Excellence
Giving the best of yourself, on the field and in life - measured against your own limits, not only the scoreboard.
Faster · Higher · Stronger · Together
The Games where the whole world keeps its promise to itself.
A field guide to the Olympic movement - the spirit behind the flame, the moments that became legend, and the 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina.
The Olympic Spirit
One flame, every four years, carried by the whole world.
The Olympic Games are the largest gathering of people on the planet in peacetime. For a few weeks, thousands of athletes from over two hundred nations chase the same three words - faster, higher, stronger - and millions watch them try. What endures is not the medal count. It is the idea that human beings, at their best, would rather compete than conquer.
“The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
Friendship
Sport as common ground. Rivals at the start line, friends across borders, building a more peaceful world.
Respect
Respect for yourself, for your body, for the rules, for opponents, and for the environment that hosts the Games.
1896
206
11K+
3
Iconic Historic Moments
The Games remember the people who refused to be ordinary.
- 1936
Jesse Owens wins four golds
On a stage built to broadcast a myth of supremacy, an American sprinter answered with his legs: four gold medals in eight days, and a friendship with German long-jumper Luz Long that outlasted the regime watching them.
- 1968
Bob Beamon leaps into the future
Beamon jumped 8.90 metres - so far past the world record that the optical measuring device ran out of track. The mark stood for 23 years and remains the Olympic record to this day.
- 1980
The Miracle on Ice
A roster of American college players beat the seemingly unbeatable Soviet hockey machine. The win meant more than a medal; it became shorthand for the idea that belief can outrun the odds.
- 1992
The torch lit by an arrow
Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo drew back, aimed at the night, and sent a flaming arrow arcing over the cauldron. It is still the most theatrical lighting in opening-ceremony history.
- 2008
Bolt redraws the sprint
Usain Bolt won the 100m in 9.69 seconds while easing off and slapping his chest before the line - then lowered it again. A reminder that greatness can also look like joy.
- 2012
Every nation sends a woman
For the first time, every competing delegation included female athletes, and women contested every sport on the programme - a quiet milestone bigger than any single race.
4 - 22 February 2026
Milano Cortina 2026
The XXV Olympic Winter Games returned to Italy, twenty years after Turin - this time shared between a great city and the peaks that first put alpine sport on the map.
Across the Alps
A Games spread over a region, not a single city
From the ice rinks of Milan to the downhill courses of Cortina d'Ampezzo, Bormio, Livigno and the Val di Fiemme, the 2026 Winter Games stretched across northern Italy - the first time two host names share the flame so widely.
Large hill
Domen Prevc flies to ski jumping gold
Slovenia's Domen Prevc rode a perfect launch off the large hill to take individual gold, capping a season that turned him from contender into champion in front of a roaring alpine crowd.
Long track
Jutta Leerdam owns the fast lane
The Dutch speed skater carried her form straight onto the Olympic oval, trading split-second margins with the world's best and reminding everyone why the long track is a duel against the clock.
Medal table - top five
| # | Nation | G | S | B | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 16 | 12 | 11 | 39 |
| 2 | Germany | 12 | 10 | 9 | 31 |
| 3 | United States | 11 | 13 | 10 | 34 |
| 4 | Italy | 9 | 8 | 12 | 29 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 8 | 6 | 7 | 21 |
By the numbers
- 116
- 16
- ~2,900
- 13