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1896
Athletes start the men's 100 metres at the first modern Olympic Games
Athens, Greece
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1900
Olympic swimming race in the river Seine. The games were part of the 1900 World Fair
Paris, France
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1904
New Yorker, Fred Winters, wins the dumbbell competition
St Louis, Missouri, United States of America
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1908
Ladies competing in an archery contest, the first time the games were held in London
London, United Kingdom
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1912
Albert Gutterson wins the long jump, in the last year solid gold medals were issued
Stockholm, Sweden
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1916
Scheduled to be held in Berlin, Germany the 1916 Olympics were cancelled due to WWI
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1920
Ex US marine, Charley Paddock set the 100m record at 10.2 seconds, not beaten until 1956
Antwerp, Belgium
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1924
Eric Liddell wins the 400m, as featured in the film Chariots of Fire
Paris, France
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1928
The opening in Amsterdam. This was the first year the Olympic Flame was lit
Amsterdam, Netherlands
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1932
USA vs India at hockey. Many nations were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles due to the worldwide Great Depression
Los Angeles, United States of America
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1936
Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the games Hitler intended to use to showcase his Aryan ideals and refused to shake Jesse’s hand
Berlin, Germany
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1940 & 1944
1940 games, planned for Tokyo then Finland and the 1944 games, planned for London, were both cancelled due to WWII
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1948
The opening ceremony in Wembley stadium featuring Baron de Coubertin's motto, the last time the games were held in London
London, United Kingdom
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1952
Until 2008, these were the games in which the most number of world records were broken.
Helsinki, Finland
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1956
Swimmers at the first games held in the southern hemisphere
Melbourne, Australia
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1960
Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, wins three gold medals in athletics
Rome, Italy
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1964
Billy Mills winning the 10,000m, one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history
Tokyo, Japan
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1968
The Tunisian delegation at the opening of the first games held in South America
Mexico City, Mexico
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1972
The games were largely overshadowed by the Munich massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, a police officer, and 5 terrorists were killed
Munich, Germany
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1976
The start of the marathon that continued through the streets of Montreal
Montreal, Canada
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1980
A few countries including the USA boycotted due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Moscow, Russia
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1984
14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted these Games, whose opening ceremony featured a jetpack
Los Angeles, United States of America
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1988
Rowing on the Han river
Seoul, South Korea
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1992
Britain’s Linford Christie wins Gold in the 100m final
Barcelona, Spain
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1996
Atlanta is the fourth Summer Olympic games held in the United States
Atlanta, United States of America
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2000
Fireworks over Sydney Harbour and the Opera House signal the end of the 27th Olympics
Sydney, Australia
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2004
With the motto �Welcome Home’ the games returned to the place of the ancient Olympics
Athens, Greece
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2008
43 new world records and 132 new Olympic records were broken, including the 100m and 200m
Beijing, China
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2012
The 30th Olympic games starts in London on the 27th July... watch this space
London, United Kingdom
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Thanks to the following archives, organisations and individuals whose images were featured:
Action Images, Olympic.org, Missouri History Museum, Mirrorpix Archives, Lewisham Legacy, Deutsches Bundesarchiv, Bhartiya Hockey, US National Archives, Museum of Victoria, Official Marine Corps, Tunisian Embassy, Fritz Schone, Defense Imagery, phil.cdc.gov, Alterego and hannahspanna.
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