Great Interactive Chart of the Summer Olympics

From The Economist, a really interesting interactive map/chart of the Summer Olympics back to 1896, here are some factoids:

1. The first Summer Olympics was held in Athens, Greece in 1896, with 14 participating countries (see graphic above).

2. By 1900, the number of participating countries increased to 28 for Olympiad II, hosted by Paris, France. 

3. The U.S. hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1904, and it was held in St. Louis. 

4. London hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1908. 

5. The 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin was cancelled due to World War I, and the Summer Olympics in 1940 (scheduled in Tokyo) and 1944 (scheduled for London, re-scheduled for 1948) were cancelled due to WW II.

6. London is first city to host the Summer Olympic games three times (1908, 1948, 2012).

Lots of other Olympic trivia appears on the individual screens for each Summer Olympic event (you can stop the graph by clicking on the arrow on the right).