The Olympic Games are held every four years, but because Summer and Winter Games are staggered, some form of the Olympics now happens every two years.

Quick Scoop: How often is Olympics held?

The core schedule

  • The main rule: each Olympic Games (Summer or Winter) is on a four‑year cycle.
  • Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Games alternate, so:
    • Year 1 of a four‑year cycle: Summer Olympics
    • Year 3 of that cycle: Winter Olympics
    • Result: fans see an Olympics roughly every two years , but each specific edition (e.g., Summer) still appears every four.

Why every four years?

  • The modern Games copied the tradition of ancient Greece, where the Olympics were held every four years in Olympia, a period called an Olympiad.
  • A four‑year gap gives:
    • Host cities time to build venues and infrastructure
    • Athletes time to train, qualify, and peak at the right moment.

In other words, when people ask “how often is Olympics held,” the simple answer is “every four years,” but in practice you’ll see either a Summer or Winter Olympics about every two years.

Recent and upcoming context

  • The cycle continues even when disrupted: for example, the Tokyo “2020” Games took place in 2021 but still counted as the 2020 Olympiad edition.
  • Summer and Winter Games still respect the four‑year rhythm; only extreme events like world wars or major pandemics have paused them in the past.

TL;DR: Each Summer Olympics is held every four years, each Winter Olympics is held every four years, and because they alternate, some Olympics happens roughly every two years.

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