The first Olympic game was held in the year 776 BC in Olympia, Greece. The games were held in Greece till 393 AD. Subsequently in 1896, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, a French nobleman revived the games which heralded the beginning of the Modern Olympic Games.

Starting from 1896, Games of the Olympiad or The Summer Olympics were held once in four years except during the World War 1 and 2.

The Olympic Winter Games, a special edition of winter sports was first held in 1924. In the beginning, both summer and winter editions of The Olympic Games were held simultaneously. From 1944 onwards the summer and winter games have been held two years apart.

The origin of the ancient Olympic Games was surrounded by many legends. The ancient Greek concept of Olympic Truce is one such legend associated with The Olympic Games. The Olympic Games reached their zenith during fifth and sixth century BC.

The Olympic Games were held in honour of Pelops a mythical king and divine hero of the Greeks. Poems were written and statues were created immortalizing the winners of the events in the Olympic Games. Milo of Croton, a wrestler in the sixth century BC, was the only victorious athlete in six Olympic Games.

After the Romans captured power in Greece, there was a gradual decline in the importance of the Olympic Games. The Emperor Theodosius banned the Olympic Games in 393 CE citing the games as a Pagan Festival not suitable for the Christian Ethics.

Even though the Greek ceremonies included the bearing of a torch as its integral aspect, it was not included in the ancient Olympic Games. This was introduced later as a part of the modern Olympic Games.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, nearly 11,100 contestants from 202 countries participated in various events whereas there were only 245 participants from 15 nations in the 1896 edition of the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games has become one of the biggest events for the media. In the Sydney Olympics held in 2000, more than 16,000 journalists presented the events in various media format while 3.8 billion people watched the games on Television.

Munich Olympics held in 1972 saw the first act of terrorism in the .Olympic Games. Subsequently the Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, and the Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002 were also subjected to acts of terrorism.

For the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in London in 2012, 26 sports are included.