Izzy, an abstract figure

Official song – Reach

Bruce Baumgartner carried US flag at opening ceremony

At the closing ceremony, Samaranch said “Well done Atlanta”, rather than calling the Olympiad the best yet, which he had done at every other previous Games under his presidency

Athletics

100m – Donovan Bailey. Linford Christie was disqualified for two false starts

Frankie Fredericks won silver in 100m and 200m

200m – Michael Johnson, in 19.32 seconds

400m – Michael Johnson. Silver – Roger Black

1500m – Morceli (Algeria)

El Guerrouj fell in 1500m

5000m – Niyongabo (Burundi)

10000m – Gebreselassie. Silver – Paul Tergat (Kenya)

110m hurdles – Allen Johnson (USA)

Marathon – Josia Thugwane. First black South African to win a gold medal

4 x 100m relay – Canada. Donovan Bailey ran the anchor leg

4 x 400m relay. Silver – GB (Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulsh, Mark Richardson, Roger Black)

Carl Lewis won the long jump for the fourth time, becoming only the fourth person to win nine career gold medals

Triple jump – Kenny Harrison. Silver – Jonathan Edwards

Discus – Lars Riedel (Germany). Five times world champion

Javelin. Silver – Backley

Decathlon – Dan O’Brien (USA)

Devers became first woman to retain 100m since Tyus

Marie-Jose Perec (France, born in Guadeloupe) won the women’s 200m and 400m. First female athlete to defend the 400m title

Women’s 400m. Silver – Cathy Freeman

Women’s 800m – Svetlana Masterkova (Russia). Silver – Quirot (Cuba). Bronze – Mutola (Mozambique). 4^th – Kelly Holmes

Women’s 1500m – Svetlana Masterkova

Women’s 5000m held for the first time. 5^th Paula Radcliffe

Women’s high jump – Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria)

Women’s long jump – Ajunwa (Nigeria). Silver – Fiona May (Italy)

Women’s triple jump held for the first time. 4^th Ashia Hansen

Heptathlon – Ghada Shouaa (Syria). Bronze – Denise Lewis

Swimming

Alexsandr Popov (Russia) won the 50m and 100m freestyle in 1992 and 1996. One month after the Olympics he was stabbed on the streets of Moscow

Popov was the first man to retain the 100m since Weissmuller in 1928

Gary Hall was second in the 50m and 100m freestyle

Paul Palmer (GB) won the silver medal in the 400m freestyle

Nick Gillingham finished fourth in the 200m breaststroke, but was moved up to third when Andrei Korneyev (Russia) tested positive for a stimulant. The following week the ban on bromantan was lifted and Korneyev was reinstated

Amy van Dyken became the first American woman to win four gold medals in one Olympics (50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, two relays)

Women’s 200m freestyle – Claudia Poll Ahrens (Costa Rica)

Michelle Smith (Ireland) won three gold medals (400m, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley) and a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly. Married to Dutch discus thrower Erik de Bruin

100m breaststroke – Penny Heyns. First South African gold medalist since 1952. Heyns 200m breaststroke – Penny Heyns

Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungary) won the 200m backstroke for the third time, becoming the first woman swimmer to win five gold medals in individual events

Boxing

Welterweight – Oleg Saitov (Russia). Retained the title in 2000

Super Heavyweight – Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine). Silver – Paea Wolfgramm from Tonga, who became the smallest nation to win a medal in the Summer Olympics

Rowing

Coxless pairs – GB (Redgrave and Pinsent). GB’s only gold medal

Gymnastics

Uneven bars – Svetlana Khorkina (Russia). Retained the title in 2000

Beam – Shannon Miller. First American woman gymnast to win an individual gold medal in an unboycotted Olympics

USA won the team event after Kerri Strug vaulted when injured

Equestrian

For the first time, kur, or freestyle dressage to music, was added to the competition

Sailing

Sailing events held at Savannah

Yachtsman Hubert Raudaschl (Austria) became the first person ever to compete in nine Olympics, between 1964 and1996

470. Silver – GB (John Merricks, Ian Walker)

Laser – Robert Scheidt (Brazil). Silver – Ben Ainslie

Sailboard – Lee Lai Shan, Hong Kong’s first ever gold medal

Cycling

Inaugural Road time trial – Miguel Indurain. Bronze – Chris Boardman

Road race. Bronze – Max Sciandri (GB)

Tennis

Men’s singles – Andre Agassi. His father boxed for Iran in the 1948 and 1952 Games

Men’s doubles – Australia (Woodbridge and Woodforde). Silver – GB (Neil Broad and Tim Henman)

Women’s singles – Lindsay Davenport

Women’s doubles – USA (Gigi and Mary Joe Fernandez)

Birgit Schmidt (Germany) won her fifth gold medal in kayak canoeing, 16 years after her first victory

Football teams were allowed to include three professionals regardless of their age or of their World Cup experience. Nigeria beat Argentina in the final, to become the first African country to win the title

Heavyweight judo – David Douillet (France). Retained the title in 2000

Heavyweight freestyle wrestling – Kurt Angle. Went on to star in WWE

Modern pentathlon changed from a five-day event to a one-day event

Hockey – Netherlands. Retained the title in 2000

Women’s hockey – Australia. Retained the title in 2000

Women’s handball – Denmark. Retained the title in 2000

Softball – USA. Retained the title in 2000 and 2004

Paola Pezzo (Italy) became first Olympic champion in mountain biking. Retained the title in 2000

2000 Sydney

Manchester bid unsuccessfully

Afghanistan was the only IOC nation not to participate

South Korea and North Korea marched together under the same flag but the athletes competed separately

East Timor competed under the IOA (Individual Olympic Athletes) banner

Tests to detect EPO and blood tests were introduced

Triathlon, taekwondo, trampoline and synchronized diving were added to the Olympic programme

Women’s events were added in weightlifting (China won four gold medals), water polo, and modern pentathlon

Modern pentathlon swimming cut from 300m to 200m

Mascots – Olly (Olympics) the kookaburra, Syd (Sydney) the platypus, and Millie (Millennium) the echidna

Birgit Fischer (Germany) won two gold medals in canoeing to become the first woman in Olympic history to win medals 20 years apart

Birgit Fischer was married to canoeist Jorg Schmidt from 1984 to 1993

Women’s 20 km walk and hammer held for the first time

For the first time in Olympic history, a married couple played against each other, in the women’s handball match between Denmark and Norway

Colombia won their first gold medal, in women’s weightlifting

Vietnam won their first medal, in taekwondo

Athletics

100m – Maurice Greene

200m – Konstantinos Kenteris (Greece). Silver – Darren Campbell

400m – Michael Johnson, aged 33. First athlete to retain 400m title

1500m. Silver – Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)

5000m – Millon Wolde (Ethiopia)

10000m – Haile Gebreselassie. Silver – Paul Tergat

400m hurdles – Angelo Taylor (USA). Also won in 2008

High jump – Charles Austin (USA). Bronze – Steve Smith

Long jump – Ivan Pedroso (Cuba)

Triple jump – Jonathan Edwards

Javelin – Jan Zelezny, Silver – Steve Backley

Backley is the only British track and field competitor to win medals at three different Olympic Games

Decathlon – Erki Nool (Estonia). Silver – Roman Sebrle (Czech Republic). 4^th Dean Macey

Marion Jones won three gold medals (100m, 200m, 4 x 400m relay) and two bronze medals (long jump and 4 x 100m relay)

Women’s 100m – Marion Jones. Silver – Katerini Thanou. Bronze – Merlene Ottey

Ottey won three silver medals and six bronze medals between 1980 and 2000

Women’s 200m – Marion Jones

Women’s 400m – Cathy Freeman. Bronze – Katharine Merry. 4^th Donna Fraser

Prior to the Olympics, Marie-Jose Perec left the Olympic Village in a cloud of controversy and did not compete in the 400m

Cathy Freeman was the first athlete to light the Olympic flame and go on to win a gold medal at the same Games

Women’s 800m – Maria Mutola. Silver – Stephanie Graf (Austria). Bronze – Holmes

Women’s 5000m – Gabriela Szabo (Romania). Silver – Sonia O’Sullivan

Women’s 10000m – Derarta Tulu. 4^th Radcliffe

Women’s 400m hurdles – Irina Privalova. Won 100m bronze in 1992

Women’s 4 x 100m relay – Bahamas

Women’s pole vault held for the first time. Gold – Stacy Dragila (USA)

Women’s long jump – Heike Drechsler. Silver – May. Bronze – Marion Jones

Heptathlon – Denise Lewis

Swimming

50m freestyle won by Anthony Ervin, the first black swimmer to represent USA, in a dead heat with Gary Hall

100m freestyle – Peter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands). Silver – Popov. Eric Moussambani (Equatorial Guinea) completed the course in 1:52.72. However, because the other two swimmers in his heat made false starts, and were thus disqualified, he won the heat unopposed. Known as ‘Eric the Eel’

200m freestyle – Peter van den Hoogenband. Silver – Ian Thorpe

400m freestyle – Ian Thorpe

1500m freestyle – Grant Hackett. Silver – Kieran Perkins

Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands) won three gold medals (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly)

Paula Barila Bolopa (Equatorial Guinea) swam the 50m in 64 seconds. Known as ‘Paula the Crawler’

Brooke Bennett (USA) won the women’s 400m and 800m

Diana Mocanu (Romania) won the 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke

Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay – USA. With this race, Jenny Thompson became the first female swimmer to win seven career gold medals

Boxing

Super Heavyweight – Audley Harrison

Light Middleweight. Bronze – Jermain Taylor. Known as ‘Bad Intentions’

Rowing

Coxless pairs. 4^th GB (Ed Coode and Greg Searle)

Coxless fours – GB (Cracknell, Redgrave, Foster, Pinsent)

Eights – GB

Gymnastics

Vault – Gervasio Deferr. Spain’s first gymnastics medalist

Dong Fangxiao originally won a bronze medal in gymnastics with the Chinese team. After an investigation, the International Gymnastics Federation ruled that Dong had lied about her age in 2000, and was probably 14, and not 17. Her scores were canceled and the International Olympic Committee stripped the Chinese team of its medal in 2010

Equestrian

Pippa Funnell won silver medals in 2000 and 2004 in team eventing

Sailing

Finn – Iain Percy

Star. Silver – GB (Ian Walker, Mark Covell)

Europe – Shirley Robertson

Laser – Ainslie. Silver – Robert Scheidt (Brazil)

49er class sailed for the first time. Silver – GB (Ian Barker, Simon Hiscocks)

Cycling

Road time trial – Ekimov (Russia). Silver – Jan Ullrich. Bronze – Lance Armstrong (disqualified in 2013)

Road race – Jan Ullrich

Women’s 500m time trial introduced. Won by Felicia Ballanger (France), who also won the 1000m sprint

Time trial – Jason Queally

Individual pursuit. 4^th Rob Hayles

Olympic sprint introduced into cycling programme. Silver – GB (Hoy, Craig MacLean, and Queally)

Madison (named after Madison Square Garden) and Keirin (means ‘racing wheels’) introduced. Wiggins and Hayles finished fourth

Individual pursuit. Bronze – Yvonne McGregor

Dutch cyclist Leontien van Moorsel won gold medals on the road (road race and time trial), and on the track (3 km pursuit). At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she defended her time trial title

Tennis

Men’s singles – Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Men’s doubles – Canada (Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor)

Women’s singles – Venus Williams

Women’s doubles – USA (Serena Williams and Venus Williams)

Women’s middleweight judo. Silver – Kate Howey

Badminton mixed doubles. Bronze – Jo Goode and Simon Archer

Kayak slalom singles. Silver – Paul Ratcliffe

Women’s modern pentathlon – Stephanie Cook. Bronze – Kate Allenby

Double trap – Richard Faulds

Triathlon – Simon Whitfield (Canada)

Women’s triathlon – Brigitte McMahon (Switzerland)

Baseball – USA. First time Cuba had not won the gold medal

Basketball final – USA bt France

Cameroon beat Spain in a penalty shootout in the football final

Dagny Mellgren scored the golden goal for Norway against USA in women’s football final

Taekwondo middleweight – Steven Lopez (USA). Retained the title in 2004

Australia won the first ever women’s water polo tournament

Rulon Gardner (USA) handed Aleksandr Karelin (Russia) his first defeat in Greco-Roman wrestling in 13 years

2004 Athens

Athens defeated Rome on the final ballot

Mascots – Athena and Phevos

Katerina Thanou lit the torch outside the Panathinaiko (Panathenaic) Stadium on 31 March

Afghanistan's first return to the Games since 1996

Kiribati and East Timor entered for the first time

UAE won first ever gold medal, in trap shooting (Sheikh Al Maktoum of Dubai)

USA topped the medal table from China and Russia

Women’s wrestling was added to the programme

Women’s individual sabre held for the first time

Windsurfer Gal Fridman won Israel's first-ever gold medal

Argentina won their first ever team gold medals on same day, in football and basketball

Athletics

100m – Justin Gatlin

200m – Shawn Crawford

400m – Jeremy Wariner

1500m and 5000m – Hicham El Guerrouj. First 1500m / 5000m double since Nurmi in 1924

5000m. Silver – Kenenisa Bekele

10000m – Bekele

110m hurdles – Liu Xiang

400m hurdles – Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic)

4 x 100m – GB (Gardener, Campbell, Devonish, Lewis-Francis). First win since 1912

Marathon – Stefano Baldini (Italy). Bronze – Vanderlei da Lima (Brazil), who was grabbed by Cornelius Horan, an Irish protester

Vanderlei de Lima won the Pierre de Coubertin medal

High jump – Stefan Holm (Sweden)

Long jump – Dwight Philips

Triple jump – Christian Olsson (Sweden)

Pole vault – Tim Mack (USA)

Javelin – Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway)

Decathlon – Roman Sebrle (Czech Republic). Silver – Bryan Clay (USA)

Women’s 100m – Yulia Nestsiarenka (Belarus)

Women’s 200m – Veronica Campbell (Jamaica)

Women’s 400m – Tonique Williams-Darling (Bahamas). Silver – Ana Guevara (Mexico)

Women’s 800m and 1500m – Kelly Holmes

Women’s 5000m – Meserat Defar

Women’s 400m hurdles – Fani Halkia (Greece)

Women’s 4 x 100m – Jamaica

Women’s marathon – Mizuki Noguchi (Japan)

Women’s triple jump – Francoise Etone (Cameroon). Retained the title in 2008

Women’s long jump – Lebedeva

Women’s pole vault – Isinbeyeva. Retained the title in 2008

Women’s javelin – Osleidys Menendez (Cuba)

Heptathlon – Carolina Kluft. Bronze – Kelly Sotherton

Swimming

50m freestyle – Gary Hall

100m freestyle – Pieter van den Hoogenband

200m and 400m freestyle – Ian Thorpe

1500m freestyle – Grant Hackett. Bronze – David Davies

100m and 200m backstroke – Aaron Peirsol (USA)

100m and 200m breaststroke – Kosuke Kitajima (Japan)

100m and 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley – Michael Phelps

200m butterfly. Bronze – Stephen Parry

Phelps won eight medals (six gold and two bronze), becoming the first athlete to win eight medals in a non-boycotted Olympics

Women’s 50m freestyle – Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands)

Women’s 200m backstroke – Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe)

Boxing

Lightweight – Mario Kindelan (Cuba). Silver – Amir Khan

Cuba won five boxing gold medals

Rowing

Romania's Elisabeta Lipa won her fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal and fifth overall. Lipa, who was part of Romania's women's eight, won her first in Los Angeles in 1984 followed by gold medals in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, a record span of 20 years between her first and last gold medal

Matthew Pinsent won his fourth consecutive medal. The British men's coxless four was Steve Williams, James Cracknell, Ed Coode with Pinsent at stroke

United States won the men's eight for the twelfth time overall and the first time since 1964

Women’s quadruple sculls. Silver – GB (including Rebecca Romero)

Gymnastics

Individual all- around – Paul Hamm (USA)

Women’s individual all- around – Carly Patterson (USA)

Equestrian

Individual eventing – Leslie Law on Shear L’Eau. Bronze – Pippa Funnell on Primmore’s Pride. German rider Bettina Hoy accidentally crossed the start flags twice

Individual jumping – Rodrigo Pessoa (Brazil). Son of Nelson Pessoa. Waterford Crystal, the mount of Ireland’s Cian O'Connor, finished first, but tested positive for drugs and was disqualified

Sailing

Sailing events were split into four classes for men, four for women, and three mixed classes that were open to both men and women. Since the previous Games, the open keelboat event in the Soling class was removed, while the women's keelboat event in the Yngling class was added. The Star class was converted from a mixed event to a men's-only event

Finn – Ben Ainslie

470. Silver – Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield

Yngling – GB (Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb, Sarah Ayton) "Three blondes in a boat"

Laser – Robert Scheidt

49er. Bronze – GB (Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks)

Mistral sailboard. Bronze – Nick Dempsey

Cycling

Pursuit – Bradley Wiggins

Wiggins won silver in team pursuit and bronze in Madison (with Rob Hayles)

Wiggins became the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at one Games, the last being Mary Rand at the 1964 Olympic Games

Time trial – Chris Hoy

Women’s time trial – Anna Meares (Australia)

Sarah Ulmer became the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold medal, which she won in the individual pursuit

Tennis

Men’s singles – Nicolas Massu (Chile)

Men’s doubles – Chile (Gonzalez and Massu). First-ever gold medal won by Chile

Fernando Gonzalez is the only person to win gold, silver and bronze medals in tennis

Women’s singles – Justine Henin

Women’s doubles – China (Li and Sun)

Baseball – Cuba. United States did not make it to Athens after losing a qualifying game to Mexico

United States lost for the first time in Olympic men's basketball since NBA players were permitted to play in the Games. This defeat came at the hands of Puerto Rico. USA head coach was Larry Brown

Argentina defeated USA in basketball semi-final, and went on to win the gold medal

K-1 slalom canoeing. Silver – Campbell Walsh

K-1 canoeing sprint. Bronze – Ian Wynne

Birgit Fischer won gold in the K-4 500 m and silver in the K-2 500 m. In so doing, she became the first woman in any sport to win gold medals at six different Olympics, the first woman to win gold 24 years apart and the first person in Olympic history to win two or more medals in five different Games. Won eight gold medals

Mountain biking – Julien Absalon (France). Retained the title in 2008

10m platform. Silver – Pete Waterfield and Leon Taylor

China won six of the eight diving gold medals

Hockey – Australia

Women’s hockey – Germany

Football – Argentina. Golden boot – Carlos Tevez. German Lux did not concede a goal in the tournament

Women’s football – USA

There was controversy in the men's judo competition, when Iranian competitor and two-times world champion Arash Miresmaeili weighed in overweight and was disqualified before a match in which he would have faced Israeli judoka Ehud Vaks. Miresmaeili's comments strongly suggested that he had intentionally disqualified himself so as not to compete against an Israeli

Women’s modern pentathlon. Bronze – Georgina Harland

50m rifle prone – Matthew Emmons (USA)

Triathlon – Hamish Carter (New Zealand)

Women’s triathlon – Kate Allen (Austria)

Volleyball – Brazil

Women’s volleyball – China

Misty May-Treanor and teammate Kerri Walsh were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. They have been called ‘the greatest beach volleyball team of all time’

A total of twelve weightlifters were disqualified for doping, amongst them Greek star Leonidas Sampanis, who had won two silver medals in previous Olympics

Japan won two of the four gold medals in women’s wrestling

Irini Merlini (Ukraine) was the first female to win a wrestling gold medal

Women’s archery. Bronze – Alison Williamson

2008 Beijing

Beijing was elected as the host city in 2001, during the IOC Session in Moscow, defeating Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka

There were 28 sports and 302 events. Nine new events were held, including two from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women competed in the 3000m steeplechase for the first time. Open water swimming events for men and women, over the distance of 10 kilometres, were added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and women) in table tennis replaced the doubles events. In fencing, women's team foil and women's team sabre replaced men's team foil and women's team epee. Two sports were open only to men, baseball and boxing, while one sport and one discipline were open only to women, softball and synchronized swimming. Equestrian and Mixed Badminton are the only sport in which men and women compete together

In addition to the official Olympic sports, the Beijing Organizing Committee was given special dispensation by the IOC to run a wushu competition in parallel to the Games

Aquatics ‘sport’ consists of diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo

Athletes from China won 51 gold medals, the most of any nation at these Olympics, becoming the first nation other than the United States and Russia to do so since the 1936 Summer Olympics. Athletes from the United States won the most total medals, with 110. Afghanistan, Mauritius, Sudan, Tajikistan, and Togo won their first Olympic medals. Athletes from Mongolia and Panama won their nation's first gold medals. An athlete from Serbia won its first medal under that name, having previously won medals as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro

‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium designed by Herzog and de Meuron

Artistic consultant – Al Weiwei

Zhang Yimou directed the opening and closing ceremonies

All but one of the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics, the exception being Brunei. Three countries participated in the Olympic Games for their first time: the Marshall Islands, Montenegro and Tuvalu. The states of Serbia and Montenegro, which participated at the 2004 Games jointly as Serbia and Montenegro, competed separately for the first time

As in Olympics Games since 1984, athletes from the Republic of China (Taiwan) competed at the 2008 Games as Chinese Taipei

The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem was known as Dancing Beijing

The slogan for the 2008 Olympics was ‘One World, One Dream’

The mascots of Beijing 2008 were the five Fuwa (‘good-luck dolls’), each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture

Official emblem – ‘Chinese Seal – Dancing Beijing’. Depicts a dancing human figure resembling the Chinese character ‘jing’

Natalie du Toit was one of two Paralympians to compete; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka

Latvian shooter Afanasijs Kuzmins made his eighth appearance at the Olympics

Rohullah Nikpai became the first Afghan Olympics medalist, in Taekwondo

Abhinav Bindra won India's first ever individual Olympic gold, in the 10m Air Rifle

Togo won first ever Olympic medal, bronze in kayak

Pakistan was the largest nation (in terms of population) not to win a medal in 2008

Judoka Naidangiin Tuvshinbayar was the first Mongolian ever to win a gold medal at the Olympics

French racing cyclist Jeannie Longo competed for France in her seventh Olympic Games

Final medal table. 1^st China (51-21-28) 100, 2^nd USA (36-38-36) 110, 3^rd Russia (23-21-28) 72, 4^th GB (19-13-15) 47

55 countries won gold medals, 87 countries won medals

Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice was the most successful female athlete, winning three gold medals. Natalie Coughlin (USA) won six swimming medals

Athletics

100m and 200m – Bolt

Controversy arose within minutes after the 200m medal race when Wallace Spearmon, who finished third, was disqualified for stepping out of his lane. United States officials filed a protest, but conceded after seeing the video and noticing that silver medalist Churandy Martina who had celebrated the second ever Olympic medal for the Netherlands Antilles, also may have stepped out of his lane. They filed an appeal to disqualify Martina, which after more than an hour of deliberation was granted, through which the United States obtained both the silver and bronze medals (Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix)

400m – LaShawn Merritt. 6^th Martyn Rooney

5000m and 10000m – Kenenisa Bekele

110m hurdles – Dayron Robles (Cuba)

400m hurdles – Angelo Taylor (USA)

Marathon – Sammy Wanjiru (Kenya)

High jump – Andrey Silnov (Russia). Silver – Germaine Mason

Long jump – Irving Saladino (Panama). First gold medal for Panama

Triple jump – Nelson Evora (Portugal). Silver – Philips Idowu

Pole vault – Steve Hooker (Australia)

Javelin – Thorkildsen. Bronze – Pitamaki

Decathlon – Bryan Clay

Women’s 100m – Shelly-Anne Fraser (Jamaica)

Women’s 200m – Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica). Also won in 2004

Women’s 400m – Christine Ohuruogu

Women’s 5000m and 10000m – Tirunesh Dibaba

Women’s 100m hurdles – Dawn Harper (USA)

Women’s 400m hurdles – Melaine Walker (Jamaica). Bronze – Tasha Danvers

Women’s marathon – Constantina Dita-Tomescu (Romania)

Women’s high jump – Tia Hellebaut (Belgium). Silver – Blanka Vlasic

Women’s long jump – Maurren Maggi (Brazil)

Lebedeva won silver medals in long jump and triple jump

Women’s shot put – Valerie Vili (Adams)

Women’s javelin – Barbora Spotakova

Heptathlon – Natalya Dobrynska (Ukraine)

Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine originally won the silver medal in the women's heptathlon, but was disqualified after she tested positive for drugs

Swimming

50m freestyle – Cesar Filho (Brazil)

100m freestyle – Alain Bernard (France)

100m backstroke – Aaron Peirsol

200m backstroke – Ryan Lochte (USA)

100m and 200m breaststroke – Kosuke Kitajima (Japan)

200m freestyle, 100m and 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley, three relays – Michael Phelps

1500m freestyle – Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia). First African male swimmer to ever win an Olympic gold medal in an individual swimming event

10km open water. Silver – David Davies

Women’s 50m and 100m freestyle – Britta Steffen (Germany)

Women’s 200m freestyle – Federica Pellegrini (Italy)

Women’s 400m freestyle – Rebecca Adlington. Silver – Katie Hoff (USA). Bronze – Jo Jackson

Women’s 800m freestyle – Rebecca Adlington

Women’s 200m backstroke – Kirsty Coventry

Women’s 100m breaststroke – Liesel Jones (Australia)

Women’s 200m and 400m individual medley – Stephanie Rice (Australia)

Women’s 10km open water – Larisa Ilchenko (Russia). Silver – Keri-Anne Payne. Bronze – Cassie Patten

Many swimmers wore Speedo LZR Racer swim suits. This and other high performance body suits have since been banned from FINA competitions

Boxing

Middleweight – James DeGale

Light Heavyweight. Bronze –Tony Jeffries

Super Heavyweight. Bronze – David Price

Deontay Wilder was the only American boxer to win a medal

Rowing

Men’s coxless fours. Gold – GB (Hodge, Reed, Williams, James)

Lightweight double sculls – GB (Purchase and Hunter)

Gymnastics

Pommel horse. Bronze – Louis Smith

Women’s individual all-around – Nastia Liukin (USA), the daughter of Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin – the first man to do a triple backflip – and World Champion rhythmic gymnast Anna Kotchneva. Born in Moscow

Equestrian

The equestrian competitions were held apart from the main games in Hong Kong

Individual show jumping – Eric Lamaze (Canada)

Individual eventing – Hinrich Romeike (Germany). Bronze – Tina Cook on Miners Frolic

Sailing

The Neil Pryde RS:X was selected to replace the Mistral for both Men's and Women's sailboard, and the Laser Radial replaced the Europe as the Women's single-handed dinghy

Laser – Paul Goodison

Star – Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson

Yngling – GB (Sarah Webb, Sarah Ayton, Pippa Wilson)

Finn – Ben Ainslie

Sailboard – Tom Ashley (New Zealand)

Cycling

Road race – Samuel Sanchez (Spain)

Time trial – Fabian Cancellara

Women’s road race – Nicole Cooke

Women’s time trial – Kristin Armstrong (USA). Silver – Emma Pooley

Pursuit – Wiggins

Sprint, Keirin – Hoy

Women’s pursuit – Romero

Rebecca Romero became only the second woman of any country (after Roswitha Krause of East Germany, in swimming and handball) to win a medal in two different sports at Summer Games

Women’s sprint – Pendleton

Mark Cavendish was the only GB track cyclist to return from Beijing without a medal

Tennis

Men’s singles final – Nadal bt Fernando Gonzalez

Men’s doubles final – Switzerland (Federer and Wawrinka) bt Sweden (Aspelin and Johansson)

Women’s singles final – Dementieva bt Safina

Women’s doubles final – USA (Williams and Williams) bt Spain (Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pasqual)

Baseball – South Korea

C-1 slalom. Silver – David Florence

K-1 500m. Bronze – Tim Brabants

K-1 1000m – Tim Brabants

Peter Hochschorner and Pavol Hochschorner from Slovakia became the first slalom canoeists to win three Olympic gold medals

Football final – Argentina bt Nigeria

Women’s football final – USA bt Brazil

Handball – France

Women’s handball – Norway

Women’s modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, riding, running). Silver – Heather Fell

Katerina Emmons equaled the world record with a perfect 400 in the women's air rifle competition

Matthew Emmons lost a large lead in the very last shot of the men's three positions – just as he had in Athens four years earlier

Softball – Japan

Sarah Stevenson won a controversial quarter-final match in the Women's +67 kg Taekwondo against China's Chen Zhong, but was beaten in the semi-final

Volleyball final – USA bt Brazil

Women’s volleyball final – Brazil bt USA

China won eight of the 15 weightlifting events

Ara Abrahamian of Sweden originally won one of the two bronze medals in the 84 kg Greco-Roman wrestling weight class but was disqualified by the IOC after he stepped off the podium and dropped his medal in the centre of the mat to protest the officiating

BMX – Men’s - Maris Strombergs (Latvia), Women's - Anne-Caroline Chausson (France)

Matthew Mitcham (Australia) was the only non-Chinese winner of a diving event

2012 London

London was elected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris after four rounds of voting

Amber Charles – schoolgirl involved in London 2012 Olympic bid

John Armitt – chairman of the ODA

David Higgins was Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority

Barbara Cassani – founder of ‘Go’ airline, became chairperson of UK 2012 Olympic Games bid. Replaced by Lord Coe after the shortlist of five was announced

‘Back the Bid’ posters by M&C Saatchi

Softball and baseball dropped

Due to IOC sponsorship regulations, the O2 Arena was known as North Greenwich Arena

Olympic Stadium designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport). Structural engineers – Buro Happold

Logo designed by Wolff Olins. The word ‘london’ appears on the first digit. The five Olympic rings are included on the second digit

Basketball arena – temporary structure, known as ‘the Marshmallow’. Designed by WilkinsonEyre architects

Venues outside Olympic Park –

• Earls Court – Volleyball
• ExCeL – Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Wrestling (Freestyle and Greco-Roman)
• Greenwich Park – Equestrian
• Horse Guards Parade – Beach Volleyball
• Hyde Park – Swimming (Marathon), Triathlon
• Lord’s Cricket Ground – Archery
• North Greenwich Arena – Basketball, Gymnastics (Artistic and Trampoline)
• Royal Artillery Barracks – Shooting
• Wembley Arena – Badminton, Gymnastics (Rhythmic)
• Wimbledon – Tennis
• Lee Valley White Water Centre – Canoeing
• Hadleigh Farm, Essex – Cycling (Mountain Bike)
• Eton Dorney – Rowing
• Weymouth and Portland – Sailing
• Coventry, Cardiff, Glasgow (Hampden Park), Manchester (Old Trafford), Newcastle, Wembley Stadium – Football

For the first time, women's boxing was included in the Olympic programme with female boxers able to participate in three events – flyweight, lightweight, and middleweight

The men’s 500 metre canoe races were replaced by 200m. In addition, men’s C2 500m was replaced by women’s K1 200m

The sailing classes had two changes from the Beijing 2008 sailing events. The women's Match Race competition (Elliott 6m keelboat) replaced the Yngling competition and the Tornado Class Catamaran competition has been dropped

For the first time since 1924 mixed doubles tennis was officially included

The 2012 Summer Olympic programme featured 26 sports and a total of 38 disciplines

Women from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei competed for the first time

Women-only events – synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics

Seven Cameroon athletes deserted their Olympic squad

GB won six gold medals on ‘Super Saturday’ (4 August), including three gold medals in athletics (Ennis, Rutherford, Farah in 10000m) in the space of 46 minutes

The women's athletics schedule lacked the 50 km race walk and included 100 m hurdles and heptathlon as opposed to the men's 110 m hurdles and decathlon

Pavlos Kontides won the first Olympic medal in Cyprus’s history, silver in Laser class

Erick Barrando won Guatemala’s first-ever Olympic medal, silver in 20km walk

Canadian showjumper Ian Millar set a new record for Olympic appearances by taking part in his 10th Games

Final medal table – 1^st USA (46-29-29) 104 2^nd China (38-27-23) 88 3^rd GB (29-17-19) 65 4^th Russia (24-26-32) 82

54 countries won gold medals. 85 countries won medals

44 world records broken

Sebastian Coe appointed as Legacy Ambassador

Athletics

100m – Usain Bolt (9.63 seconds). Silver – Yohan Blake. Bronze – Justin Gatlin. Seven men went under 10 seconds, with only the injured Asafa Powell failing to break that mark

200m – Usain Bolt. Silver – Yohan Blake. Bronze – Warren Weir. Jamaican clean sweep

400m – Kirani James – First Olympic medal in Grenada’s history

800m – David Rudisha, in world record time. Silver – Nigel Amos, winning Botswana’s first-ever Olympic medal

1500m – Taoufik Makhloufi (Algeria), who was reinstated after being disqualified for not trying in a heat of the 800m

5000m – Mo Farah

10000m – Mo Farah. Silver – Galen Rupp (USA)

110m hurdles – Aries Merritt

400m hurdles – Felix Sanchez

American runner Manteo Mitchell ran the last 200m of the men's 4x400m relay heats with a broken left leg

4 x 100m relay – Jamaica (Carter, Frater, Blake, Bolt), in a world record time of 36.84 seconds. Tyson Gay was stripped of his silver medal due to doping violations. Following consideration by the IOC, the United States team were disqualified, and their results expunged

4 x 400m relay – Bahamas

Decathlon – Ashton Eaton (USA)

Discus – Robert Harting (Germany), who celebrated by ripping the shirt off his chest, and jumping over a number of hurdles

Cuban pole vaulter Lazaro Borges’s pole broke in three during qualifying

Pole vault – Renaud Lavillenie (France)

Javelin – Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago). A lighthouse in Trinidad was named after Keshorn Walcott

Long jump – Greg Rutherford (8.31m). 6^th Chris Tomlinson

Marathon – Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda)

Women’s 100 – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Retained the title. Silver – Carmelita Jeter. Bronze – Veronica Campbell-Brown

Women’s 200m – Allyson Felix

Women’s 400m – Sanya Richards-Ross. Silver – Ohuruogu

Women’s 800m – Mariya Savinova (Russia). Silver – Caster Semenya (South Africa)

Following her victory at the 2009 World Championships, it was announced that she Caster Semenya been subjected to gender testing. She was withdrawn from international competition until July 2010

Sarah Attar, the first female Saudi Arabian track and field athlete at the Olympic Games, ran in the 800m

Women’s 1500m – Asli Alptekin. Turkey's first ever track and field Olympic gold medal

Bahraini runner Mariam Jamal becme the first Gulf female athlete to receive a medal, winning the bronze medal in the 1500m

Women’s 5000m – Meseret Defar

Women’s 10000m – Tirunesh Dibaba

Women’s 100m hurdles – Sally Pearson. Silver – Dawn Harper

Women’s 4x100m – USA, breaking the world record had been set 27 years previously by East German. Anchor leg run by Jeter

Allyson Felix won a gold medals in the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relays

Women’s marathon – Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia)

Women’s long jump – Brittney Reese (USA)

Women’s pole vault – Jenn Suhr (USA)

Women’s shot put – Valerie Adams

Women’s javelin – Barbora Spotakova

Heptathlon – Jessica Ennis (6955 points)

Swimming

100m freestyle – Nathan Adrian (USA)

200m freestyle – Yannick Agnel (France)

200m individual medley – Phelps. First man to win same swimming event at three consecutive Olympics

400m and 1500m freestyle – Sun Yang (China)

400m individual medley – Ryan Lochte. 4^th Phelps

200m butterfly – Chad Le Clos (South Africa). Silver – Phelps. Le Clos’s father Bert interviewed by Clare Balding

Phelps won 19th Olympic medal in 4x200m relay

Phelps won18th gold medal in 4 x100m medley relay, his last Olympic race

Michael Phelps emerged as the most decorated Olympian of all time after winning six more medals at these Games to end his Olympic career with a tally of 22 (18 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze)

Men’s 10km marathon swim – Ous Mellouli (Tunisia), the first swimmer to win Olympic medals in the pool and open water

Women’s 50m and 100m freestyle – Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands)

Women’s 400m freestyle – Camille Muffat (France). Bronze – Adlington

Camille Muffat died when two helicopters filming the TV survival show Dropped collided in Argentina in 2015

Women’s 400m individual medley – Ye Shiwen, who swam the last 50m faster than Ryan Lochte

Women’s 100m breaststroke – Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania), who attended the same Plymouth college as Tom Daley and was coached by John Rudd

Women’s 100m backstroke – Missy Franklin (USA)

Women’s 200m backstroke – Missy Franklin. 4^th Lizzie Simmonds

Missy Franklin won four gold medals and one bronze medal

Women’s 800m freestyle – Katie Ledecky (USA).  Bronze – Adlington

Australia only won one swimming gold medal, in women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay

Boxing

Azerbaijan bantamweight Magomed Abdulhamidov knocked down six times by Japan's Satoshi Shimizu, only for the Turkmenistan referee to ignore each one

Bantamweight – Luke Campbell. Silver – Joe Nevin (Ireland)

Superheavyweight final – Anthony Joshua beat reigning Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy

Welterweight. Silver – Fred Evans

Middleweight. Bronze – Anthony Ogogo

Russia's Elena Savelyeva became the first woman to win an Olympic boxing match

Natasha Jonas became the first British woman to win an Olympic boxing match

Lightweight quarter-final – Katie Taylor bt Natasha Jonas

Nicola Adams became the first woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, in the flyweight competition

Lightweight – Katie Taylor (Ireland)

Rowing

Coxless four – GB (Gregory, James, Reed, Triggs-Hodge)

Eights – Germany. Bronze – GB, including Greg Searle and Alex Partridge

Lightweight four. Silver – GB. Richard and Peter Chambers became first British brothers to win an Olympic medal since Searle brothers in 1996

Lightweight double sculls – Denmark. Silver – Purchase and Hunter. The race was stopped when Purchase's seat broke but the pair were allowed to restart as it happened within 100m of the start

Niger rower Hamadou Djibo Issaka completed the 2000m course in just under 9 minutes

Women’s pair – Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. GB’s first gold medal. First British women to win gold in rowing since 1976

Women’s double sculls – Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger

Women’s lightweight double sculls – Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking

Gymnastics

Horizontal bar – Epke Zonderland (Netherlands)

Men’s individual all-around – Kohei Uchimura (Japan)

Women's individual all-around – Gabby Douglas (USA)

Equestrian

Team show jumping – GB (Peter Charles, Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash) bt Netherlands in jump-off. First gold since 1952

Nick Skelton (aged 54) competed at his sixth Olympic Games, riding Big Star

Peter Charles rode for Ireland between 1992 and 2007

Three day eventing team. Silver – GB (Zara Phillips, Mary King, Tina Cook, Nicola Wilson, William Fox-Pitt). Medals presented by Princess Royal.  Individual gold – Michael Jung (Germany)

Zara Phillips rode High Kingdom

Individual dressage – Charlotte Dujardin, riding Valegro. Bronze – Laura Bechtolsheimer

Team dressage – GB (Carl Hester, Bechtolsheimer, Dujardin)

Damon Hill ridden by Helen Langehanenberg (Germany) won a silver medal in dressage

Sailing

Finn – Ainslie

Ben Ainslie took his fifth consecutive sailing medal, and his fourth consecutive gold, after a battle with Jonas Hogh Christensen of Denmark that was only decided at the last mark of the medal race

GB won four silver medals in sailing

Cycling

Road race – Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan)

Women’s road race – Marianne Vos (Netherlands). Silver – Lizzie Armitstead. First GB medal

Time trial (Hampton Court) – Bradley Wiggins. Silver – Tony Martin. Bronze – Chris Froome

Wiggins became Britain’s most decorated Olympian with seven medals

Women’s time trial – Kristin Armstrong (USA)

Pendleton and Varnish relegated in women’s sprint against Ukraine. Germany win gold medal after China relegated in final

Men’s team sprint – GB (Hindes, Kenny, Hoy)

Philip Hindes deliberately crashed after a slow start in a qualifying race to get a restart

Men’s team pursuit – GB

Keirin – Victoria Pendleton

Women’s team pursuit final – GB (King, Roswell, Trott) bt USA

Sprint – Jason Kenny

Omnium – Laura Trott. Silver – Sarah Hammer (USA)

Sprint – Anna Meares. Silver – Victoria Pendleton

Kierin – Chris Hoy

GB won 12 cycling medals (8 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze). No other nation won more than one gold medal

Tennis

Second round – Tsonga bt Raonic 25-23 in final set of longest-ever Olympic match

Semi-final – Federer bt Del Potro 19-17 in final set. Match lasted 4 hours 26 minutes

Singles final – Murray bt Federer

Doubles final – USA (Bryan and Bryan) bt France (Tsonga and Llodra)

Women’s singles final – Serena Williams bt Sharapova

Women’s doubles final – USA (Williams and Williams) bt Czech Republic (Hlavackova and Hradecka)

Mixed doubles final – Belarus (Mirnyi and Azarenka) bt GB (Murray and Robson)

Murray was the only British athlete to win two medals on the same day

Triathlon – Alistair Brownlee. Silver – Gomez (Spain). Bronze – Jonathan Brownlee

Women’s triathlon – Nicola Spirig (Switzerland). Silver – Lisa Norden (Sweden), who was given the same time

Men’s football quarter-final – South Korea bt GB. Sturridge missed penalty in shoot-out

Men’s football final – Mexico bt Brazil. Referee – Mark Clattenburg

GB beat Brazil in women’s football group stages

Women’s football quarter-final – Canada bt GB

Women’s football final – USA bt Japan. Winning goal scored by Carli Lloyd, who also scored the winning goal in the 2008 final

Stephan Feck (Germany) landed on his back in the 3m springboard competition

10m platform – David Boudin (USA). Bronze – Tom Daley

Daley allowed a re-dive due to flash photography

South Korea fencer Shin A-lam remained on the piste for 75 minutes following a controversial defeat

North Korean weightlifter Om Yun Choi lifted three times his own bodyweight

Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won the Dakar Rally in 2011, won a bronze medal for Qatar in skeet shooting

Double Trap – Peter Wilson. Coached by Sheikh Al Maktoum of Dubai

Eight Olympic badminton players disqualified with ‘not using one's best efforts to win a match’. Two pairs from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia

Canoe Slalom – Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott. Silver – David Florence and Richard Hounslow. Bronze – Hochshorner brothers

Men’s K1 200m – Ed McKeever

Men’s trampoline – Dong Dong (China)

Judo 78kg – Kayla Harrison (USA). Silver – Gemma Gibbons, coached by Kate Howey

Judo heavyweight (+78kg). Bronze – Karina Bryant

Guam judoka Ricardo Blas Jr. weighed 218 kg (480 lb)

Men’s hockey semi-final – Netherlands 9 GB 2

Men’s hockey final – Germany bt Netherlands

Women’s hockey – Netherlands bt Argentina

Women’s taekwondo -57 kg – Jade Jones. Youngest GB gold medal winner, aged 19

Japanese female freestyle wrestlers Kaori Icho and Saori Yoshida both won their third successive gold medals

May-Treanor and Walsh won women’s beach volleyball for third consecutive Olympics

Men’s basketball final – USA bt Spain

Women’s modern pentathlon. Silver – Samantha Murray. Final event of the Olympics

Modern pentathlon – fencing, swimming (200m), horse riding, combined running (3km) / shooting

2016 Rio de Janeiro

Rio was elected as the host city on 2 October 2009 during the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, defeating Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid after three rounds of voting

On 9 October 2009 the IOC voted to include rugby sevens and golf on the program for the Games in Rio

More than 11,000 athletes from 207 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, and the Refugee Olympic Team, took part.  With 306 sets of medals, the games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added to the Olympic program in 2009

Independent Olympic Athletes is composed of Kuwaiti athletes who compete under the Olympic flag, as the Kuwait Olympic Committee had been suspended by the IOC due to governmental interference

Mascot – Vinicius, a mix of different Brazilian animals, named after the Brazilian musician Vinicius de Moraes

Motto – “A new world”

Opening and closing ceremonies held in the Maracana Stadium

The Barra Olympic Park is a cluster of nine sporting venues including the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre

Athletics events held at Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium, also known as Nilton Santos Stadium. Home stadium of the football club Botafogo

Sailing events were held at at Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay.

Final medal table – 1^st USA (46-37-38) 121 2^nd GB (27-23-17) 67 3^rd China (26-18-26) 70 4^th Russia (19-18-19) 56

Vietnam, Kosovo, Fiji, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Bahrain, Jordan, Tajikistan and Ivory Coast won their first Olympic gold medals (however, Bahrain retroactively won a gold medal for the 2012 Summer Olympics due to medals reallocation). They were also Kosovo's, Fiji's, and Jordan's first Olympic medals

Saudi Arabia were only G20 country not to win a medal

USA won its 1,000th Olympic gold medal

Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D'Agostino were awarded the International Fair Play Committee Award after colliding with each other on the track during the 5000m event at the Olympics and assisting each other to continue the race

59 countries won gold medals. 87 countries won medals

Brazil won seven gold medals, their most at any single Summer Olympics

27 world records were broken

Athletics

100m – Usain Bolt. Silver – Justin Gatlin. Bronze – Andre De Grasse (Canada)

200m – Usain Bolt. Silver – Andre De Grasse. Bronze – Christophe Lemaitre

400m – Wayde van Niekerk. Silver – Kirani James. Bronze – LaShawn Merritt. Van Niekerk set a new world record of 43.03 seconds, beating Michael Johnson’s previous record set at the 1999 World Championships by 0.15 seconds. No other athlete had won a major championship from lane 8

800m – David Rudisha

1500m – Matthew Centrowitz. First American gold in the event since 1908

5000m – Mo Farah

10000m – Mo Farah

110m hurdles – Omar McLeod (Jamaica)

400m hurdles – Kerron Clement (USA)

4 x 100m relay – Jamaica (Powell, Blake, Ashmeade, Bolt). Bolt completes ‘triple triple’ of three sprint gold medals in last three Olympics

4 x 400m relay – USA

GB controversially disqualified from heat of 4 x 400m relay

Marathon – Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya). Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia was the silver medalist and as he neared the line he crossed his arms above his head – a political gesture in solidarity with Oromo protests in Ethiopia. 9^th Callum Hawkins. His brother, Derek Hawkins, also competed in the race

Pole vault – Thiago Braz da Silva (Brazil). Silver – Lavillenie, who was booed throughout the competition

Long jump – Jeff Henderson (USA). Bronze – Greg Rutherford

Triple jump – Christian Taylor

Discus – Christoph Harting (Germany). Brother of Robert Harting, who won in 2012

Hammer – Dilshod Nazarov. First-ever medal for Tajikistan

Decathlon – Ashton Eaton

Women’s 100m – Elaine Thompson (Jamaica). Silver – Tori Bowie (USA). Bronze – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Women’s 200m – Elaine Thompson. Silver – Daphne Schippers. Bronze – Tori Bowie. Thompson is the first woman to win sprint double since Flo-Jo in 1988

Women’s 400m – Shaunee Miller (Bahamas). Silver – Allyson Felix. Miller dived across the line

Women’s 800m – Caster Semenya

Women’s 5000m – Vivian Cheruiyot

Women’s 10000m – Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia) in 29’ 17”, breaking the world record by 14 seconds

Women’s 100m hurdles – Brianna Rollins. USA won all three medals

Sisters Cindy Ofili and Tiffany Porter ran in 100m hurdles final for GB

Women’s 400m hurdles – Dalilah Muhammad (USA)

Women’s 300m steeplechase – Ruth Jebet. First-ever gold medal for Bahrain

Women’s 4x100m relay – USA. Bronze – GB (Philip, Henry, Asher-Smith, Neita)

Women’s 4x400m relay – USA. Bronze – GB (Ohuruogu, Diamond, Doyle, Onuora)

Ohuruogu becomes first British woman to win athletics medals in three Olympics

Allyson Felix ran in both winning relay teams and now has nine Olympic medals

Women’s marathon – Jemima Sumgong (Kenya). Three sets of twins finished the marathon; two of the Luik triplets from Estonia, the Hahner twins from Germany and the Kim sisters from North Korea

Women’s shot put – Michelle Carter (USA). Silver – Valerie Adams

Women’s discus – Sandra Perkovic (Croatia). Only female athlete to retain title

Women’s hammer. Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland). Bronze – Sophie Hitchon. Włodarczyk broke the world record

Darya Klishina, Russia's sole track and field competitor at the Rio Olympics, has her exemption to Russia's blanket ban revoked and finishes ninth in the long jump

Heptathlon – Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium). Silver – Ennis-Hill. 6^th Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Swimming

100m freestyle – Kyle Chalmers (Australia)

200m freestyle – Sun Yang (China)

100m backstroke – Ryan Murphy (USA)

200m backstroke – Ryan Murphy

100m breaststroke – Adam Peaty, in a world record time of 57.1 seconds. First GB male swimming gold since Adrian Moorhouse in 1988

100m butterfly – Joseph Schooling (Singapore). Silver – three-way tie including Michael Phelps. First ever gold medal for Singapore

200m butterfly – Michael Phelps

200m individual medley – Michael Phelps, who became the first swimmer to win gold medals in the same event at four successive Olympic Games

Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay – USA. Silver – GB (Scott, Guy, Milne, Wallace)

4x100m medley relay – USA. Silver – GB (Guy, Peaty, Scott, Walker-Hebborn)

Michael Phelps won five gold medals and one silver medal, taking his tally to 23 gold medals, and 28 medals in total

Women’s 100m freestyle – Simone Manuel (USA) and Peny Oleksiak (Canada) tie for gold medal. Manuel was the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming

Women’s 200m freestyle – Katie Ledecky

Women’s 400m freestyle – Katie Ledecky (USA).  Silver – Jazz Carlin

Women’s 800m freestyle – Katie Ledecky (USA).  Silver – Jazz Carlin

Women’s 200m individual medley – Katinka Hosszu. Silver – Siobhan-Marie O’Connor

Katinka Hosszu also won both individual medley events

USA won 16 of the 35 gold medals in swimming

Cycling

Road race – Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium). 11^th Chris Froome

Women’s road race – Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands). 5^th Lizzie Armitstead

Time trial – Fabian Cancellara. Bronze – Froome

Women’s time trial – Kristin Armstrong (USA). Third successive gold medal

Sprint – Jason Kenny. Silver – Callum Skinner

Kieren – Jason Kenny

Omnium. Silver – Mark Cavendish

Team sprint – GB (Kenny, Hindes, Skinner)

Team pursuit – GB (Wiggins, Clancy, Doull, Burke). Eighth Olympic medal for Wiggins

Jason Kenny has now won six gold medals, drawing him level with Chris Hoy as GB’s greatest Olympian

Women’s sprint – Kristina Vogel. Silver – Becky James. Bronze – Katy Marchant

Women’s kieren – Elis Lighlee. Silver – Becky James

Women’s omnium – Laura Trott

Women’s team pursuit – GB (Trott, Rowsell Shand, Barker, Archibald)

Laura Trott has now won four gold medals

All 11 members of GB’s track cycling team won a medal

Boxing

Light heavyweight. Bronze – Joshua Buatsi

Super-heavyweight – Tony Yoka (France). Silver – Joe Joyce

Women’s flyweight – Nicola Adams

Several judges and referees were removed following a series of controversial decisions

Michael Conlan (Ireland) reacted to losing a bantamweight contest by raising his middle finger at the judges and delivering a strongly-worded live television interview to RTE, accusing officials in amateur boxing of corruption

Uzbekistan and Cuba both won three gold medals in boxing

Rowing

Single sculls – Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand)

Coxless four – GB (Gregory, Louloudis, Nash, Sbihi). Fifth consecutive win for GB in this event

Coxed eight – GB. Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed won their third gold medals

Lightweight double sculls. Silver – Ireland (Gary O’Donovan and Paul O’Donovan)

Women’s coxless pair – GB (Helen Glover and Heather Stanning)

Women’s double sculls Silver – GB (Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley). Fifth Olympic medal for Grainger in her fifth Olympics

Women’s coxed eight – USA. Silver – GB

Gymnastics

Team all-around – Japan. GB finished fourth after Louis Smith fell off the pommel horse

Individual all-around – Kohei Uchimura. Bronze – Max Whitlock. GB’s first medal in the event for 108 years

Floor – Max Whitlock. First GB gold in gymnastics

Pommel horse – Max Whitlock. Silver – Louis Smith

Horizontal bar. Bronze – Nile Wilson

Women’s team all-around – USA

Women's individual all-around – Simone Biles (USA)

Women’s floor – Simone Biles. Bronze – Amy Tinkler, aged 16

Women’s vault – Simone Biles

Simone Biles won four gold medals and a bronze medal

Women’s trampoline. Silver – Bryony Page

Equestrian

Show jumping – Nick Skelton, riding Big Star. Aged 58, riding in his seventh games

Team show jumping – France

Individual eventing – Michael Jung

Team eventing – France

Individual dressage – Charlotte Dujardin, riding Valegro. Third gold medal

Team dressage – Germany. Silver – GB (Bigwood, Wilton, Dujardin, Hester)

Sailing

Finn – Giles Scott. Fifth consecutive win for GB in this event

RS:X windsurfing. Silver – Nick Dempsey

Women’s 470 – GB (Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark)

Laser Radial. Silver – Annalise Murphy (Ireland)

Nacra 17 was the only mixed sailing competition

Tennis

Men’s singles first round – Del Potro bt Djokovic

Men’s singles final – Murray bt Del Potro

Men’s doubles first round – Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa (Brazil) bt Andy Murray and Jamie Murray

Men’s doubles – Spain (Lopez and Nadal)

Women’s singles third round – Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) bt Serena Williams

Women’s singles quarter-final – Kerber bt Konta

Women’s singles final – Monica Puig bt Kerber. Puerto Rico's first ever Olympic gold medal

Women’s doubles – Russia (Makarova and Vesnina)

Mixed doubles – USA (Sock and Mattek-Sands)

First gold medal – Virginia Thrasher (USA) in 10m air rifle

Triathlon – Alistair Brownlee. Silver – Jonny Brownlee. First brothers to win gold and silver in the same event since the D’Inzeo brothers in equestrian in 1960

Women’s triathlon – Gwen Jorgensen. Bronze – Vicky Holland

Synchronised 10m platform. Bronze – Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow

Synchronised 3m springboard – Jack Laugher and Chris Mears. GB’s first ever gold medal in diving

3m springboard. Silver – Jack Laugher

China won seven of the eight gold medals in diving

Trap shooting. Bronze – Ed Ling

Double trap – Fehaid Al-Deehani. Bronze – Steven Scott. Al-Deehani, from Kuwait, was the first independent athlete to win a gold medal

C2 canoe slalom. Silver – GB (David Florence and Richard Hounslow)

K1 canoe slalom – Joe Clarke

K1 canoe 200m sprint – Liam Heath

K2 canoe 200m sprint. Silver – GB (Liam Heath and Jon Schofield)

Men’s heavyweight judo – Teddy Riner (France)

Women’s 52 kg judo – Majlinda Kelmendi. First ever medal for Kosovo

Women’s 57 kg judo – Rafaela Silva. First gold medal for Brazil at this Olympics

Women’s 70 kg judo. Bronze – Sally Conway

Women’s 78 kg judo – Kayla Harrison (USA)

Women’s hockey semi-final – GB by New Zealand

Women’s hockey final – GB bt Netherlands. Maddie Hinch unbeaten in penalty shootout. Hollie Webb scored the winning penalty

Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh become the first same-sex married couple to win Olympic medals

Taekwondo -80kg. Silver – Lutalo Muhammed

Women’s taekwondo -57 kg – Jade Jones

Women’s taekwondo -67kg. Bronze – Bianca Walkden

Justin Rose hit the first-ever hole-in-one in Olympic golf

Golf – Justin Rose. Silver – Henrik Stenson

Women’s golf – Inbee Park (South Korea)

Rugby sevens final – Fiji 43 GB 7. First ever medal for Fiji

Women’s rugby sevens final – Australia bt New Zealand. Bronze medal match – Canada bt GB

Men’s football final – Brazil bt Germany. Neymar scored winning penalty in shootout

Sweden beat USA in quarter-finals and Brazil in semi-finals in women’s football

Women’s football final – Germany bt Sweden

Badminton men’s singles – Chen Long (China)

Badminton women’s singles – Carolina Marin (Spain)

Badminton men’s doubles. Bronze – GB (Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge)

Table tennis men’s singles – Ma Long (China)

Table tennis women’s singles – Ding Ning (China)

Kerri Walsh-Jennings won a bronze medal, her fourth Olympic medal, making her the most decorated beach volleyball player - male or female - in Olympic history

Mongolian wrestling coaches stripped off in anger at a judges’ decision

2020 Tokyo

Tokyo was announced as the host city at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, on 7 September 2013. No city won over 50% of the votes in the first round, and Madrid and Istanbul were tied for second place. A run-off vote between these two cities was held to determine which would be eliminated. In the final vote, a head-to-head contest between Tokyo and Istanbul, Tokyo was selected by 60 votes to 36. The games were rescheduled for 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. All events were held without spectators

Karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding made their Olympic debuts

Baseball and softball returned for the first time since 2008

More than 11,500 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees took part, including the Refugee Olympic team (EOR) and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). Taiwan competed as Chinese Taipei

With 339 sets of medals, the games featured 33 Olympic sports

Mascot – Miraitowa. Based on the Japanese words "mirai", meaning “future”, and "towa", meaning “eternity”

Motto – “United by Emotion”

Opening ceremony took place on 23 July 2021 at National Stadium and was formally opened by Emperor Naruhito. For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female. Cauldron lit by Naomi Osaka. 1,800 drones made a 3D rendition of the Games logo over the stadium. Speeches were given by Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Thomas Bach, IOC president

At the Parade of Nations, the Greek team entered first, followed by the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. Japan entered last, preceded by France and USA (hosts of the next two Games). Other teams followed the Gojūon order, based on the names of countries in Japanese. British flag carried by Hannah Mills and Mohamed Sbihi

Closing ceremony took place on 8 August. British flag carried by Laura Kenny

Track cycling events were held at the Izu Velodrome

Sailing events were held at Enoshima

Bermuda, the Philippines, and Qatar won their first-ever Olympic gold medals

Burkina Faso, San Marino, and Turkmenistan won their first-ever Olympic medals

Final medal table – 1^st USA (39-41-33) 113 2^nd China (32-38-18) 88 3^rd Japan (27-14-17) 58 4^th GB (22-21-22) 65

65 countries won gold medals. 93 countries won medals

Most gold medals – Caleb Dressel (5), Emma McKeon (4), Kaylee McKeown (3), An San (3), Lisa Carrington (3), Elaine Thompson-Herah (3)

Archery

An San from South Korea won three gold medals, in the women's team, mixed team and Individual events, becoming the first archer in Olympic history to do so at a single Games

Artistic swimming

Duet – ROC

Team – ROC

Athletics

A mixed 4x400m mixed relay was added to the program

Men

100m – Marcel Jacobs (Italy). Silver – Fred Kerley (USA). Bronze – Andre de Grasse (Canada)

Zharnel Hughes was disqualified in the final for a false start

200m – Andre de Grasse

400m – Steven Gardiner (Bahamas)

800m – Emmanuel Korir (Kenya)

1500m – Jakob Ingebritsen (Norway). Silver – Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya). Bronze – Josh Kerr

Josh Kerr won GB’s first medal in the event since 1988

5000m – Joshua Teptegei (Uganda)

10000m – Selemon Barega (Ethiopia)

110m hurdles – Hansle Parchment (Jamaica)

400m hurdles – Karsten Warholm (Norway). Silver – Rai Benjamin (USA)

Warholm set a new world record of 45.94 seconds. Benjamin also beat the old world record

3000m steeplechase – Soufiane El Bakkali (Morocco)

Soufiane El Bakkali was the first non-Kenyan-born athlete to win a gold medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the Olympics or World Championships since 1987

4 x 100m relay – Italy. Silver – GB (Ujah, Hughes, Kilty, Mitchell-Blake)

4 x 400m relay – USA

Marathon – Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)

Kipchoge defended his title. The race was moved from Tokyo to Sapporo due to hot weather in Tokyo

High jump – Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) and Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar)

Tamberi and Barshim agreed to share the gold medal rather than have a jump off

Long jump – Miltos Tentoglou (Greece)

Triple jump – Pedro Pichardo (Portugal). Bronze – Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso)

Burkina Faso’s first-ever Olympic medal

Pole vault – Armand Duplantis (Sweden)

Javelin – Neeraj Chopra (India)

Neeraj Chopra is one of only two Indians to have won an individual Olympic gold medal, the other being Abhinav Bindra who won the 10m air rifle event in 2008

Shot put – Ryan Crouser (USA)

Discus – Daniel Stahl (Sweden)

Hammer – Wojciech Nowicki (Poland)

Decathlon – Damian Warner (Canada)

Women

100m – Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica). Silver – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Bronze – Shericka Jackson (Jamaica)

200m – Elaine Thompson-Herah. Silver – Christine Mbona (Namibia). Bronze – Gabrielle Thomas (USA)

Thompson-Herah retained the sprint double

Christine Mbona became the second athlete from Namibia to win an Olympic medal. Frankie Fredericks won four silver medals

Krystina Timanovskaya from Belarus refused her team's order to fly home early from the Olympics, and was granted a humanitarian visa by Poland

400m – Shaunee Miller-Uibo (Bahamas). Silver – Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic). Bronze Allyson Felix (USA)

Miller-Uibo retains her title

800m – Athing Mu (USA). Silver – Keely Hodgkinson

1500m – Faith Kipyegon (Kenya). Silver – Laura Muir. Bronze – Sifan Hassan (Netherlands)

5000m – Sifan Hassan

10000m – Sifan Hassan

100m hurdles – Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico)

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn became the second Puerto Rican to win an Olympic gold medal after Monica Puig won the women’s tennis in 2016

400m hurdles – Silver – Dalilah Muhammad (USA)

3000m steeplechase – Pereth Chemutai (Uganda)

4x100m relay – Jamaica. Silver – USA. Bronze – GB (Philip, Lansiquot, Asher-Smith, Neita)

4x400m relay – USA

USA team included Allyson Felix

Allyson Felix took her tally of Olympics medals to 11 (five individual and six relay)

Marathon – Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya). Silver – Brigid Kosgei (Kenya)

High jump – Mariya Lasitskene (ROC)

Long jump – Malaika Mihambo (Germany)

Triple jump – Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela)

Rojas set a new world record of 15.67m

Pole vault – Katie Nageotte (USA). Bronze – Holly Bradshaw

Javelin – Liu Shijing (China)

Shot put – Gong Lijiao (China). Bronze – Valerie Adams (New Zealand)

Adams’ fourth Olympic medal

Discus – Valarie Allman (USA)

Hammer – Anita Włodarczyk (Poland)

Włodarczyk becomes the first woman to win a specific individual athletics event three times in a row at the Olympic Games

Heptathlon – Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium)

Thiam retains her title. Katarina Johnson-Thompson withdrew after suffering a calf injury in the 200m

Mixed

4x400m relay – Poland

Each team consists of two men and two women. The team members can run in any order

Badminton

Men’s singles – Victor Axelsen (Denmark). Silver – Chen Long (China)

Baseball

Japan beat USA in the final. Dominican Republic won the bronze medal

Basketball

Men’s – USA. Silver – France

Women’s – USA. Silver – Japan

Men’s 3x3 – Latvia. Silver – ROC

Women’s 3x3 – USA. Silver – ROC

3x3 is played on a half-court with one basket. The game is a single period of 10 minutes. The winner is the first team to score 21 or the team with the higher score at the end of the 10 minutes. Each team has one substitute

Boxing

The number of weight classes for men was reduced from ten to eight, with a featherweight class introduced and events at light-flyweight, bantamweight and light-welterweight were removed. The women's weight classes were increased from three to five, with featherweight and welterweight categories introduced

Men

Flyweight – Galal Yafai. Silver – Carlo Palaam (Philippines)

Featherweight – Albert Batyrgaziev (ROC)

Lightweight – Andy Cruz (Cuba)

Welterweight – Roliel Iglesias (Cuba). Silver – Pat McCormack

Middleweight – Hebert Conceicao (Brazil)

Light heavyweight – Arlen Lopez (Cuba). Silver – Ben Whittaker

Heavyweight – Julio Cesar La Cruz (Cuba)

Super heavyweight – Bakhodir Jalolov (Uzbekistan). Bronze – Frazer Clarke

Women

Flyweight – Stoyka Krasteva (Bulgaria)

Featherweight – Sena Irie (Japan). Bronze – Karriss Artingstall

Lightweight – Kellie Harrington (Ireland)

Welterweight – Busenaz Surmeneli (Turkey)

Middleweight – Lauren Price. Silver – Li Qian (China)

Canoeing

Men’s K-1 200m. Bronze – Liam Heath

Women’s C-1. Silver – Mallory Franklin

Lisa Carrington (New Zealand) won three gold medals, in the K-1 200m, K-1 500m, and K-2 500m with teammate Caitlin Regal. She also won the K-1 200m in 2012 and 2016

Cycling

BMX freestyle was added in the program for the first time and there was a return of madison events on the track that had been removed from the Olympic program in 2008

The format for the omnium was changed from six race types over two days to four race types over one day. The races are Scratch, Tempo (a new race for 2020), Elimination, and Points

Men

Road race – Richard Carapaz (Ecuador). Silver – Wout van Aert (Belgium). Bronze – Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia)

Time trial – Primoz Roglic(Slovenia). Silver – Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands). Bronze – Rohan Dennis (Australia)

Sprint – Harry Lavreysen. Bronze – Jack Carlin

Kierin – Jason Kenny

Jason Kenny is now the record holder for most Olympic golds (7) and medals (9) for a British athlete

Omnium – Matthew Walls

Madison – Denmark. Silver – GB (Hayter and Walls)

Team sprint – Netherlands. Silver – GB (Carlin, Kenny, Owens)

Team pursuit – Italy

Mountain biking – Tom Pidcock

BMX race – Niek Kimmann (Netherlands). Silver – Kye White

BMX freestyle – Logan Martin (Australia). Bronze – Declan Brooks

Women

Road race – Anna Kiesenhofer (Austria). Silver – Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands). Bronze – Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)

Time trial – Annemiek van Vleuten. Silver – Marlen Reusser (Switzerland). Bronze – Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands)

Sprint – Kelsey Mitchell (Canada)

Kierin – Shanne Braspennincx (Netherlands)

Omnium – Jennifer Valente (USA)

Madison – GB (Archibald and Kenny)

Laura Kenny now has six Olympic medals (five gold and one silver) and is the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history

Team sprint – China

Team pursuit – Germany. Silver – GB (Archibald, Kenny, Evans, Knight)

Mountain biking – Jolanda Neff (Switzerland)

BMX race – Beth Scriever. Silver – Mariana Pajon (Colombia)

BMX freestyle – Charlotte Worthington

Worthington became the first woman in history to land a 360-degree backflip in competition

Diving

Men’s 3m springboard. Bronze – Jack Laugher

Men’s 10m platform. Bronze – Tom Daley

Men’s synchronized 10m platform – Tom Daley and Matty Lee

Tom Daley the first British diver to win four Olympic medals (one gold and three bronze)

China won seven of the eight gold medals

Equestrian

Individual dressage – Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Germany). Silver – Isabell Werth (Germany). Bronze – Charlotte Dujardin

Team dressage – Germany. Bronze – GB (Fry, Hester, Dujardin)

Individual eventing – Julia Krajewski (Germany). Silver – Tom McEwen

Team eventing – GB (Collett, McEwen, Townend)

Individual jumping – Ben Maher

Team jumping – Sweden. Silver – USA (including Jessica Springsteen)

Isabell Werth holds the record for the most Olympic medals (12) won by any equestrian athlete (seven gold and five silver)

Charlotte Dujardin has now won six Olympic medals (three gold, one silver and two bronze)

Jessica Springsteen is the daughter of musicians Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa

Fencing

Team and individual events were held in all three weapons for both men and women

ROC won 8 medals

Field hockey

Men’s – Belgium. Silver – Australia. Bronze – India

England were beaten by India in the quarter-final

Women’s – Netherlands. Silver – Argentina. Bronze – GB

GB lost 5-1 to Netherlands in the semi-final, but won the bronze medal match against India 4-3

Football

Men’s final – Brazil 2 (Cunha, Malcom) Spain 1 (Oyarzabal)

Men’s bronze medal match – Mexico 3 Japan 1

Women’s final – Canada 1 Sweden 1. Canada won on penalties

Women’s bronze medal match – USA 4 Australia 3

England lost 4-3 to Australia in the quarter-final. Ellen White scored a hat-trick

Both finals were played in Yokohama

Golf

Men’s – Xander Schauffele (USA). Silver – Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia). Bronze – Pan Chent-tsung (Chinese Taipei)

Pan Cheng-tsung won the bronze medal after a seven-man sudden death playoff involving Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Sebastian Munoz, Mito Pereira, Paul Casey, and Hideki Matsuyama

Women’s – Nelly Korda (USA). Silver – Mone Inami (Japan). Bronze – Lydia Ko (New Zealand)

Gymnastics

Men

Team all-around – ROC

Individual all-around – Daiki Hashimoto (Japan)

Pommel horse – Max Whitlock

Women

Team all-around – ROC. Silver – USA. Bronze – GB (Jennifer Gadirova, Jessica Gadirova, Alice Kinsella, Amelie Morgan)

Individual all-around – Sunisa Lee (USA)

Beam. Bronze – Simone Biles

Simone Biles has now won seven Olympic medals. She withdrew from the finals of the individual all-around competition and all individual finals, citing mental health concerns, but returned for the beam final on the last day of competition

Trampoline. Bronze – Bryony Page

Handball

Men’s final – France bt Denmark

Women’s final – France bt ROC

Judo

There were seven events for both men and women as well as a new mixed team event

Japan won nine gold medals

Kosovo won two gold medals

Women’s 52kg. Bronze – Chelsie Giles

Mixed team – France

Karate

Debut appearance at the Olympics. Two disciplines were featured: kumite was the sparring discipline and had three weight classes each for men and women; kata was the solo form discipline, and had one event each for men and women

Men’s kata – Ryo Kiyuna (Japan)

Women’s kata – Sandra Sanchez (Spain)

Modern pentathlon

Men’s – Joe Choong

Women’s – Kate French

Rowing

The men's lightweight four was dropped and the women's coxless four was added, so there were seven events for both men and women in identical boat classes

Men

Single sculls – Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece)

Quadruple sculls – Netherlands. Silver – GB (Lease, Groom, Barras, Beaumont)

Coxless four – Australia

GB finished fourth after having problems with the steering which almost caused them to crash into the Italian boat. The coxless four had been won by GB in the previous five Olympics

Coxed eight – New Zealand. Bronze – GB

Lightweight double sculls – Ireland (Finlan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan)

Paul O’Donovan also won a silver medal in this event in 2016, partnered by his brother Gary

Women

Single sculls – Emma Twigg (New Zealand)

Coxless pair – New Zealand

Helen Glover came out of retirement, and finished fourth in the coxless pair with Polly Swann

Rugby Sevens

Men’s final – Fiji bt New Zealand

Men’s bronze medal match – Argentina bt GB

Women’s final – New Zealand bt France

Women’s bronze medal match – Fiji bt GB

Sailing

Men

Finn – Giles Scott

Giles Scott defended his title. GB has now won this event at the last six Olympics

49er – GB (Fletcher and Bithell)

Women

RS:X. Bronze – Emma Wilson

470 – GB (Mills and McIntyre)

Hannah Mills also won a silver medal in 2012 and a gold medal in 2016 in the 470 class

Mixed

Nacra 17 – Italy. Silver – GB (John Gimson and Anna Burnet)

Shooting

Mixed team competitions in 10m air pistol, 10m air rifle, and trap were introduced

Men’s trap. Bronze – Matthew Coward-Holley

Women’s 10m air rifle – Yang Qian (China). First gold medal awarded at the Games

Amber Hill had to withdraw from the women’s skeet after testing positive for Covid-19

A bronze medal, San Marino’s first Olympic medal, was won by female trap shooter Alessandra Perilli. With this San Marino became the smallest country, by population, ever to have won any Olympic medal, Perilli and Gian Marco Berti won the country's second medal, a silver in the mixed trap shooting event. The country also won a bronze medal in wrestling

Skateboarding

Skateboarding made its debut appearance

Men’s park – Keegan Palmer (Australia)

Men’s street – Yuto Horigome (Japan)

Women’s park – Sakura Yosozumi (Japan). Bronze – Sky Brown. Aged 13

Women’s street – Momiji Nishiya (Japan). Aged 13

Brazil won three silver medals in the four skateboarding events

Softball

The tournament consisted of six teams

Japan beat USA in the gold medal match

Sport climbing

Sport climbing made its debut appearance, with one event for both men and women. The format consisted of one combined event with three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. This was controversial, as speed climbing is usually seen as a separate discipline

Men’s combined – Alberto Gines Lopez (Spain)

Women’s combined – Jana Garnbret (Slovenia)

Aleksandra Mirosław (Poland) broke the world record in speed climbing

Surfing

Surfing made its debut appearance

Men’s shortboard – Italo Ferreira (Brazil)

Women’s shortboard – Carissa Moore (USA)

Swimming

Swimming featured a record total of 37 events, with the addition of the men's 800m freestyle, women's 1500m freestyle, and the mixed 4x100m medley relay

Men

50m freestyle – Caeleb Dressel (USA)

100m freestyle – Caeleb Dressel

200m freestyle – Tom Dean. Silver – Duncan Scott

400m freestyle – Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia)

800m freestyle – Robert Finke (USA)

1500m freestyle – Robert Finke

100m backstroke – Evgeny Rylov (ROC)

200m backstroke – Evgeny Rylov (ROC). Silver – Ryan Murphy (USA). Bronze – Luke Greenbank

100m breaststroke – Adam Peaty

Peaty became the first British swimmer ever to retain an Olympic title

200m breaststroke – Zac Stubblety-Cook (Australia)

100m butterfly – Caeleb Dressel

Caeleb Dressel set a new world record of 49.45 seconds

200m butterfly – Kristof Milak (Hungary)

200m individual medley – Wang Shun (China). Silver – Duncan Scott

400m individual medley – Chase Kalisz (USA)

4x100m freestyle relay – USA

USA team included Caeleb Dressel

4x200m freestyle relay – GB (Dean, Guy, Richards, Scott)

4x100m medley relay – USA. Silver – GB (Greenbank, Peaty, Guy, Scott)

USA team included Caeleb Dressel

Duncan Scott won four medals, more than any other British athlete at a single Olympic Games

10km open water – Florian Wellbrock (Germany)

Women

50m freestyle – Emma McKeon (Australia)

100m freestyle – Emma McKeon. Silver – Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong)

Emma McKeon won seven medals, the most by any female swimmer at a single Games and the equal most by a female athlete at a single Games (tied with Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952)

200m freestyle – Ariane Titmus (Australia). Silver – Siobhan Haughey

400m freestyle – Ariane Titmus. Silver – Katie Ledecky (USA)

800m freestyle – Katie Ledecky

1500m freestyle – Katie Ledecky

100m backstroke – Kaylee McKeown (Australia)

200m backstroke – Kaylee McKeown

100m breaststroke – Lydia Jacoby (USA)

200m breaststroke – Tatjana Schoenmaker (South Africa)

Schoenmaker set a new world record of 2 minutes 18.95 seconds

100m butterfly – Maggie Mac Neil (Canada). Bronze – Emma McKeon

200m butterfly – Zhang Yufei (China)

200m individual medley – Yui Ohashi (Japan)

400m individual medley – Yui Ohashi

4x100m freestyle relay – Australia

4x200m freestyle relay – China

4x100m medley relay – Australia

10km open water – Ana Marcela Kunha (Brazil)

Mixed

4x100m medley relay – GB (Dawson, Peaty, Guy, Hopkin)

First mixed-gender swimming event. Each team decides whether a man or a woman will swim a specific stroke. Strokes order are in the same order as in a traditional medley race

Table tennis

Men’s singles – Ma Long (China)

Men’s team – China

Women’s singles – Chen Meng (China)

Women’s team – China

Mixed doubles – Japan

Hend Zaza from Syria, aged 12, was the youngest competitor at the 2020 Games

Taekwondo

Men’s featherweight. Silver – Bradly Sinden

Women’s welterweight. Silver – Lauren Williams

Women’s heavyweight. Bronze – Bianca Walkden

Jade Jones lost in the first round of the featherweight class to Kimia Alizadeh from Iran, representing the Refugee Olympic Team

Tennis

Men

Men’s singles final – Alexander Zverev (Germany) bt Karen Khachanov (ROC)

Men’s singles bronze medal match – Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) bt Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

Djokovic was beaten in the semi-finals by Zverev

Andy Murray withdrew before his first-round match, due to injury

Men’s doubles – Croatia (Mektic and Pavic)

Women

Women’s singles final – Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) bt Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic)

Naomi Osaka was beaten in the third round by Vondrousova

Women’s singles bronze medal match – Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) bt Elena Rybakina  (Kazakhstan)

Women’s doubles – Czech Republic (Krejcikova and Siniakova)

Mixed

Mixed doubles – ROC (Rublev and Pavyluchenkova)

Triathlon

A mixed team relay event was added to the programme

Men’s individual – Kristian Blummenfelt (Norway). Silver – Alex Yee

The event had to be restarted after a boat blocked about half of the athletes as they entered the water

Women’s individual – Flora Duffy (Bermuda). Silver – Georgia Taylor-Brown

Bermuda became the smallest nation ever to win an Olympic gold medal

Mixed relay – GB (Learmonth, Jonny Brownlee, Taylor-Brown, Yee)

Each athlete in the team performs a triathlon of 300 m swim, 8 km cycle, and a 2 km run

Volleyball

Men’s indoor – France

Women’s indoor – USA

Men’s beach – Norway

Women’s beach – USA

Water polo

Men’s – Serbia

Women’s – USA

Weightlifting

Women’s 55kg – Hidilyn Diaz (Philippines)

First ever Olympic gold medal for the Philippines

Women’s 59kg. Silver – Polina Guryeva (Turkmenistan)

First ever Olympic medal for Turkmenistan

Women’s 87+kg. Silver – Emily Cambell

Lauren Hubbard was the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games. She represented New Zealand in the +87kg class, but failed with three snatch lifts

China won seven of the 14 gold medals

Wrestling

Men competed in freestyle and Greco-Roman, whereas women only participated in the freestyle events

Men’s 86kg. Bronze – Myles Amine (San Marino)

2024 Paris (XXXIII)

In July 2017, the IOC agreed a deal that would see Paris host the Games in 2024 and Los Angeles four years later

2028 Los Angeles (XXXIV)

2032 Brisbane (XXXV)

Without any rival bid, Brisbane was confirmed as host of the 2032 Summer Olympics at the 138th IOC Session on 21 July 2021 in Tokyo

Olympics trivia

Olympic Games polo – won by GB in 1900, 1908 and 1920, Argentina in 1924 and 1936

Olympic Games rugby union – won by France in 1900, Australia in 1908, USA in 1920 and 1924

Princess Anne became President of the BOA in 1983. She was the only female competitor not required to have a sex test at the 1976 Olympics

Jacques Rogge competed in three Olympic Games in yachting, for Belgium. Took over as IOC president from Juan-Antonio Samaranch in 2001

National anthem of Greece is always played at closing ceremony of Olympics

HQ of International Olympic Association (IOA) is in Lausanne

Larisa Latynina was a Soviet gymnast who was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals. She won 18 medals (9 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 4 bronze medals). Won 14 medals in individual events

‘Light the passion, share the dream’ – slogan for Olympic torch

The Pierre de Coubertin medal (also known as the De Coubertin medal or the True Spirit of Sportsmanship medal) is a special medal given by the International Olympic Committee to those athletes that demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship in Olympic events

Aladar Gerevich (Hungary) won seven gold medals in fencing. He is also the only athlete to win the same event (Sabre team) six times

Pal Kovacs (Hungary) won six gold medals in fencing

Shannon Miller was the 1993 and 1994 all-around World Champion, the 1996 Olympics balance beam gold medalist, and a member of the gold medal-winning Magnificent 7 team at the Atlanta Olympics. The winner of 9 World Championships medals and 7 Olympic medals since her elite International debut in 1990, Miller ranks as the second-most decorated gymnast, male or female in American history, behind Simone Biles

Bangladesh is largest country in terms of population never to have won an Olympic medal

DR Congo is largest country in terms of size never to have won an Olympic medal

Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, and Zimbabwe have more Olympic medals won by women than by men

Project 119 was China’s Soviet-style plan to dominate the medals table at the Beijing Games

Sheila Taormina was the first woman to compete in three different Olympic events. Swimming (1996), Triathlon (2000 and 2004), modern pentathlon (2008)

Val Barker Trophy is awarded to the outstanding and most stylistic boxer of each Olympic Games since 1936. Only British winner is Dick McTaggart in 1956

Eddie Eagan was the first person to win medals at both the winter and summer Olympic Games. He is the only person to have won a gold medal in both the Summer (light-heavyweight boxing, 1920) and Winter Olympics (four-man bobsleigh, 1932)

Clara Hughes (Canada) won a bronze medal in the 1996 cycling road race, a bronze medal in the 2002 speed skating 5000m, and a gold medal in the 2006 speed skating 5000m

Hossein Rezazadeh is nicknamed ‘The Iranian Hercules’. He held the world records in weightlifting's super heavyweight class in the snatch, clean and jerk and total. He is the first Iranian athlete to have won two Olympic gold medals (2000 and 2004)

The first person to be expelled from the IOC was Jose Zubiaur of Argentina in 1907, as he failed to attend a single meeting in 13 years

American IOC member Ernst Jahncke called for the 1936 Olympics to be taken away from Berlin and urged American athletes to boycott the Games if they were held in Nazi Germany. The president of the USA Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, spoke in favour of the Berlin Games. In July 1936, the IOC expelled Jahncke and replaced him with Brundage

Avery Brundage was elected president of the IOC in 1952, succeeding Sigfrid Edstrom

Brundage retired as IOC president following the 1972 Summer Games, having had the job for 20 years, and was succeeded by Lord Killanin. He is the only American to hold the IOC presidency

Juan Antonio Samaranch was elected President of the IOC prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics

Jacques Rogge was elected President of the IOC in 2001

Thomas Bach was elected President of the IOC in 2013

After the 1988 Games, the IOC voted to declare all professionals eligible for the Olympics, subject to the approval of the international federations in charge of each sport. Boxing continues to forbid professionals, while football has agreed to allow each nation to include three professionals in addition to the professionals under the age of 23, against whom there is no prohibition

The Medical Commission of the IOC began outlawing drugs in 1967. Full-scale drug testing began in 1972

East German athletes began taking steroids in 1968

The IOC banned steroids in 1974 and began testing for them at the 1976 Olympics. The East Germans beat the tests

When an athlete is chosen for doping control, they must produce a urine sample of 100ml, which is divided into two bottles. If the ‘A’ sample is positive, the ‘B’ sample is tested. If the ‘B’ sample is also positive, the athlete is disqualified

Drug testing is now administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)

Springboard diving is performed from a springboard 3m above the water. The board must be at least 4.8m long and 0.5m wide

Platform diving is staged from a rigid platform 10m above the water. The platform must be at least 6m long and 2m wide

In early Olympics positions were determined by ordinals (place-figures) rather than points

Olympic swimming pools must be 50m long

The first false start in a race was excused until 2010. Anyone who commits a false start after the first one was immediately disqualified

Fastest qualifier is swimming is in lane 4, slowest qualifier is in lane 8

Backstroke – the feet must be submerged. Swimmers may remain completely submerged for the first 15m of a race – rule introduced after the 1988 Olympics to ban the ‘submarine’ start

Individual medley – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle

Medley relay – backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle

Men’s 400m breaststroke was an event in 1904, 1912, and 1920

Synchronized swimming was introduced to the Olympics in 1984 with a solo event and a duet event. Both of these events were dropped after the 1992 Olympics and were replaced in 1996 by a team event with nine swimmers on each team. The duet event was reinstated in 2000. FINA renamed the sport from "synchronized swimming" to "artistic swimming" in 2017

Between 1960 and 1980, water polo matches consisted of four five-minute quarters. In 1984 the quarters were extended to seven minutes

Between 1896 and 1968 athletes from the USA won every Olympic pole vault competition. At 16 in a row, this remains the longest national winning streak in any event in any sport in Olympic history

Between 1964 and 1976 Irena Szewinska won seven medals in five different events, second only to Merlene Ottey’s nine

Merlene Ottey was the first female runner to compete in six Olympics

Women’s high hurdles race was 80m from 1932 to 1968, and 100m from 1972 onwards

Gail Devers never won a medal in her strongest event, the 100m hurdles

Evelyn Ashford won three gold medals in 4 x 100m relay, in 1984, 1998 and 1992

Women’s 10 km walk was held in 1992 and 1996

Boxing takes place in a 20’ square ring. Format changed to four two-minute rounds in 2000, then back to three three-minute rounds in 2009. Boxers may not wear beards. Boxers must be at least 17 and no older than 34. If one boxer builds an advantage of 15 points the bout is stopped. Boxing is the only Olympic sport in which professionals are not allowed to compete. Lowest weight – light flyweight (48 kg)

From the 2016 Summer Olympics, male athletes no longer have to wear protective headgear

Super Heavyweight boxing division was known as Heavyweight from 1904 to 1980

A fencing match is played to 15. If the score is tied after nine minutes, one minute of sudden death overtime is contested

Cosmo Duff Gordon was in the British team that won silver in the Team Epee in 1906. Sailed to New York on the Titanic and back on the Lusitania

Taekwondo weight categories – flyweight, featherweight, welterweight, heavyweight

A freestyle wrestling match is ended as a result of a fall or if one wrestler achieves a 10-point lead

Wrestling is the only sport with a maximum weight limit (125kg super heavyweight)

In Greco-Roman wrestling, no holds may be made below the hips. The weight categories and scoring is the same as freestyle wrestling. Created in 19th century France

Korea won all women’s archery events from 1984 to 2004

Men’s canoeing events are raced over 200m, 500m and 1000m

Women’s canoeing events are raced over 200m and 500m

Cycling pursuit is raced over 4000m

Match sprint is over 1000m (three laps)

GB won six straight bronze medals in the team pursuit between 1928 and 1956

2000m tandem race held between 1906 and 1972

Team time trial race held from 1912 to 1992

Equestrian participants must be 18, or 16 for dressage events

A fall in show jumping results in eight penalty points

Show jumping team competition is known as Prix des Nations

The 24 gymnasts with the highest scores in the team competition advance to the All-Around final

The top eight scorers for each apparatus in the team competition qualify for the apparatus finals

Gymnasts must be at least 16 years old in the year of the Olympics

Only four of the five accessories (hoop, rope, clubs, ball, and ribbon) are chosen for each Olympic rhythmic gymnastics competition. Competitors must be at least 15 years old

In sculling events, each rower pulls two oars. In sweep events, each rower pulls one oar

The cox must weigh at least 55kg

Men in lightweight events may weigh no more than 72.5kg

All races are over 2000m

USA won rowing eights from 1920 to 1956

Finn dinghy was designed by Swedish canoe designer Rickard Sarby in 1949

470 was designed in 1963 by the Frenchman André Cornu. The name is the overall length of the boat in centimetres (i.e., the boat is 4.70 m long). Double-handed dinghy

Star was designed by Francis Sweisguth of New York in 1910

Europe is a single-handed dinghy sometimes known as the ‘small Finn’. It was designed by Alois Roland of Belgium in 1960

Yngling is a three-person keelboat designed in 1967 by Jan Herman Linge

Laser was designed in 1969 by Bruce Kirby of the USA

49er is a double-handed dinghy with a large sail area

Tornado is a two-man catamaran. Designed in England in 1966

The first woman to take part in Olympic yachting was Frances Rivett-Carnac (GB) who crewed for her husband in the 7-metre class in 1908

Discontinued yachting events – Dragon, Flying Dutchman, Tempest, Swallow, Soling (three-man keelboat designed by Jan Herman Linge), Sharpie

Small-bore rifle, three positions – each entrant shoots 40 shots prone, 40 kneeling and 40 standing

Between 1972 and 1988 the running target event used a life-size reproduction of a wild boar as the target

In the trap or clay pigeon event, clay saucers 4 1/3” in diameter are flung into the air. The shooter is allowed two shots at each bird

Double trap – two clay targets are launched at the same time

Skeet shooting uses the same clay saucers as trap shooting, but the rifle must be held at the hip until the target is launched. Whereas trap birds are sent out at ground level, in skeet they are released from two towers, one high, one low

Skeet shooting was introduced in 1968, and until 1992 both men and women were allowed to participate. But in 1996 the event was limited to men only, which was somewhat controversial because the 1992 Olympic Champion was a woman, Zhang Shan of China

Sexual integration of shooting began in 1968. In 1984 some events were divided into separate men’s and women’s competitions. By 1996 the sexes were completely segregated once again

The press was discontinued following the 1972 Olympics

First heavyweight class existed from 1980 to 1996

Early weightlifting competitions included the one-hand snatch and one-hand jerk

Kakhi Kakhiashvili, a Georgian-Greek weightlifter, is one of only four weightlifters to have won three consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games. He won his first in 1992, competing with the Unified Team, and later as a citizen of Greece in and 2000

In Olympic baseball, if one team is ahead by 10 or more runs after seven or eight innings, the game is over. A designated hitter is used in all games

In 1989, the International Amateur Basketball Federation (FIBA) voted to allow NBA players to compete at the Olympics

Men’s lacrosse was held in 1904 and 1908. Won by Canada on both occasions

In tug of war, the first team to pull the other team 6’ was declared the winner

The awarding of gold, silver, and bronze medals began in 1904

Austrian sailor Hubert Raudaschl made nine Olympic appearances

Albania boycotted four consecutive Olympics, from 1976 to 1988

Michael Phelps is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16)

Boris Shakhlin was a Soviet gymnast who won a total of 13 medals including seven gold medals. He held the record for most Olympic medals by a male athlete record until gymnast Nikolai Andrianov won his 14th and 15th medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Deszo Gyarmati (Hungary) won five Olympic medals (gold in 1952, 1956 and 1964, silver in 1948, bronze in 1960

Agnes Keleti (Hungary) won 10 Olympic medals including five gold medals, and is considered to be one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time. She was the most successful athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Oliver Halassy was a member of the Hungarian water polo team which won two gold medals and one silver medal between 1928 and 1936. His left leg was amputated below the knee after a childhood traffic accident

Matt Biondi won 11 medals (eight gold, two silver, and one bronze) between 1984 and 1992

Detroit has had seven failed bids to hold the Olympics

Yugoslavia were runners-up in the football in 1948, 1952 and1956, and won in 1960

Shirley Babashoff won two gold medals and six silver medals in swimming

Five sports have appeared at every Olympics – Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics, and Swimming

Neroli Fairhall took up archery following a motorbike accident which paralysed her from the waist down, ending her previous athletic career. She was able to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, shooting for New Zealand. Fairhall was the first paraplegic to compete in the Olympic Games

Karoly Takacs (Hungary) was a world-class pistol shooter, but he was denied a place in the Hungarian shooting team for the 1936 Summer Olympics on the grounds that he was a sergeant, and only commissioned officers were allowed to compete. During army training in 1938, his right hand was badly injured when a faulty grenade exploded. Takacs was determined to continue his shooting career, and switched to shooting with his left hand. He won the gold medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol in 1948, and retained the title in 1952

Sawao Kato (Japan) won eight golds, three silvers and a bronze in gymnastics between 1968 and 1976

Reiner Klimke (Germany) won six gold and two bronze medals in dressage at the Summer Olympics – a record for equestrian events. He appeared in six Olympic Games from 1960 to 1988 (excluding 1980)

Fastest average speed in athletics – men’s 4 x 100m relay

Kitty Godfree won five Olympic medals in tennis at the 1920 Antwerp and 1924 Paris games, the most Olympic medals ever won by a tennis player

Representing Jamaica, Lennox Miller won the silver medal in the 100 metres in the 1968 Summer Olympics, and the bronze in the 1972 Summer Olympics, also in the 100 metres. He and Inger (gold, 4x100m relay) are the first father-daughter to win Olympic track and field medals

Lightweight events are held in rowing and weightlifting

Shirley Strickland has won more Olympic medals (seven) than any other Australian in running sports

The women’s Olympic record in the discus is further than men’s Olympic record

The idea of the Olympic Village comes from Pierre de Coubertin. Up until 1924, National Olympic Committees rented locations around the host city to house participants. For the 1924 Summer Olympics, the organizers built cabins near the Stade Olympique de Colombes to allow the athletes to easily access the Games' venues. The Olympic Village of the 1932 Summer Olympics served as the model of today's Olympic Villages; it consisted of a group of buildings with rooms to lodge athletes

Lis Hartel (Denmark) became the first woman in equestrianism to win an Olympic medal when she won silver medals at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics in dressage. She accomplished this feat despite being paralysed below the knees as a result of polio and required assistance on and off her horse

Fibreglass poles were first used in the pole vault competition in 1964

Jefferson Perez (Ecuador) specialized in the 20 km event, in which he has won the first two medals his country ever achieved in the Olympic Games. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics

Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov has won 12 Olympic medals, including more Olympic bronze medals (six) than any other athlete

Jack Kelly was a triple Olympic Gold Medal winner, the first to do so in the sport of rowing. He won 126 straight races in the single scull. He was the father of Grace Kelly

Nova Peris-Kneebone became the first person Aboriginal Australian to win a medal, as a member of the winning women’s hockey team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta

Beach volleyball – two sets to 21, tie-break to 15 if one set all

Sinclair Coefficients are a means to compare different weight classes in Olympic weightlifting

The Olympic eventing competition was originally open only to male military officers in active duty, mounted only on military charges. In 1924, the event was open to male civilians, although non-commissioned Army officers could not participate in the Olympics until 1956. Women were first allowed to take part in 1964

Jenny Thompson is an American swimmer, and one of the most decorated Olympians in history, winning twelve medals, including eight gold medals (all relay), in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics

Finland is the most successful currently competing country at the Olympic Games based on their population size and the number of Olympic medals and gold medals won

New Zealand – most medals per capita

Great Britain has won most medals in sailing

Liechtenstein is longest-serving IOC member yet to win a medal at the Summer Olympics

Paulo Radmilovic was a Welsh water polo player and swimmer of Croatian and Irish origin who won four Olympic titles in a 22 year Olympic career. He won four gold medals across three successive Olympic Games, a record which stood for a Great Britain Olympic athlete until broken by Steve Redgrave when he won his fifth gold medal at Sydney in 2000. In 1928, he was the first person to compete for Britain at five Olympic Games, a record that would remain until surpassed by fencer Bill Hoskyns in 1976

Henry Taylor was a British freestyle swimmer who competed at four Olympic Games. His record of three gold medals at one Olympic Games – the most by any Briton – stood for 100 years until it was equalled by cyclist Chris Hoy in 2008. Along with American runner Mel Sheppard, he was the most successful athlete at the 1908 Olympics

Jack Beresford was a British rower who won five medals at five Olympic Games in succession – gold medals in 1924, 1932 and 1936, and silver medals in 1920 and 1928

Charles Sydney Smith competed as goalkeeper for the England Water Polo team which won gold medals in1908, and 1912 After the Great War he returned, at the age of 44, as part of the Great Britain team to win a third Gold Medal at the 1920 games. He was still in the team four years later competing in 1924. Smith was chosen to represent the country as the flag bearer at the 1912 Summer Olympics. This made him the first competing athlete to carry the flag for Great Britain

George Wilkinson was part of the British water polo team and won three gold medals, in 1900, 1908 and 1912

Valentina Vezzali has won six Olympic gold medals in foil competitions. Together with the German shooter Ralf Schumann, the Slovak slalom canoeist Michal Martikan and the Japanese female judoka Ryoko Tani, she is one of only four athletes in the history of the Summer Olympic Games to have won five medals in the same individual event

in 2017, Usain Bolt was stripped of the 4×100m relay gold from the Beijing Games in 2008 because his teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of a doping violation