Olympic Host Cities - Single & Multiple Olympiads Quiz

Answer: One-time Host

Barcelona has only hosted once, the Summer 1992 Games.

1992 was the last time that both winter and summer games were held in the same calendar year. In 1986, the IOC had made the change that winter games and summer games would be held in alternate even years.

Answer: Two-time Host

Beijing was the first city to host both winter and summer games. It hosted the Summer 2008 Games and the Winter 2022 Games.

Answer: Two-time Host

Tokyo hosted the Summer 1964 Games and the Summer 2020 Games, becoming the only Asian city to host two summer games. The latter games were actually rescheduled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were held in July and August of 2021 and, because of the pandemic, the events had no official spectators. The postponement and precautions caused these games to be the most expensive to organize.

Tokyo had been scheduled to host the Summer 1940 Games, but they were rescheduled to Helsinki, Finland after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. These games were eventually cancelled due to World War II, as were the Winter 1940 Games which were going to be in Sapporo, Japan.

Answer: Three-time Host

London was the fourth city to host the modern games, the 1908 Summer Games (only summer games were held until 1924.) The events lasted a total of 187 days, which made it the longest games in the modern era (Games usually only span 2-3 weeks). It was during these games that the standard length of a running marathon was established. It was originally 25 miles. But then changes to accomodate the royal family eventually extended the marathon to 26 miles 385 yards (42.2km), which became the standard length starting with the Summer 1924 Games.

The 1908 Games were originally going to be held in Rome, Italy. But Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 1906, so funds were diverted to reconstruct the city of Naples. Rome eventually hosted the Summer 1960 Games.

London's second hosting was for the Summer 1948 Games. This was the first summer games held since the end of World War II. London had been scheduled to host the 1944 games, but the Olympic Games -- both summer and winter events -- were cancelled in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II.

London's third hosting, the Summer 2012 Games, was the first three-time hosting for a city. Paris became the second three-time host in 2024.

Answer: Two-time Host

St. Moritz hosted both the 1928 Winter and 1948 Winter Games.

Norwegian Sonja Henie, at the 1928 Games, won the ladies' figure skating medal at age 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion, a distinction she held until 1994 when Kim Yun-Mi of South Korea won the 3,000-meter short-track speed skating relay gold at the age of 13 years, 85 days.

Answer: One-time Host

Sydney hosting the Summer 2000 Games was only the second time any Olympic Games were held in the Southern Hemisphere. The first time was in Melbourne, Australia for the 1956 Summer Games.

Answer: Three-time Host

Paris first hosted the Summer Games in 1900, the second modern Olympics. They were held as part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair). Many of the athletes, even winners, were not aware they were competing in the Olympic games. At these games, 22 women competed in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf. Many U.S. athletes protested that some events were held on a Sunday. They were at the games as representatives of their colleges, and were expected to withdraw rather than compete on a Sunday, a religious day of rest.

The shooting event at the Summer 1900 Games was the only time live pigeons were used as targets. Almost 300 birds were killed. Since a monetary prize of 20,000 Francs was awarded, the IOC doesn't consider this an Olympic event, since athletes had to be amateurs. After this, animal rights campaigns were organized to stop the shooting of live targets. Adding to this, bans arose in 1902 in the USA leading to the use of clay pigeons in shooting competitions.

Paris's second hosting, the Summer 1924 Games, was the first time a city hosted twice. It was held in association with the Winter 1924 Games, which weren't initially referred to as a separate set of games. But with its success, the IOC retroactively designated them "the first Olympic Winter Games".

The third time Paris hosted was for the Summer 2024 Games. Events weren't held exclusively in the city of Paris; football (soccer) events were held in 16 other cities throughout France. Surfing was held in Tahiti in French Polynesia, 9,300 miles (15,000 km) from the host city. This set a record for the furthest away from a host city that an event was held. (The previous record was set when the equestrian events of the Summer 1956 Games [Melbourne, Australia] were held in Stockholm, Sweden because of Australia's strict quarantine rules for imported live animals, being a pre-shipment quarantine of six months.)

Answer: Two-time Host

Athens hosted the first Olympics of the modern era with the 1896 Summer Games. It had the largest international participation of any sporting event at that dtime. Fourteen nations participated, with all athletes European, or living in Europe, except the USA team. An overwhelming majority (65%) of athletes were Greek, who also won the most medals. Additionally, all the athletes were men.

The medals awarded were silver for first place and copper for second. Retroactively, the IOC changed these to gold and silver respectively, as well as adding bronze for third-placed athletes.

Athens's second hosting wasn't until the 2004 Summer Games. Over 10,000 athletes competed. Five countries won their first gold medals: Chile, Taipei, Dominican Republic, Georgia, and Israel. Three others won their first medals: Eritrea, Paraguay, and United Arab Emierates.

Answer: One-time Host

Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Games. They were touted as "Die Heiteren Spiele", or "The Cheerful Games", to present an image of a democratic and optimistic Germany, to counter the image of the 1936 Summer games hosted by then Nazi Germany in Berlin.

Sadly, the games were marred by a terrorist attack by the Palestinian organization Black September. Eight terrorists killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, then took nine others as hostages. After the terrorist commander made demands for various prisoners in Israel to be released, the Bavarian State Police ambushed the terrorists. Five of the terrorists were killed, along with one West German policeman. During the rescue attempt, the terrorists sadly killed the nine Israeli hostages.

Answer: Two-time Host

Innsbruck hosted the Winter Games in 1964 and 1976. The time between these two games was the shortest for Olympic Games being held in the same location.

Denver, Colorado (USA) was initially selected to host the Winter 1976 Games at the 69th IOC meeting in 1970. But a referendum on the 1972 Colorado ballot rejected funding for the games. Denver officially withdrew on November 15, 1972, which was the first and only time a city was awarded the Winter games then rejected them. Other cities were then offered the games: Sion, Switzerland; Whistler, BC, Canada; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; and Lake Placid, NY, USA. Ultimately, the IOC selected Innsbruck, Austria.

Answer: Two-time Host

Los Angeles's first hosting, Summer 1932, was decided by the 23rd IOC Session in 1923. It was quite easy, since Los Angeles was the only city to offer a bid. It was selected by default. LA's second hosting was for the Summer 1984 Games. They were opened by the then-president Ronald Reagan, whose home state was California.

The 1984 Games were boycotted by 14 Eastern Bloc countries (Soviet Union, East Germany, et al) as a response to the United States' boycott of the 1980 Summer Games held in Moscow. This latter boycott was in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Despite the boycott, 140 countries' National Olympic Committees participated in these games.

The Summer 1984 Games are considered to be the most successful modern Olympics. Low construction costs were achieved by using existing sport infrastructure. Private corporate funding also help with costs.

Answer: One-time Host

Helsinki hosted the Summer 1952 Games. This came right after the Oslo, Norway hosting of the Winter 1952 Games. Altogether, the Nordic countries have hosted four Olympic Games. The other two are the Summer 1912 Games (Stockholm, Sweden) and the Winter 1994 Games (Lillehammer, Norway).

Several nations made their olympic debut at these games: Vietnam, Thailand, the Soviet Union, Saarland, the People's Republic of China, Nigeria, Netherlands Antilles, Israel, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Guatemala, and the Bahamas.

Finland is the smallest country to have hosted the Summer Olympics during the first 130 years of the Modern Olympics, 1896 to 2024.