The Olympics have been held in some of the most scenic locations on Earth, and this year is no exception. Some of the most breathtaking moments of the games involve details captured in photo finishes in cross country skiing and hooked ski tips leading to crashes in the slalom seen in slow-motion video. All that aside, Vancouver is equally breathtaking from above.
Vancouver beat out Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria, to host Canada's third Olympics. The city has delivered beautiful, sunny weather that is unfortunately too warm for ideal snow conditions, giving the grounds crews some major challenges. Snow has been trucked in for some of the events.
This gallery collects images taken from space by astronauts and satellite of a few of the more interesting and attractive Olympic host cities from 1900 to 2016.
Vancouver, British Columbia
The image above, taken by the Landsat-7 satellite in December, shows the entire Vancouver-Whistler area. The ski resort can be seen in the upper left corner of the image and in the closeup below. The next image below is an even closer look at Whistler taken by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite. The next images are of Cypress Mountain, where the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events are being held, the first from GeoEye, one from Digital Globe and the last image from Landsat-7.
Click any image in this gallery for a higher-resolution version.
Images: 1) NASA. 2) NASA. 3) DigitalGlobe. 4) DigitalGlobe. 5) NASA.
Athens, Greece
As the 2004 Olympic Games approached, all of Greece held its breath, waiting to see if Athens would complete construction of all the venues in time. While much of the world doubted the city and second guessed the IOC's decision to send the Olympics back to its birthplace, Athens worked night and day and made the deadline.
But just barely. The dust hadn't quite settled at some venues when competition began. Some of the 15,000 spectators who watched the United States lose to Puerto Rico sat on temporary folding chairs on planks of plywood in the not-quite-finished Helliniko Indoor Arena. It was the first U.S. loss of an Olympic basketball game since NBA players began competing.
The image above, taken by GeoEye's IKONOS satellite on June 24, 2004 shows the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. In the bottom half of the photo is the Olympic Stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies were held. The Olympic Indoor Hall, which hosted gymnastics and the basketball finals is the large square building near the center of the image, and to its left is the outdoor Olympic Aquatic Center. To the right is the Olympic Tennis Center and toward the top of the image is the Olympic Velodrome.
The image below, taken in June 2004 by astronauts on the International Space Station, shows some of the brand-new venues on the outskirts of the city including the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex on the coast near the center of the image where the handball, taekwondo, volleyball and beach volleyball competitions take place. Also on the coast, near the bottom of the image, is the Helliniko Olympic Complex, which held the canoeing and kayaking, baseball and softball, fencing and hockey events. The Acropolis is near the very center of the image.
Images: 1) GeoEye. 2) NASA.
Paris
The first modern Olympics was held in Athens in 1896. Paris hosted the second games in 1900 and the eighth in 1924. The city made it to the final selection round for the 2012 Olympics, but lost to London, which become the first city to host the games three times.
The 1900 summer games included a swimming obstacle race with things like fences and boats for the competitors to navigate. Sadly, this event was never seen again at the Olympics, along with equestrian long jump and two-day cricket. It would be too awesome to watch Michael Phelps climbing out of the water to jump off a platform and then dive under a string of floating barrels.
Another highlight was the first Olympic medal won by a person of African descent when Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera won a silver in the tug of war.
The 1924 Olympics saw the first use of a 50-meter-long pool with marked lanes for races. In gymnastics, 23 men were awarded a perfect 10 in the rope-climbing event, which has since been discontinued.
The image above was taken by astronauts on the International Space Station in January 2008. Though many of the venues are no longer there, the Hippodrome d'Auteuil can be seen as an oval-shaped patch of green in the park in the upper left corner. The image below is a map of the venues from the 1924 Olympics Official Report.
Images: 1) NASA. 2) The 1900 Olympics poster. 3) 1924 Olympics Official Report/ Wikimedia Commons
Beijing
The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing made the news for a number of reasons beyond the actual competition. The grand, unique architecture of the ambitious Olympic complex was both captivating and controversial. But the city got even more press for its dismal air quality.
The image above, taken July 12, 2008 by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 satellite, shows the Beijing National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest," just two weeks after it was completed.
To the south of the stadium is the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium where the handball competition was held, the Ying Tung Natatorium which housed the water polo games and the Olympic Sports Center Stadium where the pentathlon and equestrian events took place. To the west is the Water Cube which held the swimming and diving competition. The arched building north of the Water Cube is National Indoor Stadium which held the gymnastics events. And north of this is the Fencing Hall.
Image: DigitalGlobe
Salt Lake City
The 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City had their fair share of controversy, beginning with a bribing scandal involving members of the committee that selected the host city.
The controversy continued into the figure skating competition where a French judge said she had been pressured to vote for the Russian pairs team which pushed them to victory over the Canadian favorites Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. In the end, both pairs were awarded gold. Another controversial moment came when American Apolo Anton Ohno was given a gold medal in short-track speed skating after Korean Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified.
On the right side of this image, taken the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus instrument on the Landsat 7 satellite in May 2000, the Park City and Deer Valley ski resorts where the downhill skiing, bobsledding and ski jumping competitions were held.
The tan-colored scar on the left side of the image is the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world.
Image: USGS/NASA
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona lost out to Berlin in a bid to host the 1936 Olympics before getting the 1992 summer games.
In the image above, taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station in December 2006, the tan-and-orange-colored structures on top of Montjuïc hill in the lower left are buildings used in the Olympics, including the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc. This stadium was originally built for the 1936 bid, and then renovated to hold 70,000 for the opening and closing ceremonies and some athletics events during the 1992 games.
The pattern of square-looking buildings with open centers in the center of the image are actually octagonal blocks with the corners cut off in Barcelona's Eixample district.
Image: NASA
Torino, Italy
The last Winter Olympics took place in Torino, Italy, in 2006. The city of nearly a million people beat out Sion, Switzerland in the final round to host the XX Winter Olympics.
The image above, taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus instrument on the Landsat 7 satellite in July 2001, shows Torino and the Alps to the east where skiing, snowboarding, bobsleddding and other mountain events were held. The skating events took place in the city.
The image below, taken by the Ikonos satellite, shows Pragelato where the Nordic, ski jumping and cross-country skiing events took place. It was taken on Jan. 10, 2006 a month before the competition began. Toward the top of the image, the 120-meter Large Hill and 90-meter Normal Hill ski jumps can be seen.
Images: 1) USGS/NASA. 2) GeoEye/European Space Imaging
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The XIV Winter Olympic Games were held in 1984 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was Yugoslavia at the time.
Kosevo Stadion can be seen in the upper left of this image, taken in April 2005 by the European Space Agency's Spot Satellite. The Stadium was built in 1947 and expanded to hold 50,000 people for the opening ceremonies.
American twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre came in first and second in the slalom and Bill Johnson became the first American to win an Olympic downhill event. Famed British ice skating pair Torvil and Dean earned all 6.0 scores in the free skate, which hasn't happened again since.
Image: ESA
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
After being cut before the final selection round for the 2012 Olympics, Rio de Janeiro won the bid for the 2016 games. It will be the first time the Olympics are held in South America. Rio was chosen over Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid in the final round.
Golf and a seven-player version of rugby will make their debut at the Rio games, having beaten out baseball, softball, inline skating, karate and squash for two open slots for new sports. Baseball and softball were voted out of the games in 2005.
This image was taken by GeoEye's Ikonos satellite in 2006.
Image: NASA
London
In 2010, London will become the first city to have hosted the Olympics three times. The city also held the games in 1908 and 1948. In the final round of the selection process, London beat out Moscow, Madrid, New York City and Paris, which was bidding for its third Olympics as well.
London plans to use some existing venues and add new buildings and infrastructure including a high-speed rail system known as the Olympic Javelin Shuttle.
This image was taken in April 2005 by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Image: NASA
