• Olympia (1100 BCE – 780 BCE) – in the region of Elis (All ancient records were lost or destroyed)
• Olympia (776 BCE – 84 CE) –  1st Olympiad – (The dates for the first Olympic Games were established by Hippias, an ancient Greek writer from Elis who wrote the first Olympic Victor Lists.) Hippias wrote his Ὀλυμπιονικῶν ἀναγραφή in the early 5th century, sometime between 400-360 BCE.
• Rome – (80 BCE) These were the Games of the 175th Olympiad.
• Olympia – (76 BCE – 393 CE)

With only one exception, the ancient Olympic Games were always in the same place — OLYMPIA — a sacred precinct in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece. OLYMPIA itself was not a village or town, but a religious site, a sanctuary with religious temples, sports facilities, a stadium and a hippodrome. Constructed over a period of 1500 years or longer, it was filled with monuments and statuary with new buildings replacing older ones, new statues erected constantly. Today the ancient site of Olympia is still its own tiny entity. Whereas in the ancient era it was a religious sanctuary, today it is an archaeological and historical site. Nearby – within walking distance – there is a small town called “Olympia” with a population of under 1,200 people. The small town has hotels, a museum, restaurants, etc. so there are actually two “Olympias” today – the sanctuary/historical site and the little town. There is also a nearby town of ELIS that is within the region also known as ELIS. This is a bit confusing, but think of it this way – this larger region of “Elis” would be similar to a “county” in any one of the states in the USA, with the small town having the same name as the county. The town of Elis is in the region of Elis. You can compare this to the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which is also the COUNTY of Philadelphia, one of 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania. Most people who live in Philadelphia do not even realize that their city is one of the 67 Pennsylvania counties. o the other side of the state the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is only one part of ALLEGHENY COUNTY in western Pennsylvania. In Europe this can be compared to the city of Vienna (Wien) Austria which is also a state – one of the nine Austrian states (Bundesland).

This list shows the Year (modern calendar) – Ordinal Numbering Olympiad – Roman Numeral Olympiad – Host City & Country.

• 1896 – 1st Olympiad – I Olympiad – Athens, Greece
• 1900 – 2nd Olympiad – II Olympiad – Paris, France
• 1904 – 3rd Olympiad – III Olympiad – St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• 1906 – 3rd Olympiad, year 3 – III.3 Olympiad – Athens, Greece (sometimes called the “interim Games”)
• 1908 – 4th Olympiad – IV Olympiad – London, England (Great Britain)
• 1912 – 5th Olympiad – V Olympiad – Stockholm, Sweden
• 1916 – 6th Olympiad – VI Olympiad – Cancelled – World War I (Scheduled for Berlin, Germany)
• 1920 – 7th Olympiad – VII Olympiad – Antwerp, Belgium
• 1924 – 8th Olympiad – VIII Olympiad – Paris, France
• 1928 – 9th Olympiad – IX Olympiad – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• 1932 – 10th Olympiad – X Olympiad – Los Angeles, California, USA
• 1936 – 11th Olympiad – XI Olympiad – Berlin, Germany
• 1940 – 12th Olympiad – XII Olympiad – Cancelled, World War II (Scheduled for Tokyo, Japan. Then re-scheduled for Helsinki, Finland & cancelled a 2nd time)
• 1944 – 13th Olympiad – XIII Olympiad – Cancelled, World War II (London considered, but the war continued)
• 1948 – 14th Olympiad – XIV Olympiad – London, England (Great Britain)
• 1952 – 15th Olympiad – XV Olympiad – Helsinki, Finland
• 1956 – 16th Olympiad – XVI Olympiad – Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden (Horses were not permitted to be imported into Australia so the Equestrian events were in Stockholm)
• 1960 – 17th Olympiad – XVII Olympiad – Rome, Italy
• 1964 – 18th Olympiad – XVIII Olympiad – Tokyo, Japan
• 1968 – 19th Olympiad – XIX Olympiad – Mexico City, Mexico
• 1972 – 20th Olympiad – XX Olympiad – Munich, Germany
• 1976 – 21st Olympiad – XXI Olympiad – Montreal, Canad
• 1980 – 22nd Olympiad – XXII Olympiad – Moscow, Soviet Union (USSR)
• 1984 – 23rd Olympiad – XXIII Olympiad – Los Angeles, California, USA
• 1988 – 24th Olympiad – XXIV Olympiad – Seoul, South Korea
• 1992 – 25th Olympiad – XXV Olympiad – Barcelona, Spain
• 1996 – 26th Olympiad – XXVI Olympiad – Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• 2000 – 27th Olympiad – XXVII Olympiad – Sydney, Australia
• 2004 – 28th Olympiad – XXVIII Olympiad – Athens, Greece
• 2008 – 29th Olympiad – XXIX Olympiad – Beijing (also known as Peking), China
• 2012 – 30th Olympiad – XXX Olympiad – London, (England/Great Britain/United Kingdom)
• 2016 – 31st Olympiad – XXXI Olympiad – Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• 2020 – 32nd Olympiad – XXXII Olympiad – Tokyo (Japan)
• 2024 – 33rd Olympiad – XXXIII Olympiad – Four cities are being considered to host these Games: Los Angeles (USA), Budapest (Hungary), Rome (Italy) and Paris (France).

The Winter Games take place during an Olympiad (4 year period of time between SUMMER Olympic Games). From 1924 to 1992 these Winter Games took place during the first year of each Olympiad. After 1992 the schedule was changed to hold the Winter Games in the third year of the Olympiad.

• 1924 – Chamonix, France
• 1928 – St. Moritz, Switzerland
• 1932 – Lake Placid, New York, USA
• 1936 – Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
• 1940 – Cancelled due to World War II (Scheduled for Sapporo, Japan. Then re-scheduled for Garmisch-Partenkirchen & cancelled a 2nd time)
• 1944 – Cancelled due to World War II
• 1948 – St. Moritz, Switzerland
• 1952 – Oslo, Norway
• 1956 – Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
• 1960 – Squaw Valley, California, USA
• 1964 – Innsbruck, Austria
• 1968 – Grenoble, France
• 1972 – Sapporo, Japan
• 1976 – Innsbruck, Austria
• 1980 – Lake Placid, New York, USA
• 1984 – Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
• 1988 – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 1992 – Albertville, France

The International Olympic Committee then decided to change the schedule of the Winter Games and hold them two years after the Summer Olympic Games. This decision was made because they were having difficulty evaluating both summer and winter bid cities within a short period of time. So two years after the Winter Olympic Games at Albertville there was another Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer. After these Winter Games a four year cycle of time elapsed before the next Winter Olympic Games. NOTE that this four year cycle is not called an Olympiad – a term used ONLY for the summer cycle of four years. Therefore the Winter Olympic Games take place in year 3 of the Olympiad (the Summer Games). Therefore, two Winter Games were held in the 25th Olympiad, 1992 Albertville and 1994 Lillehammer.

• 1994 – Lillehammer, Norway
• 1998 – Nagano, Japan
• 2002 – Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
• 2006 – Torino, Italy
• 2010 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2014 – Sochi, Russia
• 2018 – PyeongChang South Korea
• 2022 – Beijing, China, selected July 31, 2105. Three cities were bidding: Oslo (Norway), Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China) but Oslo dropped out, leaving just two (2) bid cities. Beijing won by a vote of 44-40.