IOC: Choice of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympic Games - timeline
Searching more than 75 years of world history
- October 2009. The IOC chooses Rio de Janeiro to host the 31st Olympiad in 2016.
- August 2008. The games of the 29th Olympiad are held in Beijing amid tight security - the Games pass off without major incident and China wins the largest share of gold medals.
- February 2006. The 20th Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, are overshadowed by a drugs scandal concerning the presence, in the Austrian camp, of Walter Mayer, a banned coach.
- July 2005. At a meeting in Singapore, the IOC chooses London as the host city for the 30th Olympiad in 2012.
- November 2004. London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris all submit bids to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
- August 2004. The 28th Olympiad is successfully staged in Athens despite earlier concerns over security provisions and the failure to complete Olympic venues and infrastructure until just before the start of the Games.
- February 2002. The 19th Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, USA, take place amid high-security following the 9-11 attacks in the USA only five months previously.
- July 2001. At its congress in Moscow the IOC awards the 29th Olympiad in 2008 to Beijing - the decision arouses widespread condemnation because of China's poor human rights record.
- July 2001. The IOC elects Jacques Rogge of Belgium as its new president, replacing Juan Antonio Samaranch, who has held the post for 21 years and is credited with transforming the IOC into a commercially powerful organisation.
- September-October 2000. The 27th Summer Olympics in Sydney is described by Samaranch as "the best games ever".
- January 1999. The IOC, engulfed by allegations of corruption in its selection of host cities, announces the suspension of six of its members.
- February 1998. The 18th Olympic Winter Games are held in Nagano, Japan - it is later revealed that large sums of money have been spent entertaining IOC officials during the bid to host the Games.
- July-August 1996. The 26th Summer Games are held in Atlanta, USA, but are marred by a bomb attack on the Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring many others.
- February 1994. The 17th Olympic Winter Games are held in Lillehammer, Norway - publicity is centred relentlessly on a feud between the USA's top two women skaters, Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. .
- July-August 1992. The 25th Summer Games take place in Barcelona and are notable for the participation of South Africa, readmitted after being banned since 1960 because of its apartheid policy.
- February 1992. The 16th Olympic Winter Games are held in Albertville, France, the last to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games.
- September-October 1988. The 24th Summer Games are held in Seoul (the capital of South Korea) - North Korea, still technically at war with South Korea, boycotts the event and is joined by Albania, Cuba, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and the Seychelles.
- February 1988. The 15th Olympic Winter Games are held in Calgary, Canada, and, for the last time, are dominated by athletes from the Soviet Union and East Germany.
- July-August 1984. The 23rd Summer Games are held in Los Angeles and are attended by some 7,800 athletes from 140 countries, including the People's Republic of China and also Taiwan - the Soviet Union and most East European countries are among some 17 countries boycotting the games.
- February 1984. The 14th Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia - the UK's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean excel in the free dance figure skating competition.
- July-August 1980. The 22nd Summer Olympics in Moscow are boycotted by the USA and 61 other countries as a sign of international disapproval of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979-January 1980.
- February 1980. The 13th Olympic Winter Games are held in Lake Placid, New York, USA - the People's Republic of China enter the Olympic Games for the first time after the IOC had agreed to designate the Republic of China (Taiwan) as "Chinese Taipei".
- July-August 1976. The 21st Summer Games in Montreal are marred by a widespread African boycott to protest at the participation of New Zealand after a recent tour of South Africa by the "All Blacks" rugby team.
- February 1976. The 12th Olympic Winter Games take place in Innsbruck, Austria, the second time that the Tyrolean city had hosted the event.
- September 1972. The 20th Summer Games in Munich are interrupted in the second week when, in an event unprecedented in the history of the Games, 11 Israeli athletes are murdered by members of the extremist Palestinian faction, Black September.
- February 1972. The 11th Winter Olympic Games are held at Sapporo, Japan - as at the Summer Games in Munich there are many outstanding individual performances, notably that of Ard Schenk (Netherlands) in winning three gold medals.
- October 1968. The 19th Summer Games in Mexico City are the first to be hosted by a developing country and attract a record entry of nearly 7,500 competitors from 112 countries.
- February 1968. The 10th Winter Olympic Games are held in Grenoble, France, and mark the first time that the IOC permits East and West Germany to compete separately.
- October 1964. The 18th Summer Games are held in Tokyo, the first time they have taken place in Asia - for the first time, South Africa is barred from taking place due to its apartheid system.
- January-February 1964. The Ninth Winter Games take place in Innsbruck, Austria - the outstanding individual performance is that of Lydia Skoblikova (Soviet Union), the only person ever to win four gold medals at one Winter Olympics.
- August-September 1960. Competitors from 84 countries compete in the 17th Summer Games in Rome (the capital of Italy) - West Germany and East Germany participate in a combined all-German team, while Communist China does not take part in protest at the attendance of Chinese Nationalist athletes under the designation "Formosa".
- February 1961. The entire US figure skating team are killed in an air-crash in Belgium, a disaster which has an impact on the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.
- February 1960. The Eighth Winter Games at Squaw Valley, California, USA, are officially opened by US Vice President Richard Nixon.
- November-December 1956. The 16th Summer Games are held in Melbourne, the first occasion on which they take place in the southern hemisphere - because of the tense international situation at the time owing to the crises in Hungary and the Middle East, fewer competitors take part than in the 1952 Games.
- January-February 1956. The Seventh Olympic Winter Games at Cortina d'Ampezzo (in the Italian Dolomites) is notable for the debut of the Soviet Union which wins the highest number of gold medals (seven).
- July-August 1952. The 15th Summer Games take place in Helsinki (the capital of Finland) - the Soviet Union participates in the Games for the first time since the Russian revolution of 1917, whilst Germany and Japan compete for the first time since the end of World War II.
- February 1952. The Sixth Olympic Winter Games are held in Oslo, the capital of Norway, and are attended by athletes from 30 countries.
- July-August 1948. The 14th Summer Games are held in London, the first to be held since Berlin in 1936 - it is the first Games to have a political defection when Marie Provaznikova, leader of the Czech women's athletic contingent, refuses to return to Czechoslovakia, now a part of the Soviet bloc.
- January-February 1948. The Fifth Olympic Winter Games are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, with nearly 1,000 athletes from 28 nations competing in the various events.
- December 1939. The 12th Summer Games, scheduled to be held in Helsinki in 1940, are suspended indefinitely following the outbreak in September 1939 of World War II and do not resume until 1948.
- July 1938. Japan, embroiled in the Second Sino-Japanese War since July 1937, abandons plans to hold the 12th Summer Games in Tokyo in 1940 - the Games are awarded to Helsinki.
- August 1936. The 11th Summer Games are opened in Berlin, Germany, by Chancellor Adolf Hitler - Jesse Owens, a black US track and field athlete, achieves international fame by winning four gold medals.
- February 1936. Hitler opens the Fourth Olympic Winter Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany - it is the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games are both held in the same country.
- July-August 1932. A total of 37 nations take part in the 10th Summer Games in Los Angeles, USA.
