This timeline depicts U.S. household television ratings in the of the Summer Olympics opening ceremony from 1972 to 2016. The highest ratings belonged to the two Olympics which took place in the United States. The 1984 opening ceremony in Los Angeles earned a rating of 23.9 and the 1996 ceremony in Atlanta earned a rating of 23.6.

Number of Olympics attended and medals won by Pacific Island countries.

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The Paris 2024 Olympic Games were scheduled to be the first time a modern Summer Olympics will have an equal share of male and female athletes competing. The first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 were exclusively for male competitors, and although some female events were introduced in Paris in 1900, the share of events was just 2.2 percent. Over the next century, the ratio of female to male events has gradually narrowed, and at a faster rate in recent decades, reaching almost 49 percent in Tokyo 2020. Not only has the overall volume of female athletes increased, the last decade has seen the introduction of several mixed events; these included mixed shooting events and both sprinting and swimming mixed relays.

The first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 saw just 241 athletes compete across 43 different events. Over the next 125 years, these numbers have gradually climbed, and the Games in Rio in 2016 were the largest to date, with more than eleven thousand athletes taking part in 306 different events. The Athens Games in 1896 was exclusively for male athletes, while the Paris Games in 1900 had 22 female competitors in non-athletic events such as tennis and golf (although the golf participants were not aware that it was an Olympic event, and the gold medalist's family was not informed of this until recently). Over time, the number of female athletes slowly increased, although it did not hit the ten percent mark until 1952, or the quarter mark until 1988; while the highest level of female participation was in 2020, where almost 5,400 women competed (49 percent). In the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a number of mixed shooting events, table tennis doubles, and swimming and sprinting relays were introduced in an attempt to improve participation among female athletes, although overall participation was lower as many did not travel, withdrew, or were unable to compete due to coronavirus (Covid-19) related problems.

The 2020 Summer Olympics was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan, from 23 July to 8 August 2021. Following an unprecedented delay as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the games were eventually held primarily behind closed doors with very few spectators allowed due to the state of emergency declared in Japan at the time.

Medals Awarded

The United States was the country that was awarded the greatest number of medals within the 2020 Olympic Games with a total of 113 medals, consisting of 39 gold, 41 silver, and 33 bronze. A total of 340 gold medals were awarded at the 2020 Olympic Games, exceeding the previous record of 307 awarded during the previous game. As the host nation, Japan finished third in the games with a total of 58 medals, with 27 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze.

New Sports

In addition to the unprecedented influence on the games imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 Summer Olympics featured the inaugural inclusion of sport climbing, karate, surfing, and skateboarding. Alongside these new sports, baseball and softball were also approved for inclusion, after having been excluded from the previous two summer games. Following the success of the inclusion of sport climbing the medal allocation for the subsequent games has since been expanded to separate sport climbing into two different competitions, one will be a combined competition of bouldering and lead events, and the second one will only feature a speed event in a structure welcomed by the climbing community following the controversy that surrounded the previous structure whereby all three disciplines were contained within one competition.

India's performance at the Summer Olympics - total competitors, sports competed in and medals won, and comparison with global peers.

In the history of the Summer Olympics, the United States has been the most successful nation ever, with a combined total of 2,761 medals in 29 Olympic Games. More than one thousand of these were gold, with almost 900 silver medals, and nearly 800 bronze medals. The second most successful team in Summer Olympic history was the Soviet Union**, who took home 440 golds and more than 1,100 total medals in ten Olympic Games between 1952 and 1992. When the total medal hauls of the Soviet Union, Russia and the Russian Empire are combined, they still fall short of the U.S. tally by over one thousand medals. Meanwhile, Great Britain sat in fifth place, with 299 golds and 980 medals in total. Emerging nations While European and Anglophone nations have traditionally dominated the medals tables, recent decades have seen the emergence and increased participation from athletes representing developing nations, such as Kenya, Jamaica, and particularly China. Although China has competed in just 12 Summer Olympics, they have the fifth most gold medals across a variety of events, despite only developing a significant Olympic presence in the 1980s. Athletes from African and Caribbean nations have also developed a more formidable presence since this time, by focusing their resources on specific sports; for example, Kenyan athletes have established a lasting legacy in distance running events, while Jamaicans have dominated sprinting events in recent years. Despite this increased investment, the past three Olympic Games have seen a record number of African-born athletes representing high-income countries in the Arabian Gulf; most notably, athletes born in Kenya and Ethiopia competing for Bahrain. The influence of money, politics and drugs As mentioned above, European and Anglophone countries have dominated the medals tables in the past; this is because they had the financial resources to send athletes around the world to compete, and, until 1964, the host cities were always in these countries, which caused financial and logistical difficulties for African, Asian and Latin American countries. Financial difficulties have caused some countries to refuse invitations to the Olympics as recently as the 1980s, for example, many African and Latin American countries joined in the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games (due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan), saving face by citing the boycott and not financial problems as the reason. This boycott also contributed to the Soviet Union and East Germany's high medal tally, as both nations took over sixty percent of all available gold medals. In retaliation, the Soviet Union led a boycott of the following Games in Los Angeles, opening the way for the United States to win almost half of all available golds in 1984. Recent years have seen doping scandals replace financial and political factors as the main external-influence on the medals table. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was founded by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, to combat the increasing use of performance-enhancing substances in sports. Since then, it has had a major impact on the Olympic medal table, and has helped rescind and redistribute more than one hundred Olympic medals. Athletes from Russia and former-Soviet countries have been particularly affected by these measures, which follows a legacy of state-sponsored doping programs dating back to the 1980s. In 2019, WADA banned all Russian athletes from the 2020 Games in Tokyo due to yet another state-sponsored doping scandal; athletes from Russia could only compete if they have been cleared by WADA prior to the games, while representing the Russian Olympic Committee, rather than the country itself. Paris 2024 was also shadowed by the issue of doping, with some delegations criticizing WADA for clearing 11 Chinese swimmers to participate in the Games, despite testing for a banned substance in 2021.

As of 2024, the 28th and 29th editions of the Summer Olympics welcomed the highest number of participants, with a more than 11,000 for each of these events. In Paris, 10,500 athletes are expected to compete at the 329 medal events planned.

The statistic shows the share of female participants in the Olympic summer games from 1900 to 2020. In the 2016, 45 percent of participants in the Olympic Summer Games were women.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the United States topped the medal table. In total, Team USA won a total of 126 medals, including 40 gold medals, 44 silver medals, and 42 bronze medals. Meanwhile, the Republic of China sat in second place, with 29 golds.

For the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games, there will be 32 sports on display. Meanwhile, the Paralympic Games are set to feature 22 sports.

Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Norway had won the most gold medals, with a total of 148. The country has also won the most Winter Olympic medals overall. Meanwhile, the United States has won a total of 113 gold medals at the Winter Olympics.

Although the United States lead the all-time Summer Olympics medal table, and the Soviet Union have the highest average medal tally per event, it is the Bahamas who has the highest medal count per capita. With 8 golds and 16 total Olympic medals, and a population of fewer than 290,000 people in 2020, The Bahamas have won roughly 56 medals per million people. Until the 2020 Games, Finland consistently had the highest number of medals per capita, due to its legacy in athletic and wrestling events in the mid-twentieth century, although smaller (particularly Caribbean) nations have climbed the table in recent years. Olympic tradition and lower populations in the top ten With 511 total medals, Hungary is the most successful nation to have never hosted the Summer Olympics. Unlike the Bahamas or Finland, Hungary's medal haul has been consistently high throughout Olympic history, and they are currently eighth in the overall medal table. Hungary has won a large proportion of its medals in fencing, swimming and canoeing events, and is top of the overall table in pentathlon and water polo events. When it comes to gold medals per capita, Hungary is in second place with just under 19 medals per one million inhabitants. In addition to Finland, other Nordic countries have performed well at the Olympics on a per capita basis, as their high rate of participation over time and relatively low populations means that four of the top ten spots on this list are taken by Scandinavian countries. U.S., Soviet Union and China fall behind As mentioned previously, countries who have won the most medals overall do not have always the highest per-capita totals. For example, China has the fourth-most gold medals of all time, but, as China has the highest population in the world, this translates to just 0.18 golds per million people. The U.S. has won a total of 3 golds and 8 total medals per million people, while the Soviet Union had won fewer than four medals per million people, based on its population in 1990.

Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the sport with the largest athletic quota was athletics. Overall, there were 1,810 spots reserved for athletics. Meanwhile, there were 1,370 places for Olympians competing in aquatic sports.

Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the United States Olympics team was the favorite to top the medal table of that year's edition of the Games. In total, the U.S. team was projected to win 123 medals, which was 34 more than second-placed China. Team USA went on to top the actual Paris 2024 medal table, with a total of 126 medals, which included 40 gold medals.

The statistic shows how much of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio U.S. citizens expected to watch. 38 percent of survey respondents said that they expected to watch a few events.

The upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympics Games are scheduled to feature nearly 15 thousand athletes. Most of these will be competing in the Olympics, while 4.4 thousand will be taking part in the Paralympics.

The statistic shows poll results of U.S. citizens on whether the selection of Rio de Janeiro as host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics was a good decision or not. 23 percent of survey respondents said that they thought it was a good decision to select Rio as the host city for the Summer Olympics in 2016.

The statistic shows how concerned U.S. survey respondents were in regard to athletes contracting the Zika virus at the Summer Olympic Games 2016 in Rio. 21 percent of survey respondents said that they were very concerned about the possibility of Olympic athletes contracting the Zika virus. Brazil had seen a sharp rise in cases of microcephaly among newborns in 2015 believed to be connected with the spreading of the Zika virus.

The statistic shows how concerned U.S. survey respondents were about the risk of Americans traveling to Brazil for the Olympics then bringing back the Zika virus to the United States. 31 percent of survey respondents said that they thought it was a big risk that Americans traveling to the Olympics in Rio would bring back the Zika virus with them to the United States. In 2015, Brazil saw a sharp rise in cases of microcephaly among newborns believed to be connected with the spreading of the Zika virus.