Human rights have become an increasingly important topic for mega sports events since the start of the 21st century, and the issue will undoubtedly make the headlines again in relation to Beijing hosting the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in February 2022 and Qatar hosting the Men’s Football World Cup in November 2022. The present review shows that the modern Olympic Games’ relationship with human rights has evolved in step with society’s evolving conception of human rights. This evolution is clearly illustrated by the Olympic system’s attitude toward human rights at four key periods, centred round the 1936 Olympics, the Games of the 1960s and 1970s, the Games in China (2008, 2014 and 2022) and future editions of the Games (from 2024). Each moment required the Olympic Games to consider human rights that it had rarely had to attend to before. Indeed, given society’s increasing concern for human rights, the Olympic system and host countries will undoubtedly have to pay ever-greater attention to the issue when attributing and staging Olympic Games.