The Olympic Games takes place every four years and usually there is something special that people never forget. Here are some of those moments from the past – some good, some not so good.
1908 London – the marathon
At the end of the marathon, the man who was winning – Dorando Pietri, from Italy – was very tired and fell down four times. People picked him up and he crossed the line – so of course he didn't win the gold medal because people helped him. But he became very famous.
1960 Rome – a winner with no shoes
The winner of the marathon in Rome was Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia. A lot of other runners (and some of the spectators – the people in the stadium) laughed when they first saw him – he had no shoes. They weren't laughing at the end when Bikila won the gold medal. (He won in 1964 in Tokyo too – but wearing shoes.)
1968 Mexico – a big jump
Mexico City is very high and the air is thin – which was a good thing for some athletes, not so good for others. One special moment was the long jump – Bob Beamon of the USA jumped 8.9 metres. Beamon's jump was the World Record for 23 years.
1996 Atlanta – a bomb
During the 1996 Olympic Games, something very sad happened. A bomb exploded in a park near the Olympic stadium. One person was killed, and 111 people were taken to hospital.
2000 Sydney – the Green Games
The Sydney Olympic Games were called 'The Green Games' because all the buildings (the stadium, the houses for the athletes, etc.) were built to be as friendly as possible to the environment. Many people thought these Olympic Games were the best ever.
2004 Athens – another marathon story
In the men's marathon, after about 35 kilometres, Brazilian Vanderlei de Lima was running very fast. He was first, and the second runner was 40 seconds behind him. But then an Irishman ran out from the crowd and pushed him. Other people in the crowd stopped the Irishman. Then de Lima started to run again. He was smiling when he finished the marathon third – he won the bronze medal.
2012 London – a bottle-thrower
It was the final of the men's 100 metres. All the athletes were ready to start the race. Suddenly a man in the crowd threw a plastic bottle at the athletes. But they were lucky. The bottle didn't hit any of them. The race started. A Dutch woman was sitting next to the man. She grabbed him so he couldn't run away. The woman, Edith Bosch, was a bronze-medal winner in judo at the Games.
