Wally Stiles, age 16, of Annapolis, Md., for his question:

HAVE MANY CITIES HOSTED THE OLYMPICS TWICE?

In just a few days, Los Angeles, California, will become the host city as thousands of the world's finest amateur athletes gather for the 1984 Olympic Games. This will be the second Olympics for Los Angeles. The city was also host for the 1932 Olympic Games.

Two other cities have each hosted two summer Olympic Games since the modern Olympics started in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The two cities are London, England, host of the 1908 and 1948 Olympics and Paris, France, host in both 1900 and 1924.

The Winter Games didn't start until 1924. And three cities have hosted two winter Olympics each: St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1928 and 1948; Lake Placid, New York fn 1932 and 1980; and Innsbruck, Austria, in 1964 and 1976.

Because of war, Summer Games were not held in 1916, 1940 and 1944. Winter Games were not held in 1940 and 1944.

Here are the one game hosts: St. Louis, Missouri in 1904; Stockholm, Sweden in 1912; Antwerp, Belgium in 1920; Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1928; Berlin, Germany in 1936; Helsinki, Finland in 1952; Melbourne, Australia in 1956; Rome, Italy in 1960; Tokyo, Japan in 1964, Mexico City, Mexico in 1968; Munich, West Germany in 1972; Montreal, Canada in 1976; and Moscow, Russia in 1980.

Here are the one game hosts of the Winter Olympics: Chamonix, France in 1924; Garmish Partenkirchen, Germany in 1936; Oslo, Norway in 1952; Cortina, Italy in 1956; Squaw Valley, California in 1960, Grenoble, France in 1968; Sapporo, Japan in 1972; and Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1984.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body of the Olympic Games. The committee approves the sports to be included in the Olympics.

The host city must provide a large stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies. Most host cities build special facilities for various Olympic events.

The opening ceremony of the 1984 games will be prticularly impressive. The Olympic athletes of Greece will march into the stadium first, in honor of the original Olympics held in ancient Greece. Then the athletes of the other nations will follow in alphabetical order by country. This order always depends on the spelling of each nation's name in the language of the host country.

The athletes of the host company always enter last, so in the 1984 games, the United States athletes will be the final team.

one of the most dramatic moments of the opening ceremony is the lighting of the Olympic Flame. Runners in crosscountry relays bring a lighted torch from the valley of Olympia, Greece, where the ancient Olympics were held.

Thousands of runners take part in the journey of the lighted torch across the nation. The final runner carries the torch into the stadium, circles the track and lights the Olympic Flame. The flame is kept burning until the end of the games.