Why are the Olympics held every four years?

The ancient site of Olympia used to host the games every four years right up to 393 AD. This four-year interval is known as the ‘Olympiad.’

Performers take part in the official ceremony of the flame lighting for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, Tuesday, April 16, 2024.. | Photo Credit: AP

The Olympic Games dates back 3,000 years to the Peloponnese in Ancient Greece. Situated in the Peloponnese peninsula, Olympia is an ancient site, where the first Olympic games were held in 776 BC.

Since then, the ancient site of Olympia used to host the games every four years, right up to 393 AD. This four-year interval is known as the ‘Olympiad’.

Why is the Olympics held every four years? Sportstar finds out

The Olympic Games stopped after 393 AD and did not start again until 1894. An initiative was taken by French educator and historian Charles Pierre de Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, popularly known as Pierre de Coubertin to revive the Olympic Games and founded the International Olympics Committee. Thus, the first games of the modern era were held in Athens in 1896.

In the modern era, the Olympic Games take place at a four-year interval out of respect to the ancient tradition of the games held at the same interval in the ancient Greek site of Olympia.

The four-year interval, known as the ‘Olympiad’ was a term used to calculate time. So, at the time, the period was counted in Olympiads instead of years. 

Now, the cycle of an Olympiad begins on the first day of January of the first year and ends on the 31st of December in the fourth year.

Why did the Tokyo Olympics take place after a five-year gap?

The Summer Games in Tokyo took place after a gap of five years instead of four due to the coronavirus pandemic.