Olympic Games

The Olympic Games were an international sporting event on Earth.

History
The Tenth Doctor claimed to have visited the very first Olympics and watched naked men throwing a discus before a giant crowd. (TV: Fear Her)

The First Doctor and his companions Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright visited Babylon and met Alexander the Great in the Year of the 114th Olympiad, which equated to 323 BC in the Anno Domini Gregorian calendar. (AUDIO: Farewell, Great Macedon)

Modern Olympics were introduced in 1896. (TV: Fear Her) The Olympics were held in London for the first time in 1948. The Doctor enjoyed it so much, he attended them twice. John Mark lit the torch. (TV: Fear Her)

The 1968 Olympics were held in Mexico. While in Atlantis, Polly Wright discovered a souvenir bracelet from the games and Ben Jackson guessed from it that the year was approximately 1970. (TV: The Underwater Menace)

Some time in the 1970s, John Crichton jumped 2.6362 metres in one of the Olympics. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)

The 1984 Olympics were held in Los Angeles and were boycotted by the Soviet Union, who announced their intention to do so on 8 May of that year. (AUDIO: The Reaping)



The 2012 Olympics were held in London. Due to a mishap along the torch relay route, the Olympic Flame was lit at the opening ceremonies by the Tenth Doctor, who appeared on international television doing so. Afterwards, he and Rose Tyler attended a neighbourhood celebration. (TV: Fear Her) The Eleventh Doctor saved a torch bearer from a Weeping Angel. (TV: Good as Gold) The United Kingdom issued a commemorative pound coin celebrating the London Olympics, one of which ended up in a coin-operated vending machine in Manchester in 2008. (AUDIO: The Raincloud Man) In the far future, radio and television broadcasts concerning the 2012 Olympics could be accessed via the Gogglebox inside the Moon. (AUDIO: The Reaping, AUDIO: The Gathering)

The 2044 Olympics were held in Havana, Cuba. Tarak Ital represented Pakistan in athletics and won a gold medal. (TV: The Waters of Mars)

The 2048 Olympics were held in Paris. (TV: The Waters of Mars)

The 2060 Olympics were held in Barcelona. The Fifth Doctor wanted to go there to watch the cricket match. (AUDIO: Nekromanteia)

The Tenth Doctor offered to take Rose Tyler to the first Anti-Gravity Olympics. (TV: Tooth and Claw) In 2074, the Eleventh Doctor rode a anti-gravity motorbike in the Anti-Grav Olympics, and finished last. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

In 3999, the Intergalactic Olympic Games were held on Micawber's World. The Eighth Doctor took Samantha Jones there. (PROSE: Placebo Effect)

When Davros revived and demanded to know what had happened while he was in suspended animation, the Fourth Doctor told him that Arcturus had won the Galactic Olympic Games with Betelgeuse coming in second. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)

After Earth was recolonised by the inhabitants of the Nerva Beacon in 16087, the Olympic Games were resumed. However, the fragmentary historical records stated that the Games were held every fourth of a year instead of once every four years. They were being held in Nerva City, the former site of New York City, at the time of the Sixth Doctor and Flip Jackson's arrival in the city in 16127. (AUDIO: Wirrn Isle)

Behind the scenes
The Tenth Doctor's involvement in the 2012 Olympics sparked a petition from fans all over the world wishing David Tennant to carry the Olympic Torch. The petition was, at its end, signed by a grand total of nearly 40,000 people.

Unfortunately, this did not end up happening. In fact, Doctor Who in the end barely ended up getting featured at all. Although a big, commemorative video for the UK's staple science fiction series was produced and was planned to appear along with an appearance of the TARDIS, this whole presentation was cut last-minute, Only the TARDIS materialisation sound effect appeared at the opening ceremony in the end, during Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Despite the show's absence on the opening ceremony itself, it did gain a small presence during the torch-bearing process. On 26 May 2012, Eleventh Doctor actor Matt Smith carried the Olympic torch from the historic Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay to the National Assembly building, as part of the torch's tour around the United Kingdom, ahead of the 2012 London Games.