The Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympics is an international multi-sport event hosted by a different country every four years. First held in Athens in 1896, countries compete against one another in a series of sporting events, competing for bronze, silver and gold medals. The Olympics have grown exponentially since 1896, a competition starting with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations, to over 10,000 competitors in over 200 nations. The success of the Summer Olympics also lead to the creation of the Winter Olympics. 







 Events

 The Summer Olympics consists of a number of sports. The Athletics, Swimming and Gymnastics events are generally the most popular and anticipated, boasting hugely successful international athletes, such as Usain Bolt. A typical list of Olympic sports is shown below.



A swimming event at the London 2012 Olympics.
Gold Medal Tally
A gold medal tally of the top 20 countries is shown below.















The Silver, Gold and Bronze Medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The Future: Tokyo 2020



Tokyo 2020 is the next Olympic Games, planned to be held from 24 July to 9 August 2020. Development and preparation for the games is well underway, the Tokyo metropolitan government setting aside a fund of 400 billion Japanese yen (over 3 billion USD) to cover the cost of hosting the Games. As well as upgrading and refurbishing existing venues, 11 new venues are to be constructed. The event is highly anticipated across the globe, with thousands of athletes already in preparation for the games. As the Olympics continues to grow, more and countries are becoming involved, furthering its establishment as one of the largest international sporting events.



Written by Jack O'Donoghue

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