History Timeline of Major Multi-Sport Events
Journey through the milestones of global sports with this timeline of major multi-sport events.
- 776 BCE: Ancient Olympic Games - the original international multi-sport event. Athletes can from far and wide to compete every four years in events like running, wrestling, and chariot racing.
- 393AD: Possibly the last Ancient Olympic was held.
- 1896: The inaugural modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece.
- 1913: The 1st Far Eastern Championship Games were held in Manila. This Asian multi-sport event is considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games.
- 1924: World Games for the Deaf (now Deaflympics) - The first event was held in Paris, France.
- 1930: The first Commonwealth Games for athletes from countries of the Commonwealth was held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- 1948: The precursor to what we now know as the Paralympic Games was an event organized by Sir Ludwig Guttman in 1948. He organized a competition in Stoke Mandeville, in the United Kingdom, for Second World War veterans with spinal injuries.
- 1951: The first Pan American Games, for athletes from the Americas.
- 1951: The first Asian Games was New Delhi, India.
- 1960: The first official Paralympic Games was held in Rome, Italy. The first Games featured 400 athletes from 23 countries competing in eight sports.
- 1965: The first African Games, for athletes from across Africa.
- 1968: The first international Special Olympics were held at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1968. In this one day event, about 1500 athletes from Canada and the USA participated.
- 1976: The first Winter Paralympic Games (then called the First Winter Olympic Games for the Disabled) were held 16 years after the first Summer Paralympic Games, in Örnsköldsvik in Sweden.
- 1982: The Gay Games began as a sporting and cultural event designed to promote inclusion and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community
- 2010: The Youth Olympic Games were Inaugurated in Singapore, offering young athletes aged 14 to 18 the opportunity to compete in Olympic-style sports.
- 2015: The European Games began - featuring almost 6,000 athletes from 50 European countries competing in 30 sports.
- 2018: The Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea was marked by North and South Korean athletes marching together during the opening ceremony, symbolizing a temporary thaw in relations between the two countries.
- 2020: many of the world's sporting events were canceled or postponed due to the world-wide corona-virus pandemic.
- 2021: Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featured various safety protocols and adaptations to ensure the safety of athletes and participants.
Related Pages
- Complete List of International Multi-Sport Events - Past & Present
- Ancient Multi-Sport Games
- Discontinued multi-sport events
- Olympic Games
- Calendar of Sporting Events
- Multi-Sport Events (Games) Calendar
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