Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history,” said Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern games as we know them today. On a fateful evening in 1894, Coubertin proposed a revival of the ancient sporting event, which had been confined to the history books for nearly 1,500 years. Setting out his vision to unite the world through sport, Coubertin imagined a future where the world’s major cities would step forward to host the competition – and in 1896 his hopes became reality. The Olympic Games were reborn in Athens, and sporting history was made.

Since then, 23 cities…