List of bids for the Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympics are the world's largest multi-sport event, and are organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) every four years. Selection of the host city is done at an IOC Session four to seven years prior to the tournament, in which the IOC members vote between candidate cities which have submitted bids. As of the selection of the 2016 Olympics, 28 games have been held in 22 cities in 19 countries. Bids have been made by 64 cities in 34 countries.

The bid process consists of two rounds. First, cities and national Olympic committees (NOCs) may show their interest and submit a preliminary bid, becoming applicant cities. Through analysis of the questionnaires, the IOC gave a weighted-average score to each city based on the scores obtained in each of the questionnaire's eleven themes: political and social support, general infrastructure, sports venues, Olympic Village, environment, accommodation, transport, security, past experience, finance, and legacy. IOC's Executive Committee then selects a short-list of candidate cities. The candidate cities are investigated by the IOC Evaluation Committee, who make an evaluation report. These submit a more extensive bid book and are subject to additional evaluation, which is presented to the IOC members. Voting occurs as an exhaustive ballot, which may occur through multiple rounds until a single city holds a majority of the votes. IOC members from a candidate NOC may not vote in any round while their country remains in the election.

The first three games were not subject to bids; the first IOC Session, in 1894, awarded the first games to Athens (1896) and Paris (1900), respectively. The 1904 Olympics were initially awarded to Chicago, but then moved to St. Louis to be co-located with the World Fair. A system with bids was introduced ahead of the 1908 Olympics, and were awarded to Rome. After the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Italy returned the games to IOC, which awarded them to London. The 1916 Olympics were awarded to Berlin, but canceled due to the First World War. The 1940 Olympics were originally awarded to Tokyo, but after the 1938 break-out of the Second Sino-Japanese War, they were returned to the IOC, who awarded them to Helsinki. The games, and the 1944 Olympics awarded to London, were ultimately canceled due to the Second World War. The 1956 Olympics were awarded to Melbourne, but Australian horse quarantine rules forced the equestrian events to be held in Stockholm. Three times there have been only a single bid, Stockholm in 1912, and Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984. Starting with the 2004 Olympics, only the highest-rated cities are short-listed for the final IOC vote.^[1]

London will have hosted three games in 2012, while Athens, Los Angeles and Paris have hosted two games. London, Antwerp, Munich and Sydney are the only cities to never have failed at winning a bid. St. Louis is the only city to have hosted the games without submitting a bid. Helsinki, Minneapolis, Montreal and Munich have bid for both Summer and Winter Olympics; all but Minneapolis have succeeded at winning Summer bids, but none have held Winter Olympics. Detroit is the most unsuccessful city, having failed seven times. Los Angeles has made the most bids, succeeding twice and failing six times. Amsterdam, Budapest and Lausanne have all failed five times. The United States has made the most bids, having bid for 19 games, including all games from 1944 through 1984.^[1]

By year

The following is a list of bids for the Summer Olympics, sorted by year. It consists of the year the games were held or scheduled to be held, the date the decision was made, the city and country which issued the bid, the votes at the IOC Session for each voting round, and the ultimate host of the games. The bid listed first for each games is the one selected by the IOC, whether or not it ultimately hosted the games.^[1]

By city

The following is a list of bids submitted by city. It lists the national Olympic committee, the city, and the games for which failed and successful bid were submitted. A parenthesis indicates that the city was awarded the games without a bidding process. A dagger () indicates that the city was awarded the games, but that they were ultimately not held in the city, either because the games were canceled or moved. An asterix (*) indicates that the bid was not shortlisted.^[1]

Country	City	Failed bids	Successful bids
Argentina	Buenos Aires	1936, 1956, 1968, 2004
Australia	Brisbane	1992
Australia	Melbourne	1996	1956
Australia	Sydney	—	2000
Austria	Vienna	1964	—
Azerbaijan	Baku	2016*	—
Belgium	Antwerp	—	1920
Belgium	Brussels	1916, 1960, 1964	—
Brazil	Rio de Janeiro	1936, 2004*, 2012*	2016
Canada	Montreal	1944, 1956, 1972	1976
Canada	Toronto	1996, 2008	—
China	Beijing	2000	2008
Cuba	Havana	1920, 2008*, 2012*	—
Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia	Prague	1924, 2016*	—
Egypt	Alexandria	1916, 1936	—
Egypt	Cairo	2008*	—
Finland	Helsinki	1936, 1944	(1940) 1952
France	Lille	2004*	—
France	Lyon	1920, 1968	—
France	Paris	1992, 2008, 2012	(1900), 1924
Germany	Berlin	1908, 2000	1916, 1936
Germany	Cologne	1936	—
Germany	Frankfurt	1936	—
Germany	Leipzig	2012*	—
Germany !(West) Germany	Munich	—	1972
Germany	Nuremberg	1936	—
Great Britain	Birmingham	1992	—
Great Britain	London	—	1908, 1948, 2012
Great Britain	Manchester	1996, 2000	—
Greece	Athens	1944, 1952, 1996	(1896), 2004
Hungary	Budapest	1916, 1920, 1936, 1944, 1960	—
Ireland	Dublin	1936	—
Italy	Milan	1908	—
Italy	Rome	1924, 1936, 1944, 2004	1908, 1960
Japan	Nagoya	1988	—
Japan	Osaka	2008	—
Japan	Tokyo	1960, 2016	1940, 1964, 2020
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	2008*	—
Mexico	Mexico City	1956, 1960	1968
Netherlands	Amsterdam	1916, 1920, 1924, 1952, 1992	1928
Puerto Rico	San Juan	2004*	—
Qatar	Doha	2016*	—
Russia/Soviet Union	Moscow	1976, 2012	1980
Russia	Saint Petersburg	2004	—
South Africa	Cape Town	2004	—
South Korea	Seoul	—	1988
Spain	Barcelona	1936	1992
Spain	Madrid	1972, 2012, 2016, 2020	—
Spain	Seville	2004, 2008*	—
Sweden	Stockholm	1952, 2004	1912, 1956
Switzerland	Lausanne	1936, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1960
Thailand	Bangkok	2008*	—
Turkey	Istanbul	2000, 2004, 2008, 2012*, 2020
United States	Atlanta	1920	1996
United States	Baltimore	1948	—
United States	Chicago	1952, 1956, 2016	(1904)
United States	Cleveland	1916, 1920	—
United States	Detroit	1944, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972	—
United States	Los Angeles	1924, 1928, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1976	1932, 1984
United States	Minneapolis	1948, 1952, 1956	—
United States	New York City	2012	—
United States	Philadelphia	1920, 1948, 1952, 1956
United States	San Francisco	1956	—
United States	St. Louis	—	(1904)
Yugoslavia	Belgrade	1992, 1996	—

By country

The following is a list of bids submitted by national Olympic committee, listing the country and years it bid. Only countries which submitted bids with multiple cities are included. Successful bids are in boldface. A parenthesis indicates that the city was awarded the games without a bidding process. A dagger () indicates that the city was awarded the games, but that they were ultimately not held in the city, either because the games were canceled or moved.^[1]

Country	Years
Australia	1956, 1992, 1996, 2000
Belgium	1916, 1920, 1960, 1964
Canada	1944, 1956, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2008
Egypt	1916, 1936, 2008
France	(1900), 1920, 1924, 1968, 1992, 2004, 2008, 2012
Germany	1908, 1916, 1936, 1972, 2000, 2012
Great Britain	1908, 1948, 1992 1996, 2000. 2012
Italy	1908, 1924, 1936, 1944, 1960, 2004, 2020
Japan	1940, 1960, 1964, 1988, 2008, 2016, 2020
Russia/Soviet Union	1976, 1980, 2004, 2012
Spain	1924, 1936, 1940, 1972, 1992, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020
United States	(1904), 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1996, 2012, 2016

Notes