Why are the Olympics every four years?

Question

Well, technically, if you count summer and winter Olympics, they are every two years. But why is summer Olympics every four years and why is the winter Olympics every four years?

My guesses were they need to train the athletes and prepare the city?

Answer 1

An Olympiad is a measure of time used in Ancient Greece that equals 4 years. That is why they are every 4 years. Because Olympic means 4! It has nothing to do with money, lol.

But I do think that is why they stagger the summer and winter games. So that every 2 years sponsers can make some cash.

Answer 2

They stagger each other, so we'll be able to see an Olympic event every two years (winter Olympics). I think each city that gets the Olympics needs 4 years time because they usually need to build astadium and an athelets village.

Answer 3

Yes and also to give time to athletes to complete dope bans.

Answer 4

You forgot the most important reason:  MONEY.  Training athletes and constructing stadiums costs big bucks.  Some countries are stretching to the limit to send athletes to the Olympics every four years, and many countries can't send as many athletes as they would like because of money.  If the Olympics were held more often, very few countries would be able to shoulder the financial burden of sending their team to compete.

Answer 5

Your guesses are right! the athletes need to train and it takes quite a while to construct the olympic stadiums.

Answer 6

yes, they need time to train and prepare. Besides, this is how Greeks had it originally. It's their invention and their rules, we just joined their game.