Olympic Logos – The Evolution (1932 - 2010)

Olympics have been with the human race since centuries, and the first ever recorded Olympics was held in 776 BC, which is the first written record we have. It is believed that the Olympics started a few years before that. The first ever Olympics was won by a naked cook, Coroebus, from Elis who ran in the race and won. After that, and many other Olympic events, the games were banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius the first, who being a Christian didn’t like Paganism.

The Olympics came back after almost 1500 years when a Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin (le Renovateur) started the revival. The Evolution of Olympics had started in 1890 when he organized a sports union, and later after a long time, the Olympics committee was formed, and the Olympics began.

Let’s go over the past 78 years of Olympic Logo’s history to relive the time and glory put in the effort of the Olympics.

One of the first logos for an Olympic event was in 1932; the rings of the logo were designed in 1912 with a meaning behind each color and ring. 5 rings, 5 colors, 5 meanings being passion, faith, victory, work ethic, and sportsmanship.

The winter and Summer Olympics of 1936 were held in Germany.

The Olympics of 1948 were held in Switzerland (winter) and England (summer).

The Olympics of 1952 were held in Oslo, Norway (winter) and then Helsinki, Finland (summer).

The 1956 Olympics were held in Italy (winter) and Australia (summer).

In 1960, the Olympics were brought back to USA (winter) and then taken back to Italy for the summer Olympics

The Winter Olympics of 1964 were held in Innsbruck, Austria, and the summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan.

In 1968, the Olympics were held in Mexico (summer), and Grenoble, France (winter)

The 1972 Olympics were held in Sapporo, Japan (winter), and Munich, Germany (summer).

The winter Olympics of 1976 were held in Innsbruck Austria. And summer Olympics in Montreal Canada.

The Olympics returned back to Lake Placid in America after almost 50 years in 1980. And the same year the Olympics went to Russia for summers.

The Olympics of 1984 saw Yugoslavia entering the hosting scene in the winters and going back to Los Angeles for winters.

In 1988, the winters Olympics were held in Calgary, Canada. And the summer Olympics were held at Seoul Korea.

1992 saw Olympics being held in Albertville France and Barcelona, Spain


Lillehammer, Norway hosted the 1994 winter Olympics

The Olympics of 1996 were held in Atlanta Georgia, USA.

The 1998 Olympics were held in Nagano, Japan.

The 2007 Olympics were held in Sydney, Australia.

In 2002, the Olympics were taken to Salt Lake City, USA.

The Olympics finally reached their birth place in 2004 when Greece hosted the event.

The 2006 winter Olympics were held in Turin Italy

Last year, the Olympics were held in Beijing, China

The logo designed for next year’s event. The 2010 Olympics will be held in Vancouver, Canada.

So, after studying the pattern of the designed logos for the Olympics over the years, you can see that it started with a monochromatic approach to a more colorful one. One more thing we can see is that every country had their particular style of designing a logo, describing the countries approach in logo designing.

I hope you guys enjoyed the post as much as I did making it!