Albertville Winter Games

Germany has reunited and the Soviet Union has broken up. In spite of the accompanying turmoil, the German team and Unified team of former Soviet states remain at the top of the rankings.

Norway sweeps the men's cross-country skiing events, thanks to Vegard Ulvang and Bjorn Daehlie.

The U.S. wins five gold medals, all by female athletes: speed-skater Bonnie Blair, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, freestyle skier Donna Weinbrecht, and short track speed skater Cathy Turner.

Barcelona Games

For the first time in decades, every single nation with an Olympic Committee shows up, even Cuba, North Korea, and South Africa. A record 172 nations participate, represented by 10,563 athletes.

With the door open to professional athletes, the U.S. sends a Dream Team including Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Karl Malone. As expected, they go undefeated.

Carl Lewis wins two more gold medals, bringing his total to eight.

13-year-old Fu Mingxia of China wins the platform diving event, making her the second-youngest person to win an individual gold medal.

World Cup athletes are now allowed to compete in soccer, but only three players over the age of 23 are allowed on each team, effectively making the Olympic event the under-23 championship.

Gymnast Vitaly Scherbo of the Unified Team wins six gold medals in gymnastics.

Cuba wins seven gold medals in boxing, and the first one ever awarded in baseball.

In the end, the Unified Team takes home 112 medals, the United States has 108, and Germany has 82. A total of 64 nations win at least one medal, the highest number yet.

Lillehammer Winter Games

These are the only Winter Games to take place two years after the preceding ones.

It's the Tonya and Nancy show in figure-skating. Nancy Kerrigan gets the silver; Tonya Harding gets the notoriety. Ukraine's Oksana Baiul gets the gold.

Vreni Schneider, whose herniated disk had kept her from winning anything in 1992, wins medals in all three alpine skiing events, bringing her total to five.

In speed skating, Norway's Johann Olav Koss wins three gold medals, setting a world record in each event. Dan Jansen finally wins a race, setting a world record in the 1,000m. And Bonnie Blair picks up two more gold medals in the 500m and 1,000m.

Norway, Germany, and Russia are at the top of the final standings.

Atlanta Games

Muhammad Ali lights the cauldron at the start of the Centennial Games. 179 nations participate; 79 win medals.

A pipe bomb in Centennial Olympic Park kills one person and injures 111, but the Games go on.

America's Michael Johnson wins both the 200m and 400m races; France's Marie-José Perec does the same.

Carl Lewis gets his ninth gold medal by winning the long jump.

Amy Van Dyken of the U.S. wins four gold medals in swimming, while Ireland's Michelle Smith wins three golds and a bronze. Smith is accused of using performance-enhancing drugs; this remains unproven, but she is suspended in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample.

The American women's teams win the first-ever softball and women's soccer events. They also win gymnastics, with the help of Kerri Strug, who nails her second vault despite a sprained ankle.

The United States returns to the top of the standings, followed by Russia and Germany.

Nagano Winter Games

A record 2,177 athletes from 72 countries participate.

Snowboarding, curling, and women's ice hockey are introduced.

Austria's Hermann Maier wipes out on the men's downhill, flying through the air and two retaining fences, but wins two gold medals later in the Games.

Masahiko "Happy" Harada redeems himself from his 1994 failures, helping Japan's ski-jumping team win the gold.

Bjorn Daehlie wins three more gold medals in Nordic skiing, boosting his total to twelve medals (eight gold) overall.

15-year-old American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Games.

Ice hockey is open to professionals for the first time, and the Czech Republic wins.

Germany, Norway, and Russia lead the overall rankings.

Sydney Games

10,651 athletes (4,069 of them women) from 199 nations participate; the only nation excluded is Afghanistan.

North and South Korea enter the stadium under one flag.

Australian Aboriginal Cathy Freeman lights the cauldron at the start of the game, and goes on to win the 400m race.

British rower Steven Redgrave becomes the first athlete to win gold medals in five consecutive Olympics.

The U.S. softball team defends its title; Michael Johnson does the same in the 400m race.

17-year-old Ian Thorpe of Australia wins four medals (three gold) in swimming, breaking his own world record in the 400m freestyle.

American Marion Jones wins five track medals, three of them gold.

Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov takes home six medals, as he had done in Atlanta in 1996.

Eric "the Eel" Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea is this year's lovable loser, taking 112.72 seconds in the 100m freestyle swim. This is more than twice as long as Pieter van den Hoogenband's gold-winning performance.

There are 165 events for men, 135 for women, and 12 mixed events. Women are excluded from boxing and baseball; men are excluded from synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, and softball.

The United States, the Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China lead the medal-winners.

Jacques Rogge replaces Juan Samaranch as president of the IOC.

Salt Lake City Winter Games

These Games are controversial starting about three years before they begin, as it is revealed that several IOC members accepted inappropriately large gifts in exchange for voting to hold the Games in Salt Lake City. At least four IOC members resign, as do top Salt Lake City committee officials, in the midst of several investigations, and the IOC pledges to change the way host cities are chosen.

Also controversial is the United States' decision to include, in the Opening Ceremony, a flag that had been at Ground Zero in New York. This is seen by some as contrary to the Olympic spirit.

These Games are also dominated by doping scandals. Spain's Johann Muehlegg and Russia's Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova are disqualified due to darbepoetin use; the first two lose gold medals, although all retain medals won before they were tested.

Britain's Alain Baxter similarly loses his bronze slalom medal after a drug test, although the drug detected turns out to be a Vicks inhaler. Unknown to him, it has a different formulation in America than in the UK. A later investigation clears him of all moral guilt, but his medal is not returned.

Russian figure skating pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze win the gold over Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. The Canadians protest, the French judge admits to having been pressured to give the Russians a higher ranking, and, in an unprecedented ceremony, the Canadian pair is given gold medals, although the Russians retain theirs.

American Sarah Hughes gives the free-skating performance of a lifetime, nailing two triple-triple combinations and vaulting from fourth-place dark horse to gold medalist. This, too, has some measure of controversy, as a slight change in the judges' placement would have put Russia's Irina Slutkaya ahead, but that protest goes nowhere.

The International Skating Union votes to radically overhaul the scoring system for figure skating and ice dancing in future competitions.

The Canadian men's ice hockey team wins the gold medal, 50 years to the day after the last time they'd done so. Their women's ice hockey team also emerge victorious. In both cases, the Americans take the silver.

Skeleton is an event for the first time since 1948; for a change, John Heaton is not around to compete.

German speed-skater Claudia Pechstein wins two gold medals, taking home a medal in four straight Winter Games. Teammate Georg Hackl gets the silver in luge, becoming the first athlete ever to win five medals in one event. Norway's Ole Einar Bjørndalen wins all four men's biathlon events.

For the first time since 1968, female athletes are not tested for gender. There are 41 men's events, 34 women's events, and 3 mixed events.

Germany, the United States, and Norway end up with the most medals, with Norway taking home the most golds.

Athens Games

The Games return to Greece.

At the 2005 Singapore meeting the IOC decided to eliminate baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympics, the first sports to be dropped since polo in 1936.

Read highlights from the Torino Winter Games, which occured from February 10–26, and see results by country and event.

Controversy continued around Marion Jones, the 2000 Olympic trackstar, when she announced her retirement from track and field after pleading guilty to Federal charges of using performance-enhancing drugs. Jones also confessed to making false statements during two government drug investigations. In November, the International Association of Athletics Federation decided that Jones must return all medals and money, including the $700,000 prize money, and forfeit all race results since September 1, 2000. Jones is officially suspended from competition until October 7, 2009.

Beijing Summer Games

Human rights activists and government officials have proposed boycotting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing due to China's economic and military connections to Sudan, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced by the civil war.

Concern about Beijing hosting the summer Olympics resurfaced in March 2008 after Chinese police violently cracked down on protests by ethnic Tibetans and Buddhist monks in Lhasa, Tibet.

In April, protests by human rights groups disrupted the Olympic torch progression to Beijing.

Air pollution in Beijing is at least two to three times higher than levels considered safe by the World Health Organization. Medical research by the IOC shows that air pollution will put athletes at risk and may inhibit their performance.

Between March 26 and April 6, Chinese officials arrested 35 members of a criminal ring based in Xinjiang for plotting to kidnap Olympic athletes, journalists, and others. Police found at least 22 pounds of explosives and 8 sticks of dynamite during their raids.

In an attempt to clear air pollution for the Summer Games, Chinese officials called a halt to construction work and quarrying and enforced a 30% emmissions reduction for power plants in and around Beijing, effective July 20.

On May 8, 2008, the Olympic torch was carried by climbers to the “roof of the world,” reaching the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest at 0920 local time. During the ascent, Tibetan women were the first and last to carry the torch.

On May 19, 2008, the Olympic torch relay was suspended during a three-day national mourning period in honor of those who suffered from the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck China on May 12, 2008.

On June 2, 2008, the Beijing Organizing Committee issued a document listing 57 possible questions that foreign visitors may have when attending the Olympic Games.

On June 25, 2008, environmental officials declared a ban on high-emission vehicles in Beijing from July to September to ensure a green Olympic Games.

In July 2008, nine world swimming records were broken at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebr.

On July 23, 2008, authorities announced that peaceful public demonstrations will be allowed in Ritan Park, Beijing World Park, and Purple Bamboo Park during the 2008 Summer Games. Citizens must be approved by the local public security bureau five days before their intended protest.

On Aug. 8, 2008, the 2008 Summer Games commenced in Beijing with music, dancing, and fireworks at the opening ceremony.

The 2008 Summer Games ended on Aug. 24 with the United States, China, and Russia taking home the most medals. Despite skepticism, the Beijing Games were widely praised as a success.

Read highlights of the 2008 Summer Games.