The Olympic Games are held every four years, but because Summer and Winter Games alternate, there is some form of Olympics every two years today.

How often are the Olympics?

  • The Summer Olympics are held every four years.
  • The Winter Olympics are also held every four years.
  • Since 1994, Summer and Winter Games are staggered so that one of them happens every two years (for example: Winter, then two years later Summer).

Quick historical context

  • In ancient Greece, the original Olympic Games at Olympia were held every four years, and that four‑year span was called an “Olympiad.”
  • The modern Olympics revived this same four‑year rhythm in 1896 to honor that tradition and to give athletes and host cities enough time to prepare.

So if you’re wondering “how often are Olympics?”, the tradition is every four years for each type of Games, but as a viewer you see an Olympics on TV roughly every two years thanks to the current schedule.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.