The Olympics in photos

Since 1896, the year of the first modern Olympic Games, photographers have immortalised sporting feats. Rio 2016 obviously is no exception, with the Games covered by hundreds of photographers. A look back at more than 100 years of Olympic imagery.

While it's easy to find images of Rio 2016 on every news or sports website, images from previous Olympics are harder to come by. Yet a real photographic goldmine exists: www.olympic.org — the IOC's website.

Athens, 1896

Respect to the ancients, with the 40 images of the 1896 Athens Olympics. We're far from today's in-the-thick-of-it images, from 1/8,000-sec shutter speeds, or from 400 and 600 mm telephoto lenses. But the photos honour the athletes with the same emotion.

The arrival of colour: Rome, 1960

It was in Rome in 1960 that the first colour images appeared — easier to spot the red jersey or the blue shorts!

The disappearance of black and white: Los Angeles 1984

It was in 1984 that, for the first time, every image was in colour. Besides this disappearance of black and white, cameras had evolved and could now capture images right in the heat of action.

The IOC

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is an organisation created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894, to restore the ancient Olympic Games and then organise this sporting event every four years, alternating every two years from 1994 onwards between Summer and Winter Olympics.

Since 1981, it has been a non-governmental, non-profit international organisation, headquartered in Lausanne under the Olympic Charter. The association has time-limited legal personality, and its status is recognised by the Swiss Confederation by decree of the Federal Council of 17 September 1981. Since 10 September 2013, for a term of eight years, the ninth IOC president has been Thomas Bach.