# summer olympics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512 "2000-07-23T02:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512/1 "2000-07-23T02:39:02Z")
If I’m not mistaken, the summer olympics start Sept. 15, and I’m sure continue for at least a week – in other words, into the fall. Why so late? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512/2 "2000-07-23T02:43:14Z")
Actually, it’s early. It’s spring in Australia. Holding them in the Northern Hemisphere winter would have made it difficult to hold Olympic trials outdoors. Holding them in the Northern Hemisphere summer probably would have been too cool in Sydney. So they hold them in the spring, which lets the Northern Hemisphere countries have trials, and lets them have good weather in the Southern Hemisphere. So you see, no worries. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512/3 "2000-07-23T04:22:52Z")
The 1956 Melbourne Games started on 22 Nov and went into early December. That was late spring. The Sydney Games will be in early spring, so the weather will be chancier. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512/4 "2000-07-23T04:24:29Z")
Officially the word “Summer” isn’t in the name of the event. It’s just the Olympic Games or the Games of the ## Olympiad. The Winter Olympics are properly called the Olympic Winter Games. ---
**Author:** ![Erroneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71c47a/32.png) [@Erroneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erroneous)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512/5 "2000-07-23T12:04:43Z")
I really wish I could remember where I heard these little factoids, so I could make sure they’re accurate, but they were something like: -On the day that the athletics finals are scheduled to be held this year in Sydney, exactly one year earlier, there was a hailstorm with hailstones so large as to damage roofs and injure several people. -On the day that the marathon is scheduled (an event that starts earlier in the morning than most, so the runners don’t run during the hottest part of the day), exactly two years earlier, the temperature was 30 degrees C (90-something F) at 6am. There were a couple others, too. ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-olympics/26512/6 "2000-07-23T13:35:37Z")
As I pointed out several days ago in another thread, the Sydney Olypic Games are being held in September because it suits the Northern hemisphere nations. It has nothing to do with when the best weather will occur. If you wanted the most ideal time of the year, you would choose late March or early April, when Australia is experiencing Autumn. I live halfway across the continent from Sydney, on the coast of South Australia. In my part of the world, around Easter is the best time of the year for fishing, boating and camping, because it is both the driest and least windy time of the year.