Great Olympians Trivia Quiz

Skiing has been included in the winter Olympics since 1924. Two main types of skiing are identified: the alpine skiing (downhill, with or without slaloming, mostly on rather short tracks) and cross-country skiing (mostly for longer distances, although sprints were added in 2002).

Marit Bjorgen was born in Norway in 1980. She started her Olympic career in 2002 in Salt Lake City, with a silver medal on the 4x5km relay. In 2006 in Turin she added silver in the 10 km classical. Vancouver 2010 gave Bjorgen five medals: gold in the individual sprint, in the 15 km pursuit and in the 4x5km relay, silver in the 30 km classical and bronze in the 10 km freestyle.

In Sochi 2014 Bjorgen added three gold medals: 15 km skiathlon, 30 km freestyle and team sprint. Her last Olympic Games were 2018 in Pyeongchang, with five additional medals: gold in the 4*5 km relay and the 30 km classical, silver in the 15 km skiathlon, and bronze in the 10 km freestyle and the team sprint. 

Fencing was an Olympic sport since 1896. Women were allowed since 1924. Fencers compete either individually or as a team, on the foil, the epee or the sabre.

The first man to win 13 medals in total in fencing was Eduardo Mangiarotti (1919-2012), an Italian. In 1936 he won gold in the team epee event. In 1948 he added two silver medals: team epee and team foil, as well as a bronze medal in individual epee. In 1952 he won gold in team epee and individual epee, and silver in team foil and individual foil. In 1956 he won gold in the team epee and team foil, and bronze in the individual epee. And in 1960 he added gold in team epee and silver in team foil.

However, Mangiarotti is not the fencer with the most gold medals. Mangiarotti's six gold medals were topped by the Hungarian Aladar Gerevich, who won his seventh gold medal (six in the team events) in 1960.

Athletics (track and field) is a very diverse sport, and has bene contested at every Olympic Games since 1896. How to compare such diverse events as the sprint events, long distance events, and the throwing events? One solution is the decathlon (for men) and heptathlon (for women), in which very different athletic disciplines are combined: sprint, long distance, high jump, javelin throw...

Another solution is to look at the individual medal tables at the Olympics; and then find the first athlete to reach twelve medals in total (nine gold and three silver): Paavo Nurmi, nicknamed "the Flying Finn". Nurmi (1897-1973) excelled at long distance running. His Olympic debut was in Antwerp 1920, where he won silver on the 5000 m and gold in the 10000 m as well as in the cross-country (both the individual cross-country as the team cross-country).
In 1924 in Paris he added gold on the 1500 m, the 5000 m, the individual cross-country, the team cross-country and the team event 3000 m. Finally in Amsterdam he added another three individual medals: gold in the 10000 m, silver in the 5000 m and silver in the 3000 m steeplechase.

Canoeing and kayaking were introduced to the Olympic Games in 1936. Canoes are small boats with one or two athletes using one-sided paddles, while kayaks can be propelled by one, two or four athletes using double-sided paddles. Races with canoes are C-1 (one athlete) or C-2, the kayak races are K-1, K-2 and K-4.
Birgit Fischer (born 1962) was born in Brandenburg (East-Germany) and specialized in kayaking at the distance of 500 m. Up till 1988 she competed for East-Germany, since 1992 for the reunited Germany.

Fischer made her Olympic debut in 1980 in Moscow, winning gold in the K-1. East-Germany boycotted the Los Angeles Games in 1984. In 1988 she won gold in the K-2 and K-4 and silver in the K-1. In 1992 she added gold in the K-1 and silver in the K-4. The next games (1996) gave her gold in the K-4 and silver in the K-2. In 2000 she added two gold medals: the K-2 and the K-4. Finally, in 2004, she added gold in the K-4 and silver in the K-2, thus totalling eight gold and four silver medals - the first kayaker to gain so many medals.

Speed skating has been included in the Winter Olympics since 1924 (men), and women since 1960. The Russian Lidya Skoblikova was the first to win six gold medals (1960-1964), but she was surpassed by the Dutch skater Ireen Wüst in 2014.

Ireen Wüst was born in 1986. Her first Olympic Games were in 2006, with a gold medal on the 3000 m and a bronze medal on the 1500 m. In 2010 she won the 1500m. Sochi 2014 was a great success: gold in the 3000 m and the team pursuit, and silver in the 1000 m, the 1500 m and the 5000 m. In 2018 she won the 1500m and gained silver on the 3000 m and the team pursuit. In 2022 she added a sixth gold medal (1500m), as well as a bronze medal in the team pursuit.

Archery was included in the Olympic Games of 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1920, and then from 1972 onwards. The number of events varied a lot: from two events (men's individual and women's individual) in 1972 to ten events in 1920.
Belgium excelled in archery at the 1920 Olympic Games, thanks to Hubert Van Innis.

Van Innis (1866-1961) first appeared at the Olympics in 1900 in Paris. He won gold in the Cordon Doré at 33 m and the Chapelet at 33 m, and silver in the Cordon Doré at 50 m. The exact requirements for these competitions have been lost, we only know that the Cordon Doré was for eight individual archers and Au Chapelet for six individual archers. In 1920 he participated at the Antwerp Summer Olympics. He won gold in the individual competitions Moving Bird at 28 m and Moving Bird at 33m, as well as silver in the Moving bird at 50m. Furthermore he won the team competitions at 33 m and 50 m, and obtained silver for the team competition at 28m. The team competitions were for teams of eight archers. All these competitions were similar to the popinjay: targets resembling birds have to be knocked off their perches.

Rowing was introduced at the Olympics in 1900. Whenever quizzers are asked for a multiple Olympic medal winner in rowing, they most likely come up with Steve Redgrave of Britain - five times gold and once bronze. But there is a woman who outdid Steve: five gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal.
Elisabeta Lipa (born 1964) started her Olympic career in 1984, winning gold in the double sculls.

In 1988 she won silver in the double sculls and bronze in the quadruple sculls. In 1992 she won gold in the single sculls and silver in the double sculls. And in 1996, in 2000 and in 2004 she was part of the team of eight that won gold.

Artistic swimming (originally called synchronized swimming) became an Olympic sport in 1984. At that time, women competed in two events: individual and duet. In 1996 the only event was a women's team event for teams of eight to ten athletes. From 2000 onwards, the duet event reappeared, together with the team event.

The Russian Svetlana Romaschina (born 1989) started her Olympic career in 2008, where she only competed in the team event. In the Olympic Games of 2012, 2016 and 2020, she entered both the team event and the duet event. And remarkably: she won gold in each and every of the seven first events she entered, thus becoming the first artistic swimmer accumulating seven gold medals.

I should add that in Tokyo 2020 Russian athletes did not compete under their own flag, but under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. But even if we exclude Tokyo 2020, Romaschina remains the first artistic swimmer with five gold medals for the same country.

Boxing appeared on the Olympic Games in 1904 and 1908, and from 1920 onwards. In 2012 women's boxing was added to the Olympic programme. Although several boxers have obtained three gold medals at the Olympic Games, the first to do so was the Hungarian Laszlo Papp.

Papp (1926-2003) debuted at the Olympic Games in 1948 as a middleweight, and won by eliminating five opponents. In 1952 Papp came back as a light middleweight, and once again took the gold medal after defeating five opponents. In 1956 Papp competed once again in the category light middleweight, and after three victories he took home the gold medal. Other boxers who won three consecutive gold medals, were the Cuban heavyweight Teofilo Stevenson (gold in 1972, 1976 and 1980) and his compatriot, the heavyweight Felix Savon (gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000).

Triathlon was only added to the Olympic Summer Games in 2000 , with a men's competition and a women's competition. At Tokyo 2020 a mixed relay was added.
Contrary to the competitions à la Iron Man, Olympic triathlons are shorter: 1.5km swimming (instead of 3.9km), 40km cycling (instead of 180km), and 10km running (instead of a full marathon). The Mixed Relay was a bit shorter too: each athlete had to swim 300m, to cycle 8km and to run 2km - so the total distance was 1.2km swimming, 32km cycling and 8km running.

The first athlete to win three medals in the Olympic triathlon was Jonathan Brownlee from the UK. Jonathan (born 1990) gained bronze in 2012, silver in 2016 and gold in the Mixed Relay in Tokyo 2020. Jonathan's brother Alistair (born 1988) was the first triathlete to win two gold medals, namely in 2012 and 2016.