The Olympic Games is a quadrennial (four-yearly) event.  The first recoded Olympic games  took place in in 776 BC and they continued every four years for nearly 12 centuries before being banned by the Romans. They were held nearly 300 times over a span of 1,200 years.

The modern Games which started in 1896 in Athens are also held on a four-yearly cycle and different cities compete to host them. They have only been cancelled only three times – in 1916, 1940 and 1944 – during the First and Second World Wars.