Olympic Games Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: Bobsled

The Jamaican bobsled team became the headline story of the Calgary winter games when they were the complete "underdog" to win the event. The team had very little experience in winter sport or bobsledding events in general and would go on to borrow spare sleds from opposing teams. They would not go on to qualify or win the event, but this moment in Olympic history became the spark needed to compete in future events. They went on to compete in many Olympic games and finished in 14th spot during the 1994 Olympic Games in Norway. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, a women's bobsled team competed to become the first female Jamaican squad to have participated in an international event for nearly a decade.

Answer: Stephen Redgrave

Stephen Redgrave was born in 1962. In 1984 he entered the Olympics in a team of coxed fours (Adrian Ellison as cox, Richard Budgett, Martin Cross, Andy Holmes and Stephen Redgrave as rowers). The British team won before the United States and New Zealand. In Seoul 1988 Redgrave entered the pairs competition, both coxed and coxless. His fellow rower was on both occasions Andy Holmes. The British coxed team (with Patrick Sweeney as cox) took the bronze medal, after Italy and East-Germany. But in the coxless pairs Great-Britain triumphed, before Romania and Yugoslavia.

In Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 the tandem Stephen Redgrave - Matthew Pinsent each time won the coxless pairs. In 1992 the silver went to Germany and the bronze to Slovenia. In 1996 Australia came in second and France third. In Sydney 2000 Stephen Redgrave entered the competition for the coxless fours, with fellow rowers Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster. They won before Italy and Australia. Redgrave also won nine world championships between 1986 and 1999.

Jack Beresford (1899-1977) was another British rower who had successes at five consecutive Olympic Games. In Antwerp 1920 he won a silver medal in single sculls, and in Paris 1924 he won gold in the same category. In Amsterdam 1928 he claimed a silver medal as part of the men's eight. In Los Angeles 1932 he won the coxless fours, and in Berlin 1936 he won the double sculls.

Albert Gladstone (1886-1967) was one of the eight rowers who won gold in London 1908 in the coxless eight. Angus Groom (born 1992) started his Olympic rowing career in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro in the category quadruple sculls. But he did not win a medal at these Games.

Answer: Cathy Freeman - Tokyo 1964

The Olympic Cauldron has always been lit by an athlete who represents the host city's country. Australian Cathy Freeman did not light the Cauldron in Tokyo, but in Sydney for the 2000 Games. At this time, she became the first to light the Cauldron and win a gold medal in the same Games. Yoshinori Sakai lit the Cauldron in Tokyo 1964.

Answer: Table Tennis

China's dominance of the table-tennis world caused the International Table Tennis Federation to change the rules before the London 2012 Olympics, allowing only two players from each country, after China swept the Beijing men's and women's podium, and won the men's and women's team event. It didn't matter though, as Chinese athletes won gold and silver in both gender events, and gold in both team tournaments. It ran China's total to 24/28 gold medals after six Olympics. The South Koreans are next with three golds, and Swedish athlete Jan-Ove Waldner was able to take home a gold medal at Barcelona in 1992, in the men's Olympic tournament.

Answer: Merlene Ottey

Merlene Ottey is a former athlete of Jamaica who switched nationalities to Slovenia in 2002 after a highly publicized feud with Jamaican team officials at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Ottey has won nine (9) Olympic track and field medals (3 Silver and 6 Bronze). In Moscow in 1980 she won a Bronze in the 200m at just 20 years of age. In Los Angeles in 1984 she won Bronze in the 100m and 200m. Four years later in Seoul Korea, she missed a medal but returned to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where she earned Bronze in the 200m once again. Then in Atlanta at the 1996 Games, Merlene Ottey had her most successful Olympics with Silver medals in the 100m and 200m and a Bronze in the 4x100m Relay. Twenty years after her first Olympic medal in Sydney 2000, Ottey earned a remarkable Silver medal on the 4x100m Relay and an upgrade to a Bronze medal in the 100m after Marion Jones lost her medal through a doping violation. In Athens 2004, she was a semi-finalist for Slovenia in the 100m, and at 48 years old missed making the Slovenia team by .28 of a second for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Answer: Modern Pentathlon

The concept of the modern pentathlon was devised by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the modern Games, and was modelled after the ancient Olympic event. That had been designed to test the main skills expected of a Greek soldier - long jump, javelin, discus, foot race and wrestling. Coubertin's modern version comprises fencing, swimming, riding, shooting, and running, which he saw as the key skills required of a "modern" soldier.

A men's event was first included in the 1912 Games in Stockholm, with a women's one added in 2000 (Sydney). The exact format of the five disciplines has been tweaked many times since 1912, with the riding changing from cross-country to show-jumping in 1988, and shooting changing from pistol to laser weapon in 2012 (London). In 2012 running and shooting were combined into one event, with competitors pausing to shoot during the run.

Answer: Alpine skiing

After he moved to Switzerland, Noel Harrison discovered a love for downhill skiing. His talent was so great that he made it to the Great Britain ski team. There, he competed in three downhill alpine events during the Winter Olympic Games in 1952 and 1956. Unfortunately, he did not win any medals in any of his competitions. In the 1960s, Noel Harrison found roles in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E", and recorded the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" for the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" in 1968.

Answer: Ben Ainslie

The Danish Paul Elvström (1928-2016) was the first sailor with four golden medals (1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960), but Ben Ainslie (born 1977) was the first to win one silver and four gold medals. Two Brazilians have also won five medals, but only twice the gold medal: Robert Scheidt (born 1973) won twice gold, twice silver and once bronze between 1996 and 2012; and Torben Grael won two gold, one silver and two bronze medals between 1984 and 2004.
Ben Ainslie started his Olympic career in the Laser class in 1996 (Atlanta). Out of 56 competitors, Scheidt won and Ainslie was second. Third was the Norwegian Peter Moberg.

In 2000 (Sydney) Ainslie and Scheidt were the favourites for the Laser class once again, out of 43 competitors. Ainslie won before Scheidt, and the bronze was for the Australian Michael Blackburn. Scheidt entered two protests against Ainslie about having hindered him in the final race, but to no avail. In 2004 (Athens) Ainslie moved on to the heavier Finn class. Out of 26 competitors, Ainslie finished first, followed by the Spaniard Rafael Trujillo and the Pole Mateusz Kusznierewicz.

In 2008 (Beijing) Ainslie was once more the favourite in the Finn class, with 26 competitors. Ainslie took the gold before the American Zach Railey and the French Guillaume Florent. In 2012 (London) Ainslie and the Danish Jonas Hogh-Christensen were fierce contenders for the gold medal. In the regular races (with all 24 competitors) Hogh-Christensen held a very small advantage over Ainslie, but in the final medal race Ainslie closed the gap. Because the medal race was decisive in case of a tie, Ainslie won the gold and Hogh-Christensen the silver. The French Jonathan Lobert just preceded the Dutch Pieter-Jan Postma for the bronze.

Rodney Pattisson (born 1943) won two gold medals in 1968 and 1972, and added a silver medal in 1976. Sarah Webb (born 1977) and Sarah Ayton (born 1980) together won gold in 2004 and 2008 in the Yngling class, with the third member on their team being Shirley Robertson in 2004 and Pippa Wilson in 2008.

Answer: It was his horse that failed the drugs test

Cian O'Connor is an Irish show jumper, so the legality of his victory in Athens relied on both horse and rider passing the mandatory drugs testing procedures. Unfortunately for O'Connor, his horse, Waterford Crystal, was found to have tested positive for a banned substance. Although he was not deemed to have deliberately attempted to boost his horse's performance (the drugs had been administered by a vet treating Waterford Crystal for a leg injury), he was stripped of his gold medal and Olympic title. The second-placed rider, Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil, was elevated to the position of Olympic champion.

The incident was particularly unfortunate for Ireland as O'Connor had been their only medallist at the 2004 Olympics. It also compounded an unfortunate Games for equestrian sport, as the winners of the team show jumping gold medal (Germany) lost their victory after one of their horses also failed a drugs test.

Answer: Croquet

The croquet tournament had ten participants, seven male and three female. Nine of the 10 athletes were from France, while one was from Belgium. The doubles competition was won by Gaston Aumoitte and Georges Johin, although it is unclear whether they had any competition! France took all seven medals, as this was one of only a few sports in Olympic history, where males and females competed together.

Answer: Yugoslavia

The USA won the first seven titles, the Soviet Union, took the next. In 1980, Yugoslavia became only the third country to take gold in basketball.

Answer: Black Power salute

Tommie Smith had won a gold medal and John Carlos the bronze medal in the 200 metre race at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. When they stood on the podium and the "Star-Spangled Banner" played, they raised one fist in the air and bowed their heads (wearing one black glove each). All three athletes who stood on the podium wore human rights badges for the ceremony. This display is considered one of the most political in Olympic history. Smith and Carlos also wore no shoes, but wore black socks instead to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf to represent black pride. Carlos wore a necklace of beads for all those who "were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for." They were booed as they left the stadium following the ceremony.

They were expelled from the games and were ostracized by fellow athletes. Their families received death threats and they were subject to abuse from media. The Australian silver medallist Peter Norman who was sympathetic to their protest was also criticized and ostracized. Despite qualifying for the 1972 Olympic Games, he was not chosen to represent Australia. When Norman died in 2006, Carlos and Smith were pallbearers at his funeral.

Answer: Snowboarding

Jacobellis is a ten-time world champion in snowboarding. At the Turin 2006 Olympics she had a three second (approximately 140 feet) lead going into the penultimate jump. There she grabbed her skis to "punctuate her anticipated victory" and fell before recovering to gain the silver medal.

In the 2010 Olympics she went off course to avoid a collision with a competitor. In 2014 she crashed while leading a semifinal race. In 2018 she led most of the way but was overtaken, missing a medal by .003 seconds.

The star-crossed Ms Jacobellis may have missed her chance at a gold medal, but ironically may be better known than the winners due to the failure.

Answer: Cuba

The American men's baseball squad was not expected to win the gold medal as the Cubans were the favored team. They were able to squeak past the South Koreans in the semi-finals by a score of 3-2. The Cubans, who had entered the tournament with a record of 18-0, were the heavy favorites to win the gold medal. With strong pitching from Ben Sheets, however, the Americans emerged victorious, shutting out the Cubans by a score of 4-0 in the championship game.

Answer: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean

Torvill and Dean debuted at the 1980 Olympics (Lake Placid), where they won fifth place. In Sarajevo 1984 they came back - and to what an effect. After winning both the compulsory dances (accounting for 30% of the final standings) by a rather large margin and the original set pattern dance (accounting for 20% of the final standings), they were the absolute favourites. But the best was yet to come: in the free dance (accounting for 50% of the final results) they interpreted Ravel's "Bolero" in a splendid way. Three of the nine judges awarded Torvill and Dean with a perfect score (6.0) for artistic impression, while the others all gave a 5.9. But the technical merit was even better: all judges unanimously gave a perfect score.
So Torvill and Dean won the gold medal, before two of the three Soviet teams. Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin won silver, and Marina Klimova with Sergei Ponomarenko won bronze.
Torvill and Dean would once again compete in the Olympics: in 1994 (Lillehammer) they took the bronze medal, after the Russian teams Pascha Grischuk - Yevgueny Platov and Maiya Usova - Sasha Zhulin.
The red herrings were British pairs who competed once in the Ice Dancing at the Olympics.
Thompson-Maxwell were eighth in 1976 (Innsbruck).
Jones-Askham ended 13th in 1988 (Calgary).
Bruce-Place were seventeenth in 1992 (Albertville).

Answer: Lacrosse

The Olympic lacrosse tournament, made its debut in St. Louis in 1904, and was played again four years later in London. Both times Canada won gold, and Great Britain got silver. Why? Because there were only two teams in the competition! The sport was scrapped after London, but has tried coming back, being played as a demonstration sport at the 1928, 1932, and 1948 Olympics. In 1928 there were three teams as the US had an entry; the other two demonstrations featured only two teams.

Answer: Ran an extra lap

Volmari "Vomma" Fritijof Iso-Hollo, one of the last of the 'Flying Finns' won the race, but was denied a 'World Record' because the official lap counter lost track of the race because he was watching another event. He failed to ring the bell to signify the last lap. Because of this, the entire field ran at total of 364 yards extra. If the official had kept his mind on his job, Iso-Hollo would probably have broken the World Record, a feat he eventually managed the following year.

Answer: Dr. Benjamin Spock

Benjamin Spock developed a love of rowing while competing with Yale's crew team when he was studying at university. He made the men's eights teams for the 1924 Paris Olympics where he won a gold medal. His devotion to the sport was truly a life-long passion. At the age of 84, he placed third in a four-mile rowing contest.

Answer: Michael Phelps

In 2000, Phelps participated at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, but failed to win any medals. Starting at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Phelps won his first ever gold medal in the 400-meter medley. In all, he would go on to win six gold medals and two silvers during his second Games giving him the second-best individual performance at the Games behind Mark Spitz (in 1972). Going on to participate in three more Olympic Games in 2008, 2012, and 2016 he would raise his total medal count to 28 medals. In all, he won a total of 23 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze.

Answer: Triathlon

Alistair Brownlee (born 1988) started his Olympic triathlon career in Beijing 2008, with a twelfth place. His brother Jonny (born 1990) started his Olympic career in London. So Alistair won two gold medals in his first three Olympics, while Jonny took a medal in both his first Olympics.
In London 2012 the Spaniard Javier Gomez ended between the two brothers Brownlee, thus claiming the silver medal. In 2016 the brothers Brownlee divided the first and second place, while Henri Schoeman form South Africa ended with the bronze medal.
In the shooting discipline, Malcolm Cooper (1947-2001) was the first British athlete to win gold twice: both in 1984 and in 1988 he won the Men's 50m Rifle Three Positions.
In 1908 three Britons won gold in the freestyle wrestling: Con O'Kelly, Stanley Bacon and George de Rewlyskow. None of them won a second time.
In gymnastics the first gold medals went to Great-Britain only in 2016: Max Whitlock won both the men's pommeled horse and the men's floor exercise.

Answer: Prometheus

There are dozens of myths based on fire being stolen for human use (all incorrect options were characters who stole fire in various mythologies), but the Olympic Flame is based on the story of Prometheus. In this story from Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus in order to give it to humanity so they may advance.

Answer: 1908 London

The races were held on an eight-mile circuit, over five laps. Many races featured only two boats, and some were abandoned in the middle of the race due to weather or mechanical issues. There were no silver or bronze medals awarded, as only one racer finished each of the three events. The sport was abolished, as the IOC realized that motorized sports don't have a place in the Olympics.

Answer: Great Britain

Because of boycotts of the games, which started in 1956 at Melbourne, Great Britain, France, Australia and Greece are the only countries to have participated in every summer Olympic Games of the 20th century. The Boycotts happened for mainly political reasons, and the then Soviet Union didn't even enter a team until Helsinki in 1952. That was the first time that a team from 'Russia' had entered in 40 years.

Answer: 21

France's Maurice Faure took Silver with 20 birds, with the American Crittenden Robinson and the Australian Donald MacKintosh tying for third place, with 18 each. 52 shooters are believed to have taken part, with some 300 birds in total coming to grief. Although the event took place under the umbrella of the 1900 Olympic Games, this sport is not included in the official International Olympic Committee results - perhaps more due to subsequent embarrassment at the nature of the event than doubts as to the quality of the performances.

Rumours that this event will be re-introduced for the 2012 London games, and will take place in Trafalgar Square, are probably untrue.

Pedantic Note: in the 1896 and 1900 Games, Gold medals were not actually awarded. The winners of each event were awarded Silver medals, with runners-up receiving Bronze. Gold, Silver and Bronze "medals" have been retrospectively allocated by the International Olympic Committee to those in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each event, thus bringing the medals into line with current practice.

Thanks to www.topendsports.com for providing me with the inspiration, and much background information, for this quiz.