History of the Games

Canada’s Christine Gillespie and Denis Potvin light the Olympic Flame, representing Canada’s bilingual character at the Opening Ceremony for the Montréal 1976 Olympic Summer Games.

Source: Library and Archives Canada.

Every two years, millions of people follow the most important global sport event of the last one hundred years - the modern Olympic Games.

Bringing together athletes from all five continents, the modern Olympic Games are sport competitions in which various nations compete against one another.

This international celebration, which is held in a different city and country each time, enables a country not only to participate in the Olympic Ideal, but also to share its culture and innovations with the entire world.

Canada can be proud, not only of having participated in every modern Olympic Games, but also of being the host of this event on three occasions.

• The XXI Summer Games in Montréal, Quebec, in 1976.
• The XV Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta, in 1988.
• The XXI Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010.

History of the Modern Olympic Games

The origin of the modern Olympic Games dates back to France at the end of the 19th century. [More]

History of the Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games, modeled on the Olympic Games, is an international sport event for world-class athletes living with a disability. The origin of the Paralympic Games dates back to 1948, in a spinal cord injury unit in the Stoke Mandeville Rehabilitation Hospital, England. [More]