The Summer Olympics, which occur once every four years, include spectacular performances by athletes worldwide. Sports include baseball, athletics, track and field, gymnastics, volleyball, the triathlon, basketball and Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling. Preparation for Olympic wrestling includes hard training and diet to control weight and get the right nutrients for staying healthy.
Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, a native of Darien, Connecticut, began showing talent for diving in the eighth grade while being coached at Darien's Country Club. Since that time, Fitzpatrick as become an Olympic diving hopeful and is a...
Volleyball was initially designed to be a less-strenuous sport for older people, although volleyball has evolved into a competitive men's and women's sport in the NCAA, the Summer Olympics and a number of other international c...
He was never the most athletic player on the floor, and he suffered from epilepsy, but Jones' dogged determination carried him to great heights. Jones first made a name for himself at the University of North Carolina. He went o...
His dominance in the 200- and 400-meter events during the 1990s earned him ESPN's recognition as the U.S. Male Olympian of the Decade. By winning gold medals in both events at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, several media ...
The modern pentathlon takes place on one day, making it one of the more grueling Olympic events. The athletes receive points based on their times and performances in each event, which leads to the crowning of a winner. The elem...
Earning a place in the Summer Olympics is usually difficult. In many sports, athletes must meet high standards in international competition to qualify. In other sports, they must earn their spot through intense qualifying compe...
Gymnastics originated in the ancient Olympics and returned in the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, according to CBS Sports. Men have been competing in Olympic gymnastics ever since. Modern gymnasts do not mimic the ancient Greek...
From the first Paralympics in Rome in 1960 until the 1976 Games in Toronto, the Paralympics exclusively featured wheelchair sports. Since then, the Paralympics have featured a variety of summer sports and now serve as the large...
The Summer Olympics has evolved from an athletic competition involving 241 athletes from 14 nations in 1896 to 10,492 athletes from 204 nations in 2008. The list of sports in each Summer Olympics also has grown, although the In...
In 1896, Pierre de Coubertin thought it would be a good idea to revive the ancient Olympic Games. Every four years, athletes from all over the world gather in one city to compete in the Summer Olympics. Winter Olympics are also...
This doesn't include sports that failed to remain relevant and were part of the Olympics only for a short time.
That Olympiad marked the only appearance of the event, but individual parallel bars competitions have continued in the Olympics and other organized men's gymnastics competitions, from high school to college to other national an...
These athletic competitions date to 776 B.C. and even then, the games took place every four years. The modern Olympics era began with the 1896 Olympiad. The 2008 Olympiad or Summer Games was the 29th edition, and the next Olymp...
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,...
The Summer Olympics brings thousands of athletes from across the world together every four years for competition in summer sporting events. Although Olympic medals are considered a prized possession for the athlete's country, t...
The modern Olympic Games first took place in the summer of 1896 in Athens, Greece, as a direct result of the efforts of Pierre de Coubertin. The first Winter Olympic Games were contested in 1924 as a result of the increase in p...
The ancient Olympic Games were held in Greece from 776 B.C. to as late as A.D. 393, when they were banned by the ruling emperor. Over the centuries, events that were called olympics were held throughout Greece, but it wasn't un...
Every four years, one lucky city hosts the best athletes from around the world in the summer Olympics. There are more than 28 summer games such as swimming and gymnastics, with qualifications that allow only the most talented a...
The professional Italian soccer league Serie A produces some of the most powerful championship games in Europe. Italian soccer teams have won the Olympic gold medal and the World Cup.
Since its introduction as a demonstration sport in 1904 to debut as a medal sport in 1936, basketball has always been a summer sport at the Olympics. Basketball, unlike hockey and soccer, does not take a break during its profes...
The Summer Olympics are one of the grandest events on the international sporting stage. They are open to all countries that can field teams in events like track and field, swimming and various team sports. More than 200 countri...
The Summer Olympics are an international competition of athleticism held every four years. The games began in 1896 in Athens, and with the exception of World War I and II, have been held every four years since. There are also ...
A century later in 2000, women debuted in the sport at the summer games in Sydney, Australia. As with any Olympic event, a variety of rules and regulations are associated with the sport.
From the classics to newer games, the events of the Summer Olympics reflect the popularity of sporting events around the world, giving spectators the opportunity to witness athletic achievements from some of the most accomplish...
The summer Olympic games is a time for celebration as athletes from hundreds of countries compete in numerous athletic competitions. The competitions are broadcast around the word on TV and other media. The Summer Olympic games...
The Summer Olympics were around long before the Winter Olympics. For many years, the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same calender year. In 1986, the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, voted to change the sche...
Anita Lonsbrough, a British swimmer, carried the flag of Great Britain in the 1964 Olympic Summer Games, becoming the first British female athlete to do so. An Olympic medalist and accomplished swimmer with multiple medals from...
The 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City celebrated the 16th modern occurrence of this elite sporting event. The high altitude proved advantageous for events requiring bursts of energy such as the high jump and sprint races...
Trampolining quickly gained popularity and became an organized sport. However, it wasn't until the 21st century that trampoline gymnastics debuted as an Olympic sport. Since the 2000 Games in Sydney, trampoline gymnastics remai...
If you're like most people, the Summer Olympics call to mind sports such as swimming, gymnastics and tennis -- the kind of crowd-pleasing events that draw millions of television viewers worldwide. But those favorites represent ...
The Summer Olympic Games are the largest sporting event in the world and often simply referred to as the Olympics or Olympic Games. The summer games have a long history with many notable aspects that might be particularly fasci...
In the 1960s, the premier showcase for female swimmers was the Summer Olympic Games. There were three such events held during this decade: the 1960 Olympic Games held in Rome, the 1964 Olympic Games held in Tokyo and the 1968 O...
The International Olympic Committee organizes and oversees the Summer Olympics every four years. Some sports in the summer Olympics include fencing, golf, archery, gymnastics, equestrian events, track and field, cycling, and sw...
The 1956 Summer Olympics were held during a time of political unrest, and were the first games that featured a boycott when China refused to participate on the grounds of Taiwan's participation. Spain, Switzerland and the Nethe...
The United States has been the site of more Summer Olympics than any other nation. The Summer Olympics was in St. Louis in 1904, in Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984 and in Atlanta in 1996. Australia, England, France and Greece have...
For just over two weeks in August 1936, Berlin hosted the Summer Olympics. Germany won the bid to host the Games from Barcelona in 1931, well before the Nazi regime had infiltrated the country. Despite the politics, propaganda ...
It was the first year in Olympic history that professional cyclists could compete, according to Sportinglife.com. Atlanta 1996 also welcomed new forms of cycling to the Olympics for the first time. The Games included 14 cycling...
The Summer Olympics occur every four years, and the soccer competitions are one of its most highly anticipated sporting events. The men's tournament started in 1908, and women's soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996. The Olymp...
The Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Summer Games, opened on July 19, 1996, with a torch-lighting ceremony featuring Muhammad Ali, and closed on August 4. A total of 762 swimmers representing 1...
Every 4 years, the Summer Olympics are held in a different city and in the year 2000 the Games were held in Sydney, Australia. Several new athletic events were officially added as medal competitions for both men and women. The ...
The Games of the V Olympiad took place in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912. For the first time, athletes from five continents participated at the games. King Gustav V of Sweden opened the games, which ran from May 5 through July 22, ...
The Greeks held the games every four years in the summers. In 1892, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French aristocrat, introduced the idea of reviving the Olympic Games in modern times. Since the first modern Summer Olympics in At...
Wrestling is one of the world's oldest sports and enjoys a rich Olympic history. In the sport of wrestling, two competitors will compete head to head. Bouts take place on a mat where wrestlers will use nothing but their bodies ...
The 1900 Summer Olympic Games, hosted by Paris, France, boasted 25 represented countries. Women competed in the Olympics for the first time. Among the events planned for the 1900 games, fencing was seen as a French specialty, w...
Wrestling history was made at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, because women competed in the sport for the first time. Japanese women won medals in all four women's events, while American women Sara McMann and Patric...
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially named the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Queen Elizabeth II opened the games July 17, 1976, along with other members of the royal family. The games closed ...
The 1988 Summer Olympics, formally known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were held in Seoul, South Korea from September 17 to October 2. The International Olympic Committee chose Seoul over Nagoya, Japan, as the host city in...
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games were contested in Athens, Greece, from August 13 until August 29 and marked the 28th Olympiad. This was only the second time the modern-era Olympics were staged in Greece. The results of the 2004 S...
The Olympic boxing event at the 2004 summer games in Athens, Greece was highlighted by an impressive Cuban boxing team, which took home eight medals, five of them gold. Russia finished in second place with six medals, including...
The 1936 Summer Olympics came at a historic point in history. By hosting the games, Hitler attempted to portray Germany as a peaceful country, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The International Olympic ...
Women's volleyball features two competitions in each Summer Olympic Games: the indoor competition and the beach volleyball competition. Each features a different size team, but both involve the opportunity to be a gold, silver ...
The 2010 games were in Singapore, and cycling events were held at the city's Tampines Bike Park. Unlike in the main Olympic games, cycling events at the youth Olympics do not culminate in individual medals. Instead, athletes pa...
As of 2010, the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal has been the only Summer Olympics in Canada. The Montreal Olympics is best known for Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci becoming the first gymnast in Olympics history to achieve a p...
The 2004 Athens Games had accommodated new sports, equipment and athlete management issues that China, in bidding for the XXIX Olympiad, would have to further develop. As interpreted by the International Olympics Committee's th...
Boxing, which was one of the most popular sports of the ancient Olympics, was introduced at the 1904 Summer Games. There had been some concern that it might be too violent a sport when the modern Olympics were launched in 1896....
The original Olympics in Greece were a stunning mix of sports and skill, politics and nationalism. In 1896, the world applauded the first modern Summer Olympics, which revived all the excitement of the ancient event. Later, in ...
Ian Thorpe, born in 1982 in a western suburb of Sydney, Australia, competed on the Australian team in two summer Olympics, winning a total of five gold medals. At his prime, Thorpe measured 6 feet, 5 inches tall, weighed 195 lb...
Hundreds of athletes and billions of viewers share today's Summer Olympics but the first games were held on a hillside in Greece where contestants often outnumbered spectators. The games at Olympia, accompanied by music, poetry...
The 100-meter sprint is arguably the premier event in the Summer Olympic Games, according to Bodybuilding.com. This race has existed since ancient times and pits some of the world's fastest runners against on another. Breaking ...
The sports at the Summer Olympics offer a potpourri of grace and speed, controversy and celebrity. Every four years, the world watches in awe as athletes compete in traditional activities such as gymnastics, running and diving....
The Olympic Games originated in ancient Greece, but in the late 19th century evolved into an international event taking place every four summers. Between 1896 and the present day, the Summer Olympics have evolved into massively...
Show jumping is a form of equestrian riding. It is derived from the sport of cross country horse jumping. Show jumping is a worldwide sport, and is a fully-sanctioned Olympic event, featuring both men's and women's competition....
London will have been host of the Summer Olympics three times after the 2012 Summer Games. They were also hosts in 1908 and in 1948.
According to the International Olympic Committee, there are 28 events scheduled for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.