List of Olympic Games host cities

Map of host cities and countries of the modern summer (orange) and winter (blue) Olympics. * Tokyo hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021, postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the SVG file, tap or hover over a city to show its name (only on the desktop).

This is a list of host cities of the Olympic Games, both summer and winter, since the modern Olympics began in 1896. Since then, summer and winter games have usually celebrated a four-year period known as an Olympiad; summer and winter games normally held in staggered even years. There have been 29 Summer Olympic Games held in 21 cities, and 24 Winter Olympic Games held in 21 cities. In addition, three summer and two winter editions of the games were scheduled to take place but later cancelled due to war: Berlin (summer) in 1916; SapporoGarmisch-Partenkirchen (winter) and TokyoHelsinki (summer) in 1940; and Cortina d'Ampezzo (winter) and London (summer) in 1944. The 1906 Intercalated Olympics were officially sanctioned and held in Athens. However, in 1949, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to unrecognize the 1906 Games.[1][2] The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed for the first time in the Olympics history to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the 2022 Winter Olympics being held roughly six months later in Beijing.[3][4]

Four cities have been chosen by the IOC to host upcoming Olympic Games: Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, MilanCortina d'Ampezzo for the 2026 Winter Olympics, Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics, and Brisbane for the 2032 Summer Olympics.

In 2022, Beijing became the first city that has held both the summer and the winter Olympic Games. Ten cities will have hosted the Olympic Games more than once: Athens (1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics), Paris (1900, 1924 and 2024 Summer Olympics), London (1908, 1948 and 2012 Summer Olympics), St. Moritz (1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics), Lake Placid (1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics), Los Angeles (1932, 1984 and 2028 Summer Olympics), Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956 and 2026 Winter Olympics), Innsbruck (1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics), Tokyo (1964 and 2020 Summer Olympics) and Beijing (2008 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics). Stockholm hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics and the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics. London became the first city to have hosted three Games with the 2012 Summer Olympics. Paris will become the second city to do this with the 2024 Summer Olympics, followed by Los Angeles as the third in 2028.

The Games have primarily been hosted in the regions of Europe (30 editions) and the Americas (13 editions); eight Games have been hosted in Asia and two have been hosted in Oceania. Rio de Janeiro became South America's first Olympic host city with the 2016 Summer Olympics. Africa has yet to host an Olympic Games. Other major geographic regions which have never hosted the Olympics include the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Central America and the Caribbean. Between the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and the last ones to be held in the same year as the Summer Olympics in 1992, the Summer and Winter games took place in the same country three times.

Host cities are selected by the IOC membership, usually seven years in advance.[5] The selection process lasts approximately two years. In the first stage, any city in the world may submit an application to become a host city. After 10 months, the Executive Board of the IOC decides which applicant cities will become official candidates as based on the recommendation of a working group that reviews the applications. In a second stage, the candidate cities are investigated thoroughly by an Evaluation Commission, which then submits a final short list of cities to be considered for selection. The host city is then chosen by vote of the IOC session, a general meeting of IOC members.[6]

  1. ^ Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D. (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-313-32278-5.
  2. ^ Karl Lennartz. "The 2nd International Olympic Games In Athens 1906" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History. No. Dec. 2001–Jan. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  3. ^ "IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Announce New Dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020". olympic.org. 2020-03-30. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  4. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Olympic Games organisers 'agree postponement'". BBC Sport. 24 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  5. ^ Group, Taylor Francis (2003). The Europa World Yearbook. Taylor and Francis Group. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-85743-227-5.
  6. ^ "Choice of the Host City". olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2009-06-04.