Fascinating and Obscure Olympics Trivia Quiz

Answer: George Eyser

At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, George Eyser competed in six events in one day, winning 3 Gold Medals in doing so (the parallel bars, long horse vault, and rope climbing). But that's not all he won. We also earned two Silver Medals at those Olympics-- in pommel horse and the 4-event all-around, and he won a Bronze Medal in the horizontal bar. He lost one leg when he was a child and was run over by a train, so he had a wooden prosthetic leg when he competed.

At the 2008 Olympics, Natalie du Toit of South Africa became the second person with an artificial leg to compete in the Olympic Games (the 10 km swimming marathon in Beijing.) Natalie had lost her leg in a traffic accident. In 2012 Oscar Pistorius of South Africa (another Olympian from South Africa) competed in the 400 meters using a prosthetic leg made of carbon fiber. Anthony Robles is a one-legged wrestler who won the 2010-11 NCAA individual wrestling championship at 125 pounds, but he never competed in the Olympics.

Answer: University of Southern California

From 1904 to 2020, The University of Southern California (USC Trojans) had 510 alumni compete in the Olympics, and they won over 326 medals, more than 153 of which were gold (96 silver and 77 bronze). A USC Trojan athlete had won a gold medal at every Summer Olympics 1912-2020. Stanford University wasn't too far behind with overall medals, winning 296.

The University of Minnesota had the most Winter Olympic athletes.

Answer: China

Australia has had Melbourne host the Summer Olympics in 1956, and then Sydney in 2000. Germany has hosted the Summer Games in Berlin in 1936 and then in Munich in 1972. The United States hosted the Olympics in 1904 in St. Louis, Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984, and Atlanta in 1996. Those are the first three countries to have different cities host the Games. China hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008 when Beijing was the host city.

Answer: Marion Jones

At the 2000 Summer Olympics, in Sydney, Australia, Marion Jones won three gold medals (100m and 200m sprint, and the 4x400m relay) as well as two bronze medals (long jump and 4x100m relay). Eight years later however, she was stripped of those medals by the International Olympic Committee, after first denying that she used performance-enhancing drugs but then later admitting in 2007 that she did.

Answer: It had first death of an athlete in competition

Marathoners at the 1904 games faced perhaps the most challenging course of all-time, with seven hills, from 100 to 300 feet high, and long ascents. Broken up stones covered some roadways, making footing dangerous, and runners contended with traffic, delivery wagons, railroad trains, trolley cars and dog-walkers. Dust was kicked up by wagons leading and following runners. And the only one place where athletes were allowed to get fresh water was 12 miles from the start of the race. And yet, no one died. It wasn't until the 1912 Olympics that death occurred, and it was in the marathon.

Amongst the runners in the 1904 marathon were the first Black Africans to participate in the modern Olympics-- two men from the Tswana tribe of South Africa, who also happened to be part of the St. Louis World's Fair, as part of the South African exhibit. When marathoner Thomas Hicks was seven miles from the finish line, his supporting team fed him strychnine and egg whites-strychnine in small doses was used as a stimulant in those days, and the modern Olympics did not yet have rules performance-enhancing drugs.

A gymnast named George Eyser, who had a wooden leg, won six medals (three were gold).

Answer: Over a millennium

The ancient Olympics were held for about 1,170 years. They began in 776 B.C.E., based on records kept regarding stade-length races (192m or 210 yards). The Ancient Greeks held the Games every four years beginning close to the summer solstice, and this 4-year period was called an "Olympiad" which actually came to be used as a reference when dating events in Greece. Emperor Theodosius ended the Olympic Games in 391 C.E., viewing them as pagan rituals.

Answer: Spyros Samaras wrote the music, Kostis Palamas wrote the lyrics

Baron Pierre de Coubertin is credited with starting the modern Olympics in 1896. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Katerina Sakellaropoulou were the Prime Minister and President of Greece during the 2024 Olympics. Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is the real name of the film composer Vangelis, who wrote the score for "Chariots of Fire".

Greek opera composer Spyridon Samaras collaborated with the lyricist Kostis Palamas, a Greek poet, when they wrote the Olympic Hymn for the first modern Olympics in 1896. It wasn't until 1958 though, that the International Olympic Committee officially designated it as the anthem of the Olympics where it is played at both opening and closing ceremonies.

Answer: Hestia

The Olympic torch honors the goddess Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth and home. Hestia holds a special place in Greek mythology as protector of the hearth, symbolizing domesticity and the warmth and light of home. During the ancient Olympics a flame was kept constantly burning, a sign of the spirit of unity, bringing competitors together.

At the modern Olympics, the opening ceremony features the lighting of the Olympic torch in Olympia, Greece, site of the ancient Olympics. It's then carried in relay-style over the many kilometers/miles to whichever is the host city.

Answer: Communiter

"Citius, Altius, Fortius," is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger", referencing the spirit of athletic excellence and the heart of competitors that push their bodies and minds to their limits. The motto was first proposed in 1891 by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.

But in February 2020, the IOC added the word "Communiter" as the fourth word in that motto. "Communiter" mean "Together" lest we forget that the overriding spirit of the competition really should be Togetherness, Unity. Maybe everyone should get a participation trophy.

Hey guess what, that's not quite a joke altogether, because actually, the eight finishers in all events do receive a diploma, and their names are announced to the public. "Sapientior" means wiser, "Beatior" mean happier, and "Spiritualem" means spiritual.

Answer: Christa Luding-Rothenburger (Germany)

Christa Luding-Rothenburger, of Germany is the only athlete to have won medals at the Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year, and will have that distinction from now on, since the Summer and Winter Games have now been staggered forevermore so that they won't be held in the same year.

She won gold in the women's 1000-meter speed skating competition and silver in the women's 500-meter speed skating event at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. And then she won silver in the track cycling sprint event at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. She had also won gold in the women's 500-meter speed skating competition at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics.
Those other athletes mentioned all also won medals in a Summer Olympics and a Winter Olympics, but never in the same year. Eddy Alvarez, and Lauryn Williams have also medaled in both Games but in different years.