The summer Olympic games feature both more sports and more individual events than the winter games. Thirty-five Olympics sports are currently included on the Olympic game program, 28 of which are practiced at the summer games, and seven of which are winter sports. The exact number of sporting events varies at each Olympic competition, but athletes competed in 302 events at the 2010 summer games in Beijing, compared with 86 events at the 2008 winter games in Vancouver.
Summer Olympic Sports
The ancient Greek sporting competitions called the Olympics inspired Pierre de Coubertin to organize a modern version of the events in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The first modern competition featured nine sports -- athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, wresting, swimming, tennis and shooting. Since that time, many new sports have been added. The 28 modern summer sports are tennis, table tennis, badminton, rugby, handball, football, hockey, basketball, volleyball, cycling, fencing, golf, weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, tae kwon do, gymnastics, judo, equestrian, archery, athletics, shooting, aquatics, sailing, rowing, canoe/kayak, triathlon and modern pentathlon. Among the most popular of these are athletics -- which includes track events -- and swimming.
Winter Olympic Sports
Coubertin's revived Olympics at the end of the 19th century included only summer sports, but increased public interest in snow and ice activities led to the organizing of International Winter Sports Week in France in 1924, later named the Olympic Winter Games. The winter games currently include seven sports -- skating, skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey and luge. Of these, skating, skiing and ice hockey are among the most widely followed.
Summer Olympic Events
Each Olympic sport comprises one or more disciplines, and each discipline may include one or more athletic events or competitions. For example, aquatics includes the disciplines of swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo, and each of these features numerous individual and team competitions. The 2008 Beijing summer games included such diverse events as artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, beach volleyball, BMX cycling, rowing, sailing, trampoline and freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Winter Olympic Events
The number of winter sports has changed little since the first winter Olympics were held. However, the number of events has greatly increased, with more recognized at each successive competition. Among the events at the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver were alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skating, luge, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboard and speed skating.
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