Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic Stadium as part of their name. The Winter Olympic Games do not have a central Olympic Stadium, however some edifices are designated as the Olympic Stadium, which usually hosts the opening and closing ceremonies.

A number of stadiums have been used in more than one Olympics, in those cities that have held the Games twice. While only one (the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum) has been the main stadium twice, both the Panathinaiko Stadio and the Vélodrome de Vincennes have hosted events at subsequent Olympics. The London Games of 2012 was not be opened and closed at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium, the site of the 1948 Olympic Stadium, but at a new stadium in Stratford. Wembley was however the venue for some 2012 Olympic football matches. Wembley will become the second stadium to have been used twice but only host one Olympics after the Melbourne Cricket Ground which was the venue in 1956 and hosted the first game of the Sydney 2000 football tournament.