What's on at the Olympics? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paris (1924)

The Games of the 8th Olympiad in Paris 1924 were the first to feature the famous Olympic motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' (Faster, Higher, Stronger). Built in 1907 (and later expanded for the Soccer World Cup in 1938), the Olympic Stadium in Colombes in the Nanterre Arrondissement in Paris was the venue for the opening ceremony, the running events dominated by the Finns and the English and several other sports. 'Chariots of Fire', with its memorable, Oscar winning theme song by Vangelis, follows the true story of English runners Abrahams (played by Ben Cross) and Liddell (Ian Charleson). Due to religious beliefs, Liddell refused to run his specialty event, the 100m sprint, as it was to be held on a Sunday. Events then allowed him to race in the 400m, which he subsequently won, despite not being favorite. Jewish-born Abrahams battled prejudice and became an elite sprinter and long jumper at Cambridge University.

In Paris, he took Liddell's place in the 100m and won the gold medal, defeating the 1920 champion, Charley Paddock. Later in life Abrahams became a doctor, wrote books on the Olympics and was associated with the British team as a manager and a reporter. Liddell moved to China where he was a missionary, before dying of a brain tumor in 1945. In addition to the Best Score, 'Chariots of Fire' won the Best Picture Oscar as well as Oscars for Best Writing and Best Costume Design at the 54th Academy Awards.

Answer: Charlie Chan

Warner Oland played many roles before coming to widespread renown playing Dr Fu Manchu. He first played Charlie Chan in the 1931 film 'Charlie Chan Carries On'. The popularity of this character led to Oland continuing this role for another 15 films. 'Charlie Chan at the Olympics' was notable in that it featured the ill-fated air-ship, the Hindenberg, within the Berlin Olympics. Chan eventually found the guidance system for the Hopkins plane and caught the perpetrators of the crime, just in time to see his son, Lee, win the 100m freestyle gold medal. Charlie Chan, created by American playwright and novelist Earl Derr Biggers, was a fictional Chinese American detective. Chan was based in Honolulu but traveled widely to solve the often perplexing crimes with which he was confronted. Biggers deliberately created Chan, a very positive role model, to counteract the 'yellow peril' atmosphere unjustly facing many Asian people in western society at that time.

Answer: Munich

The 1972 Olympic Games in Munich were notable for the haul of 7 gold medals by American swimmer, Mark Spitz, 3 gold medals by 15 year old Australian swimmer, Shane Gould, and great performances by Olga Korbut, Lasse Viren and Valeriy Borzov amongst many others.

The USSR beat the USA in a highly controversial basketball match for the gold medal. However, all of these wonderful achievements were heavily overshadowed by the massacre of 11 Israeli team members (and a West German policeman) by the Palestinian Black September terrorist organization.

The Munich Games was the first major operation mounted by that organization since their founding in 1970. On the 5th of September 1972, the nine athletes and two coaches were taken hostage in their accommodation.

The massacre commenced with an ill-fated rescue attempt. There was consideration of abandoning the Games but the International Olympic Committee finally decided that the Games must go on after a 24 hour pause. The 1999 documentary movie 'One Day in September' recounts the events of September 5, 1972.

The movie interweaves documentary footage of the Games and contemporary news broadcasts about the unfolding events, with interviews with a range of people involved including the families of some of the murdered Israelis, the German security unit leader and one of the three surviving terrorists (in hiding somewhere in Africa). Although receiving some criticism, especially for the final gory scenes, this movie received the Best Documentary Feature Oscar in 2000. Michael Douglas was the narrator.

Answer: Cary Grant

This comedy, filmed in technicolor, was directed by Charles Walters. The plot involves Rutland trying to play matchmaker between Easton (Samantha Eggar) and Davis (Jim Hutton). Davis and Rutland were letting a part of Easton's apartment due to the severe shortage of accommodation caused by the Olympics. Rutland did not approve of Easton's fiance, the officious and priggish British diplomat, Julius Haversack (John Standing).

Born Archibald Leach in Bristol (England) in 1904, Grant started his theatrical career as a stilt walker and traveled to the USA in 1920, while working with the Bob Pender Stage Troupe. Remaining in the USA when the Troupe returned home, Leach moved into vaudeville and eventually landed some major stage roles in the early 1930s. He went to Hollywood in 1931, where he was asked to change his name. Cary Grant was the ultimate result, through input by Paramount Studios. His first film appearance was in 1932 in 'This is the Night'. His first starring role came later that year, playing Nick Townsend opposite Marlene Dietrich in 'Blonde Venus'. His movie career, which finished with 'Walk, Don't Run', consisted of 74 films, most as the lead actor. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1970 for his mastery of the acting craft over his long career.

Answer: Klopstokia

The small nation of Klopstokia is in severe financial trouble. Young lovers, the president's daughter, Angela (Fleming) and salesman Migg Tweeny (Oakie), pitch a cunning rescue plan to the president (Fields). Using the incredible physical prowess of the Klopstokian men, they scheme to win gold medals at the Olympics.

The president, himself an incredibly strong man, is to enter the weightlifting. In the meantime, the discontents in the president's ruling elite want the plan to fail, so employ the wiles of femme fatale, Mata Machree (Roberti), to distract and disillusion the athletes. I won't spoil the details of the ending, but in true comedy fashion, the good guys prevail against the odds at the last moment. Tragically, Polish-born Roberti died of a heart attack in 1938 at the age of 31.

Answer: Leni Riefenstahl

The original 'Olympia' was made in two parts with a complete running time of nearly 4 hours. In addition to directing and producing the film, Riefenstahl wrote and edited it as well. It was released in German, English and French. Unlike other work, 'Olympia' was largely apolitical and in 1955 Riefenstahl excised three minutes of the film featuring Adolf Hitler. The film making was revolutionary, including the use of close ups of the athletes in action, slow motion, and tracking rails to follow progress down the track. The final scenes of the diving were extraordinary. The film was originally commissioned by the Berlin Olympic Committee.

Born in Berlin in 1902, Leni Riefenstahl commenced her career in the entertainment industry as a dancer, touring Europe. She rapidly became famous, but a serious knee injury curtailed her dancing. She turned to acting and had several major roles in German films in the mid 1920s to early 1930s. She acted in 'Das Blaue Licht' ('The Blue Light') in 1932, which she also wrote, directed and produced. Her 1935 film, 'Triumph des Willens' ('Triumph of the Will'), about the 1934 Nuremberg rallies, won several major European Awards including the Grand Prix at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. However international sentiment changed soon after and Riefenstahl was heavily criticized for creating massive propaganda material for the Nazi party. Several of her other films of this period also focused on Hitler and the National Socialists. Riefenstahl herself always maintained that her films were not intended as propaganda and she was simply documenting the major events in her country; hence 'Olympia' was 'nothing more' than her documentary of the Berlin Olympics. Nevertheless, her movie making career was destroyed after World War II. She then became a highly successful professional photographer, publishing her photos in a wide range of international magazines. In later life she learned to dive so she could fulfill a life-time's ambition to become an underwater photographer. She published several books of her fantastic underwater shots. She died at the age of 101 in 2003.

Answer: Steve Prefontaine

Steve Prefontaine (played by Crudup in the movie) never lost a US College (NCAA) 5,000 or 10,000m race in his four years at the University of Oregon. He attended Oregon to benefit from the coaching of Bill Bowerman (Donald Sutherland). 'Without Limits' was produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner and was mostly shot at the University's Hayward Field athletics track.

The director, Robert Towne, initially considered Cruise for the role of Prefontaine, but it was decided he was a little too old (although a keen runner and triathlete) and the part was given to Billy Crudup. Actual footage of Prefontaine competing at the Munich Olympics in 1972 was spliced in with scenes of Crudup running.

The original, unseen Olympic footage was found in the vaults of Warner Brothers - outtakes from an earlier documentary on those Games.

Despite receiving critical acclaim, the movie failed dismally at the box office, although Sutherland was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Golden Globe awards. Prefontaine was planning for a rematch at the 1976 Montreal Olympics against his 1972 Olympic nemesis, Finn Lasse Viren, but was killed when his car rolled after a post-meet party in 1975.

Answer: Marathon

This 1970 movie, directed by Michael Winner, and based on a novel by Hugh Atkinson, follows how four runners from different nations prepare for a fictitious version of the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics. The movie cast includes Michael Crawford (English milkman turned runner, Harry Hayes), Charles Aznavour (World Champion Czechoslovakian, Pavel Vendek), Ryan O'Neal (overconfident American, Scott Reynolds) and Athol Compton (Australian Aboriginal, Sunny Pintubo). Each runner features in training schedules from his part of the world, showing a wide variety of motivations and difficulties overcome, including near crippling lack of confidence and racial prejudice.

Despite some contrived tensions and rapid, often awkward jumping between scenes, the movie does highlight the drive for self-betterment that is at the heart of the Olympic ideal.

Answer: Figure skating and ice hockey

This movie follows the perhaps cliched story of sporting redemption for star pairs figure skater Kate Moseley (Moira Kelly). A fall at the 1988 Winter Olympics cost her a probable gold medal, but her temperamental attitude drove away all future skating partners. Eventually, coach Anton Pamchenko (Roy Dotrice) brings in the arrogant and battered, ex-ice hockey player, Doug Dorsey (D.B Sweeney) as a final attempt at finding Moseley a suitable partner for the 1992 Games. Dorsey had suffered a career ending eye injury at the same 1988 games. Verbal sparks flow followed by romantic sparks as Moseley and Dorsey strive for the Olympic Gold medal that had eluded them in Calgary.

Their Russian opponents in the final were played by real-life Canadian pairs skaters, Doug Ladret and Christine Hough.

The movie was directed by Paul Michael Glaser of 'Starsky and Hutch' fame and grossed $25 Million.

Answer: Calgary (1988)

Loosely based on true events, this very popular movie, directed by Jon Turteltaub, was filmed in Jamaica and Calgary (including at the actual bobsled track used at the 1988 Olympics). Although containing many hilarious moments, the story is also about the importance of team-work, redemption, a common goal and a never-say-die attitude as the four Jamaican athletes, played by Douglas Bourne, Leon Robinson, Malik Yoba and Rawle D. Lewis submit to the training regimen imposed by disgraced former bobsledder, Irving Blitzer (John Candy).

It would have been too much of a fairy tale for the Jamaican team to win the gold medal, but in true Olympic spirit they demonstrate that sometimes just being able to compete is a major victory in itself.