The points race was a track cycling event held 8 times for men and 4 times for women at the Summer Olympics.

The event was first held for men at the second modern Olympics in 1900.

It was not held again until 1984; it was then held every Summer Olympics from then until 2008, after which it was removed from the programme.

A women's version was introduced in 1996 and also lasted until 2008.

The points race was replaced with the Omnium, which includes a points race as one of its multiple components, in 2012.