Everyone loves the Summer Olympics. Yes, whenever humans are involved, bad things can happen—lethal protests, hostage crises, bombings, doping scandals, and such. Then, of course, there’s the obligatory discussion about corruption and financial mismanagement. But despite the downsides, nothing matches the international showcase that is the Summer Olympics. To up your knowledge, here’s a little Summer Olympics history, numbers-style.
1896
The year of the first modern Olympics, held in Athens, Greece. The ancient Olympic Games had been held in Greece consistently between the eighth century BCE and the fourth century CE, ending after they were declared a pagan festival. The 1896 games were therefore a rebirth of sorts (after an approximately 1500 year hiatus). The occasion included 14 countries, 9 sports, 43 events, and 241 athletes (all men).
206
The number of competing entities in the 2024 games in Paris. That’s technically more than the number of countries in the world—the discrepancy relates to territories of certain countries participating on their own.
32
The number of sports in the Summer Olympics as of this writing (good for a total of 329 different events).
10,700
The approximate number of athletes participating in the 2024 Paris games.
0
The number of times the African continent has hosted the Summer Olympics (or any Olympics).
1
The number of times the South American continent has hosted the Summer Olympics (or any Olympics). That was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.
2
The number of official languages of the games, namely French and English. If the host country predominantly speaks a language that is not one of those two, that language is obviously added into the mix.
3
The number of times the games, typically held every four years, were not played due to war. World War I axed the games in 1916, and World War II did the honors in 1940 and 1944.
5
The number of rings in the Olympic symbol, one for each continent—Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (North and South combined). Sorry Antarctica. The colors of the rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red) along with the white background were chosen since the flag of every country participating in the games at the time of the symbol’s creation in 1913 had at least one of those six colors.
10
The age of the youngest officially documented Olympic athlete. Participating for Greece in 1896, Dimitrios Loundras won a bronze medal in team gymnastics.
72
The age of the oldest athlete to compete in the Olympics. Participating alongside his son in shooting, the Swede Oscar Swahn took home a silver medal in the 1920 double shot running deer event, whatever that is.
67
The number of entities (countries or territories) that boycotted the games in the Soviet Union in 1980.
92.5
The minimum percent of a gold medal that is actually silver. In other words, gold medal should be called gold-plated medal.
2,629
The total number of medals won at the Summer Olympics by the United States prior to the start of the 2024 event, the most of any country.
20 billion
The approximate cost in US dollars incurred by Tokyo/Japan for hosting the 2021 games.
I left off one number regarding Summer Olympics history. I’ll refer to it as a lot—as in the number of times I’ve felt physically inadequate while watching the proceedings.
(This article was updated on July 29, 2024.)
2 Responses
Thank you for this very informative and enlightening writeup on the olympics. Looking forward to watching them on TV. Where is the next Olympics going to be held?
Looks like the next Summer Olympics will be in Paris in 2024. (The next winter games will be in Beijing in 2022.)