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Olympic Games countdown

The Olympic Games are the world’s largest multi-sport event, held in Summer and Winter editions every four years on a staggered two-year cycle. The next Games are the LA28 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles from July 14–30, 2028.

When do the Olympics fall?

The IOC awards two distinct events — the Olympic Summer Games and the Olympic Winter Games. Each is held every four years, but they alternate on a two-year offset so that an Olympics happens every other year:

Summer Olympics — held in years divisible by 4 (2024, 2028, 2032, 2036…). Usually scheduled in July or August.
Winter Olympics — held two years after each Summer Games (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010… 2026, 2030, 2034). Usually scheduled in February.

From 1924 to 1992 Summer and Winter Games shared the same year. The IOC decided in 1986 to split them, and from 1994 onward they have run on the alternating two-year cycle. That gives the Olympic movement an event roughly every 24 months and avoids two flagship Games competing for the same year of sponsorship and broadcast attention.

The most recent Olympics was the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics (February 6–22, 2026). The next is LA28.

Upcoming Olympic Games: dates and host cities

All of the following editions have been officially awarded by the IOC:

Games	Edition	Dates	Host
LA28	Summer Olympics	July 14 – July 30, 2028	Los Angeles, USA
French Alps 2030	Winter Olympics	February 1 – February 17, 2030	French Alps (Nice, Briançon, Haute-Savoie, Savoie), France
Brisbane 2032	Summer Olympics	July 23 – August 8, 2032	Brisbane, Australia
Salt Lake City–Utah 2034	Winter Olympics	February 10 – February 26, 2034	Salt Lake City, USA
2036 Summer Olympics	Summer Olympics	July–August 2036 (TBD)	TBD — host not yet awarded

Speed skating events at the French Alps 2030 Winter Games will be held in Turin, Italy — a venue from the 2006 Winter Olympics — rather than in France, because no existing French oval meets specification.

A brief history of the Olympic Games

The ancient Olympic Games were first held in Olympia, Greece in 776 BC — the year that became the starting point of the Greek calendar. They ran every four years for nearly twelve centuries until being banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in AD 393 as part of a wider suppression of pagan festivals.

The modern Olympic movement was the work of Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator who founded the International Olympic Committee on June 23, 1894 in Paris. The first modern Games opened in Athens on April 6, 1896, with 241 athletes from 14 nations. The Winter Olympics were added in Chamonix in 1924, originally as a “week of winter sports” attached to the Paris Summer Games.

Several editions have been cancelled or postponed: the 1916 Games (WWI), 1940 and 1944 Games (WWII), and the 2020 Tokyo Games were postponed by one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Format: sports, events and ceremonies

Each edition of the Games runs roughly 16–19 days and follows a common structure:

Opening Ceremony — day 0 or day 1. Includes the parade of nations and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron with a flame relayed from Olympia.
Competition days — medal events run throughout. The Summer Olympics typically award more than 300 medals across 30+ sports; the Winter Olympics around 100 medals across 8 sports / 16 disciplines.
Closing Ceremony — final evening. The Olympic flag is handed over to the mayor of the next host city.

The Paralympic Games follow the Olympics in the same host city, usually with a 2–3 week gap. The LA28 Paralympics will run August 15–27, 2028.

Olympic symbols and motto

A few elements appear at every Games:

The five rings — designed by Coubertin in 1913, representing the five continents (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania). The colours (blue, yellow, black, green, red) were chosen so that every national flag in the world at the time included at least one of them, plus the white background.
The Olympic flame — lit using a parabolic mirror at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, then relayed by torch to the host city, where it lights the cauldron throughout the Games.
The motto — Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter (“Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together”), updated in 2021 to add the “Together” element.

Sources & references

Olympics.com — the official site of the Olympic movement; primary source for dates, schedules and results.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) — governing body of the Olympic Games. Host elections and rule changes originate here.
International Paralympic Committee — for Paralympic dates and information.

FAQs

The next Olympics are the LA28 Summer Games in Los Angeles, scheduled for July 14–30, 2028. After that the French Alps will host the Winter Olympics from February 1–17, 2030, followed by the Brisbane Summer Olympics from July 23 to August 8, 2032, and the Salt Lake City–Utah Winter Olympics from February 10–26, 2034.

From 1924 to 1992 both were held in the same calendar year. The IOC decided in 1986 to stagger them by two years so neither would have to compete with the other for sponsorship, broadcast revenue or media attention. The transition took place with the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games, only two years after Albertville 1992. Since then Summer Games have happened in years divisible by 4, with Winter Games on the two-year offset (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, etc.).

The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens on April 6, 1896, organised by the newly founded International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC itself was established on June 23, 1894 in Paris on the initiative of Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator who had spent years lobbying for a revival of the ancient Greek Games. The 1896 Games featured 241 athletes from 14 nations competing in 43 events.

Hosts are selected by IOC members through a vote, typically seven or more years in advance. Since 2019 the IOC has used a more streamlined “Future Host Commission” process that allows it to enter targeted dialogue with one or more interested cities or regions, rather than running a full open bid every cycle. Brisbane 2032 was the first Games awarded under this revised process.

The LA28 Summer Olympics will feature more than 40 sports across roughly 800 events, including new additions like flag football, squash, cricket (T20), and the return of lacrosse. Winter Games are much smaller — the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics included 8 sports and 16 disciplines (think alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, ice hockey, figure skating, bobsleigh, etc.) across about 116 events.

The Paralympic Games are organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) rather than the IOC, and feature athletes with physical and visual impairments competing in classifications grouped by the nature and degree of impairment. Since 1988 they have been hosted by the same city as the Olympics, held in the weeks after the Olympics close, using many of the same venues.