The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum is designed in a narrative arc, telling the stories of Team USA’s greatest athletes. Like any story, the best place to start is at the beginning.
Our first gallery — Introduction to the Games — starts at the beginning of the Olympic and Paralympic movements, nearly 3,000 years ago. You will learn about the ancient Olympics as well as the origins of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Games.
You can learn about the 8th-century B.C. Olympic Games events to the 21st-century A.D. Olympic Games technology and everything in between at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.
You will take an athlete’s journey through the greatest sporting event in history and experience Pierre de Coubertin’s empowering words, “The most important thing is not winning but taking part.”