Olympic Rings

OLYMPICS

A scene from the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

The Tokyo Olympics have been rescheduled for this summer. In anticipation of the event, we're looking back on the most epic moments from opening ceremonies past.

Luke Hayes, Asif Khan/Getty Images

It’s been dubbed “the darkest building on Earth.”

Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for The Buoniconti Fund

Getty

When an athlete loses a gold medal, do they actually have to give it back?

iStock

Being a Good Samaritan pays off.

Two swordsmen participating in the fencing semifinals during the 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London.

Wow your friends during your Olympic watch party with these winning, weird, and wonderful Olympic words and their origins.

Zak Kaczmarek/Getty

Tas Pappas shared why he thinks skateboarding and the Olympics won't mix.

iStock

Even sports stars have to pay the bills.

Getty Images

Before flying out of the starting blocks—and ultimately taking Olympic gold in the 100-meter race for the third time—Jamaica's Usain Bolt was met not with the fire of a pistol, but a noise triggered by an electronic gun.

Agência Brasil Fotografias via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

"We may have hit peak crystal."

ODD ANDERSEN/Getty

The perfect combination of factors made the diving pool a hotbed for algae.

Getty

It only took nine years to construct this giant on a hill.

Getty Images

Birthmarks? Accessories? A bizarre form of intimidation?

Bud Symes/Getty Images

Before he was the "Voice of Swimming," Gaines led Team USA to victory.

Getty Images

Halfway through the race, the situation looked so dire that commentators seriously worried he was drowning.

Jim Thorpe // Image courtesy of Agence Rol, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

While winning a medal is the ultimate goal of any athlete competing during the Olympic Games, sometimes their victories are short-lived.

The city wasn't so keen on hosting at one point.

What could be cooler than spending two weeks as the center of the world's attention? If you lived in Denver in the 1970s, your answer would have been "all kinds of things."

Youtube // Rob Lucas

The woman once regarded as the world's greatest female athlete spent her life—and death—trapped between identities.

Gymnast Kerri Strug is carried off the floor by her coach Bela Karolyi after her routine at the Georgia Dome at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia on July 23, 1996.

The Russian women's gymnastics team hadn't been defeated in 48 years. To do it, Kerri Strug had to jump with a torn ankle.

Panathenaic Stadium // Darren Foreman, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

What happens to Olympic stadiums and venues once the games are over?

Gymnast Simone Biles.

Medals are great, but what about all of the free McDonald's and dental work that comes with being an Olympic athlete?

Ralf Roletschek via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0

A new line of high-tech brooms is leaving many cold.

Wikimedia Commons

On April 6, 1896—120 years ago today—the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece.

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport via Flickr // CC BY-NC 2.0

Competitors rely on audio cues to play.