Italian Olympic Winners Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alberto Tomba

Alberto Tomba was nicknamed "Tomba la Bomba". He was born in 1966 and started his Olympic career in 1988 in Calgary, where he won gold in the slalom and in the giant slalom. In 1992 in Albertville, he won the giant slalom and finished second in the slalom. In 1994 in Lillehammer he added a fifth medal: silver in the slalom. So Tomba totals five Olympic medals: three gold an two silver.

Rocca (born 1975) did compete at the Olympics in 2006. Radici (1953-2002) competed in 1976. Simoncelli (born 1979) competed in 2006 and 2010. None of them won an Olympic medal.

Answer: Equestrianism

The brothers d'Inzeo excelled in equestrianism, more specifically the show jumping. Raimondo (1925-2013) was member of the Carabinieri Cavalry Regiment, and Piero (1923-2014) also worked in the army. They competed in the Olympic Games of 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976.

They won one silver medal and three bronze medals in the team competition (1956, 1960, 1964 and 1972), and in 1956 and 1960 they also took individual medals. Raimondo won silver in 1956 and gold in 1960, and Piero each time ended just after Raimondo. Raimondo d'Inzeo thus won six Olympic medals (one gold, two silver and three bronze), while his brother Pietro also won six medals (two silver and four bronze).

Answer: Armin Zöggeler

Luge is a typical winter sport, introduced to the Olympic Winter Games in 1964. Usually there is an event for men's singles, an event for women's singles, and an event for doubles. All the four people I've mentioned in the question are indeed Italians, although they have German sounding names. They all come from the Italian region South Tyrol, where German is a common language.

Zöggeler was born in 1974. He first appeared on the 1994 Olympics, and took the bronze in the individual competition. In subsequent Olympics he won silver (1998), gold twice (2002 and 2006) and two more bronze medals (2010 and 2014). He was nicknamed "the Ice Blood Champion", for the calm he displayed before each race. Zöggeler's final tally thus is six medals: tow gold, one silver and three bronze.

Wilfried Huber and Kurt Brugger won the gold in 1994 in the luge doubles event. And Wilfried's brother Norbert teamed with Hansjörg Raffl, to win silver in the doubles luge competition in 1994.

Answer: Valentina Vezzali

Fencing was the first sport in which Italy won more than more than 100 medals in total at the Olympics. Valentina Vezzali (born 1974) started her Olympic career in Atlanta in 1996, where she won silver in the individual foil competition and gold in the team foil competition. In Sydney 2000 she won both the individual and the team event in foil. Athens 2004 (where there was no team competition in foil) gave her a third Olympic medal in the individual foil competition, and her second gold plaque. In Beijing 2008 Valentina won the individual foil competition for the third consecutive time, and she also took the bronze in the team foil competition. Her last appearance before her retirement was in London 2012, where she won the team foil competition and added a bronze medal in the individual foil competition. So in five Olympic Games she won six gold medals, as well as one silver and two bronze medals.

Giovanna Trillini (born 1970) -- won four gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals at the Olympics between 1992 and 2008 - all in the foil events.
Irene Camber (born 1926) was also a foil fencer. She won gold in 1952 individually, and the bronze team medal in 1960.
Antonella Ragno (born 1940) -- won the bronze team medal in foil in 1960, bronze individually in foil in 1964 and gold individually in foil in 1972.
Nedo Nadi (1894-1940) -- won foil individually in 1912 and in 1920, foil team in 1920, sabre individually and in team in 1920, and epee team in 1920.

Eduardo Mangiarotti (1919-2012) was one of a great family of fencers: his father Giuseppe, his brothers Mario and Dario and his daughter Carola all excelled. Eduardo competed in foil and epee, and won six gold medals, five silver medals and two bronze medals in the Olympics between 1936 and 1960.

Answer: Josefa Idem

Josefa Idem was born in Germany in 1964 and started her long Olympic career in 1984. In 1984 she won a bronze medal for Germany, and in 1988 she competed once more for Germany - this time without any medal. She then moved to Italy, and became an Italian citizen by her marriage to the sports coach Guglielmo Guerrini. In 1992 she represented Italy, but won no medals. At the following Games she won one medal four times in a row: bronze in 1996, gold in 2000, silver in 2004 and silver in 2008. Her Olympic career ended in London 2012 (her eighth consecutive Games !) with a fifth place.

Stenta (born 1987), Panato (born 2002) and Ricciardi (born 1992) were all born in Italy and all competed in some canoe championships.

Answer: Paolo Bettini

Cycling is one of the popular sports at the Olympic Summer Games. The road race may attract the most attention, but it was only opened for professional cyclists in 1996. Paolo Bettini (born 1974) was the first Italian professional cyclist to win the road race at the Olympics, in Athens 2004. It was his only Olympic medal.

Fausto Coppi (1919-1960) won the Tour de France twice and the Giro d'Italia five times. Gimondi (1942-2019) was also a professional cyclist. He won the Tour de France once, the Giro d'Italia thrice and the Vuelta d'Espana once. Bartali (1914-2000) won the Tour de France twice and the Giro d'Italia thrice. As professional cyclists, these great Italians never entered the Olympic Summer Games.

Answer: Jury Chechi

Chechi, born 1969 in Tuscany, was the favourite gymnast for the rings in the period 1990-2000. However, he did not participate in the Olympics in 1992 nor in 2000 because of a grave injury. In 1996 he won gold individually on the Olympics, and in 2004 he succeeded a come-back at advanced age with a bronze medal in the rings individually.

The title of "Lord of the Rings" is a common nickname for gymnasts that dominate the Olympics in the discipline of the still rings. Albert Azaryan, born 1929 in Armenia (and competing for the USSR) was the first one who got the nickname. He won gold individually in the rings in 1956 and 1960, as well as team medals for the USSR in the all-round competition (gold in 1956 and silver in 1960). Arthur Zanetti (born in Brazil in 1990) also was nicknamed Lord of the Rings, besides the nickname Tutu (derived from his first name). Zanetti won gold individually in 2012 and silver in 2016. Eleftherios "Lefteris" Petrounias was born in Greece in 1990. He won gold individually in 2016 and bronze individually in 2020.

Answer: Arianna Fontana

Arianna Fontana (her surname translates to "source" or "fountain", hence the clue in the question) was born in 1990. She debuted at the Winter Olympics 2006 in Turin, where she was one of the four women claiming the bronze on the 3000m relay. In 2010 Arianna once again won the only Italian short-track medal, this time an individual bronze on the 500m. In 2014 she won three medals: silver on the 500m individual, bronze in the 1500m individual and bronze in the 3000m relay. In 2018 she added one medal of each colour to her tally: gold in the 500m individual, bronze in the 1000 m individual and silver in the 3000m relay.
In 2022 she won gold in the 500m individual for the second time, as well as silver in the 1500m individual and silver in the 2000m mixed relay.

Martina Valcepina (born 1992), Cecilia Maffei (born 1984) and Lucia Perretti (born 1990) were the team members with whom Fontana won the silver in the 3000m relay in 2018. Perretti and Valcepina also won the bronze medal in 2014 with Fontana, and Valcepina was the co-winner of the silver medal in 2022.

Answer: Manuela di Centa

The four skiers I've mentioned in the question, won the bronze medal in the 4x5 km relay (both in 1992 and in 1994). In 1998 di Centa, Paruzzi and Belmondo won the bronze in this relay once again, but at that time Vanzetta was replaced by Karin Moroder.

In 1994, Manuela di Centa was the most successful individually of the four women mentioned in the question, with gold medals on the 15 km freestyle and the 30 km classical, as well as silver in the 5 km classical and the 10 km pursuit. With the aforesaid bronze medals in the team relay in 1992 and in 1998, her total is seven medals.

In 1994, Belmondo won an individual bronze medal in the 10 km pursuit. But she had won individual silver and individual gold in 1992, and would also add one individual silver medal in 1998 and one individual medal of each colour in 2002.
Paruzzi won a fourth bronze team medal in 2006 and an individual gold medal in 2002. Vanzetta did not win any individual medal at the Olympics.

Cross country skiing was one of the sports in the Olympic Winter Games since 1924, but woman's events debuted only in 1952. By 1992 there were five events for women, and in 2002 a sixth event was added. 

Answer: 200 m sprint

Pietro Mennea (1952-2013) specialized in the sprint events, especially the 200m sprint. In 1972 he competed in the 200m sprint (and won a bronze medal) and in the 4x100 m relay. He also competed in 1976 in these two events. In 1979 he ran a world record on the 200m, and this world record time (19:72) would not be bettered before 1996.

At the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980, Mennea won the 200 m, and clenched a bronze medal on the 4x400m relay. He also competed at the 100m. Mennea also appeared at the Olympics in 1984 and 1988, but did not any medals to his tally.