Looking Back at 120 Years of Olympic Poster Design [100 Posters]

You might remember our collection of all Olympic logos from 1924 to 2022, this time we looked into history between 1896 and 2022 and collected all Olympic posters. This collection includes 87 Olympic posters. Since many Olympics had several posters, I tried to find and select the best ones. I hope that this collection will give you an idea of how poster design have changed over the time.

From this collection, you can see that the 1960 Winter Olympics were the first that moved away from ancient motives and sculptures toward graphic elements. I don’t know if design in general changes around the same time but we can see that it changed Olympic posters forever.

Another turning point is around the 1992 Winter Olympics when design becomes abstract and much simpler. Less colors and pure white background. This is something still trending in Sochi Olympic and other regular poster design.

Another great example is from the 1968 Summer Olympics when the first icons were introduced that represented each Olympic discipline and they are used since. Check Sochi for example. It would be interesting to know if Mexico come up with this idea or come from International Olympic Committee.

City that seriously nailed Olympic poster design was Munich in 1972 Summer Olympics. These posters could be used today and no one would notice that they were designed over 40 years ago. One of them looks similar to Nexus 7 background wallpapers.

If you feel that some Olympic poster is missing, please let us know which ones are it and I will update this list. Otherwise, enjoy this collection and leave your comments below.

1896 Summer Olympics – Games of The I Olympiad – Athens, Greece

1900 Summer Olympics – Games of the II Olympiad – Paris, France

1904 Summer Olympics – Games of the III Olympiad – St. Luis, United States

1906 Summer Olympics – Intercalated Games – Athens, Greece

1908 Summer Olympics – Games of the IV Olympiad – London, United Kingdom

1912 Summer Olympics – Games of the V Olympiad – Stockholm, Sweden

1920 Summer Olympics – Games of the VII Olympiad – Antwerp, Belgium

1924 Summer Olympics – Games of the VIII Olympiad – Paris, France

1924 Winter Olympics – I Olympic Winter Games – Chamonix, France

1928 Summer Olympics – Games of the IX Olympiad – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1928 Winter Olympics – II Olympic Winter Games – St. Moritz, Switzerland

1932 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid, United States

1932 Summer Olympics – Games of the X Olympiad – Los Angeles, United States

1936 Summer Olympics – Games of the XI Olympiad – Berlin, Germany

1936 Winter Olympics – IV Olympic Winter Games – Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

1940 Summer Olympics – Games of the XII Olympiad – Helsinki, Finland

1940 Summer Olympics were cancelled due to WWII

1940 Summer Olympics – Games of the XII Olympiad -Tokyo, Japan

1940 Summer Olympics were cancelled in 1938 due to Sino-Japanese War

1948 Summer Olympics – Games of the XIV Olympiad – London, United Kingdom

1948 Winter Olympics – V Olympic Winter Games – St.Moritz, Switzerland

1952 Summer Olympics – Games of the XV Olympiad – Helsinki, Finland

1952 Winter Olympics – VI Olympic Winter Games – Oslo, Norway

1956 Summer Olympics – Games of the XVI Olympiad – Melbourne, Australia

1956 Winter Olympics – VII Olympic Winter Games – Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

1960 Summer Olympics – Games of the XVII Olympiad – Rome, Italy

1960 Winter Olympics – VIII Olympic Winter Games – Squaw Valley, United States

1964 Winter Olympics – IX Olympic Winter Games – Innsbruck, Austria

1964 Summer Olympics – Games of the XVIII Olympiad – Tokyo, Japan

1968 Summer Olympics – Games of the XIX Olympiad – Mexico City, Mexico

1968 Winter Olympics – X Olympic Winter Games – Grenoble, France

1972 Summer Olympics – Games of the XX Olympiad – Munich, West Germany

1972 Winter Olympics – XI Olympic Winter Games – Sapporo, Japan

1976 Winter Olympics – XII Olympic Winter Games – Innsbruck, Austria

1976 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXI Olympiad – Montreal, Canada

1980 Winter Olympics – XIII Olympic Winter Games – Lake Placid, New York, United States

1980 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXII Olympiad – Moscow, Soviet Union

1984 Winter Olympics – XIV Olympic Winter Games – Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

1984 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXIII Olympiad – Los Angeles, United States

1988 Winter Olympics – XV Olympic Winter Games – Calgary, Alberta, Canada

1988 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXIV Olympiad – Seoul, South Korea

1992 Winter Olympics – XVI Olympic Winter Games – Albertville, France

1992 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXV Olympiad – Barcelona, Spain

1994 Winter Olympics – XVII Olympic Winter Games – Lillehammer, Norway

1996 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXVI Olympiad – Atlanta, United States

1998 Winter Olympics – XVIII Olympic Winter Games – Nagano, Japan

2000 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXVII Olympiad – Sydney, Australia

2002 Winter Olympics – XIX Olympic Winter Games – Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

2004 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXVIII Olympiad – Athens, Greece

2006 Winter Olympics – XX Olympic Winter Games – Turino, Italy

2008 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXIX Olympiad – Beijing, China

2010 Winter Olympics – XXI Olympic Winter Games – Vancouver, BC, Canada

2012 Summer Olympics – Games of the XXX Olympiad – London, United Kingdom

2014 Winter Olympics – XXII Olympic Winter Games – Sochi, Russia

Huge thanks goes to Bill Pileggi, Olympic researcher who contributed to this collection by providing high quality posters from his personal collection.