ey began. Having previously hosted the Olympics in 1896, Athens became one of only four cities to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games on two separate occasions (together with Paris, London and Los Angeles).
A new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games. This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue. The new design features the Panathenaic Stadium. The 2004 Summer Games were hailed as "unforgettable, dream games" by IOC President Jacques Rogge, and left Athens with a significantly improved infrastructure, including a new airport, ring road, and subway system.
There have been arguments (mostly in popular media) regarding the cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games and their possible contribution to the 2010 Greek government-debt crisis, however, there is little or no evidence for such a correlation.
The 2004 Olympics were generally deemed to be a success, with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China and Russia with the host Greece at 15th place. Several World and Olympic records were broken during these Games.2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (Chinese: 第二十九届夏季奥林匹克运动会; pinyin: Dì Èrshíjiǔ Jiè Xiàjì Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì) and commonly known as Beijing 2008, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8 to 24 August 2008 in Beijing, China.A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports and 302 events (one event more than those scheduled for the 2004 Games). This was the first time that China had hosted the Summer Olympics, but the third time that the Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were the third Olympic Games staged in a socialist country, after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union, and the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
Beijing was awarded the 2008 Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001, having won a majority of votes from members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after two rounds of voting. The Government of the People's Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. A total of 37 venues were used to host the events, including twelve constructed specifically for use at the Games. The equestrian events were held in Hong Kong, making this the third Olympics for which the events were held under the jurisdiction of two different NOCs. The sailing events were contested in Qingdao, while the football events took place in several different cities.
The official logo for the 2008 Games, titled "Dancing Beijing", featured a stylized calligraphic character jīng (京, means capital) in reference to the host city. Beijing Olympics was watched by 3.5 billion people worldwide. Longest distance for an Olympic torch relay The event sets numerous world and Olympics records in the history of Sports, and is also the most expensive Summer Olympics of all time and second most expensive overall, after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and numerous international presses as spectacular and spellbinding, and by many accounts "the greatest ever in the history of Olympics".An unprecedented 87 countries won at least one medal during the Games. China won the most gold medals, with 48, and became only the seventh different team to top an overall Olympic medal tally, winning a total of 100 medals overall. The United States placed second in the gold medal tally but won the highest number of medals overall, with a total of 112. The third place in the gold medal tally was achieved by Russia.
Beijing has been selected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics; it will become the first city to ever host both a Summer and Winter Games.2012 Summer Olympics
The 201