What is the IOC?
The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was created on in June 1894 to reinstate the Ancient Olympic Games held in Greece between 776 BC to 396 AD. There currently are 203 memberships in the National Olympic Committees. The IOC organizes the Olympic Games held in Summer and Winter, every four years (e.g. 2008 in China). The first Summer Olympics were celebrated in Athens, Greece, in 1896; the first Winter Olympics in 1924 Chamonix (France). Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics where held in the same year. In 1994, however, the IOC shifted the Winter Olympics to the even years between the summer games.
