Road Cycling in the Olympics Trivia Quiz

Answer: Men's Road Race

The 1896 Athens Olympics included a Men's Road Race won by a Greek, Aristidis Konstantinidis. At that time, bicycle design had been standardized for about 10 years, but the first Tour de France was still seven years in the future. After that, though, road cycling didn't return to the Olympics until 1912.

Answer: Giuseppe Olmo

Olmo was part of the Italian team that won gold in the Men's Team Road Race in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1935, he placed third in the Giro, and he improved to second in 1936.

Answer: Ercole Baldini

Baldini won the Men's Road Race in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, then turned pro and won the Giro two years later.

Answer: France

France won this team event four times, in 1920, 1924, 1936 and 1956. The Soviet Union won three times from 1972 to 1980, and Italy won three times over a wide span (1932, 1960 and 1984). Germany won two (East Germany in 1988 and unified Germany in 1992). Belgium (1948 and 1952) and the Netherlands (1964 and 1968) also won twice.

Answer: Sweden

Ragnar Malm of Sweden received a complete set of medals, as Sweden won gold in the Men's Team Time Trial in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, silver in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, and bronze in the 1924 Paris Olympics. The 1916 Olympics were not held due to World War I, so there were consecutive Olympiads. Only one other Swedish rider participated on even two of those teams.

Answer: Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel

Leontien van Moorsel, a former world champion who had competed in the Women's Road Race in the 1992 Barcelona Games, quit cycling after losing 45 lbs. in 1994-95. But after her marriage to Michael Zijlaard, who became her coach, she turned her life around. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she not only won the gold in both individual road events among the women, but she also won gold in the 3-km track individual pursuit and silver in the track points race. She was also the first person to successfully defend her gold medal in a road cycling event, winning the Women's Road Time Trial again at the 2004 Athens Olympics. At the time of her retirement in 2004, she had won more cycling medals than anyone in Olympic history with 6, three golds in road races and a gold, a silver and a bronze in track races.

She and her husband also became parents in 2007, when she was 37.

Answer: Miguel Indurain

The Spaniard Miguel Indurain won 5 consecutive editions of the Tour de France (1991-95) and 2 consecutive editions of the Giro d'Italia (1992-93), then won the inaugural Men's Road Time Trial in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Note that, prior to 1996, such a feat would have been impossible, because the Olympics were closed to professional cyclists and the Grand Tours were closed to amateurs.

Answer: Jan Ullrich

Germany's Ullrich, who had previously won the 1997 Tour de France and the 1999 Vuelta a España, won a gold in the Men's Road Race and a silver in the Men's Road Time Trial in Sydney. Two women, Jeannie Longo and Clara Hughes, medaled in both events in the 1996 Athens Olympics, but no man had done it until Ullrich. (The second man to do it was Fabian Cancellara in 2008.)

Answer: Fabio Casartelli

Casartelli, an Italian, won the Men's Road Race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in an upset over the favored American, Armstrong. Three years later, racing along with Armstrong on the U.S.-based Motorola team, Casartelli was killed during the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet in the Pyrenees. In his memory, the other riders allowed Motorola (riding together as a team) to win the next day's stage of the Tour, and Armstrong and his teammates donated the prize money to Casartelli's family.

The other three choices were teammates of Casartelli and Armstrong on Motorola that year. Bauer won a silver in the Men's Road Race in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and Andreu finished a frustrating fourth in that event in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Answer: Great Britain

Great Britain had won 10 road cycling medals through 2004, dating back to a bronze in 1896, but none of its cyclists had ever won a gold in a road cycling event until Nicole Cooke captured the Women's Road Race in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Answer: Tyler Hamilton

Hamilton's gold in the Men's Road Time Trial in the 2004 Athens Olympics was nevertheless tainted, especially after he also tested positive for EPO in the Vuelta a España two weeks later and was given a two-year suspension, then was linked the next year to a Spanish blood-doping ring. Each of the others listed won a bronze for the U.S. in the Road Time Trial (without any doping charges): Armstrong in 2000, Julich in 2004, and Leipheimer in 2008.

Answer: Jacques Anquetil

Anquetil led the French to a surprising bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics but then became a figure of great controversy in France, partly because the French public strongly favored his main professional rival Raymond Poulidor, and partly because Anquetil openly treated riding as a paying job instead of an exercise in French patriotism.

He even skipped the Tour a couple of times in his heyday, in part because the Tour required riders to participate as part of a national team (like the Olympics) until 1961.

He won eight Grand Tour championship along with his bronze medal: the Tour de France in 1957 and 1961-64, the Giro d'Italia in 1960 and 1964, and the Vuelta a España in 1963.

Answer: Monique Knol

Knol narrowly won a gold in the Women's Road Race in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and then won a bronze in the same event in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Each of the other cyclists listed (Twigg, Southall and Ludwig) also medaled in more than one Olympics, but in different events.

Answer: Jeannie Longo

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Frenchwoman Jeannie Longo won a silver in the Women's Road Race. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she won a gold in that event and a silver in the Women's Road Time Trial. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she then won a bronze in the time trial. And in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, at age 49, she just missed a third medal in the time trial, finishing 4th -- less than 2 seconds out of 3rd. Each of the others listed has multiple medals in the Road Time Trial only (Zijlaard-van Moorsel and Ekimov in 2000 and 2004 and Thürig in 2004 and 2008); the only other person with multiple medals in the Road Race is Monique Knol (1988 and 1992).

Answer: Clara Hughes

Canada's Hughes finished third in both the Women's Road Race and the Women's Road Time Trial during the 1996 Atlanta Games. After failing to medal in road cycling at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she returned to speed skating. In the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, she won a bronze in the Women's 5km, and four years after that, in the 2006 Torino Olympics, she won a gold in the same event and a silver in Women's Team Pursuit.

The other choices listed were also cyclists and speed skaters.

Answer: 1984

The Women's Road Race was added to the Olympics at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, along with other distance events for women such as the women's marathon (in track).

Answer: 1996

After the public relations success of the U.S. men's basketball "Dream Team" of top professionals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the International Cycling Federation opened Olympic cycling to professionals, effective with the 1996 Atlanta Games. At the same time, the individual road time trial was added.

As a result, the prestige of an Olympic medal increased dramatically, and virtually all world class professional cyclists now participate in the Summer Olympics.

Answer: Davis Phinney

Phinney was one of the best stage riders ever in the U.S., but his wife, former Winter Olympic speed skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney, won the gold in the first Women's Road Race, edging fellow American Rebecca Twigg at the wire. Their son Taylor Phinney competed in track cycling in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Answer: Deutsche Telekom

The winning break consisted of Jan Ullrich (gold) and Andreas Kloeden (bronze) of Germany and Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan (silver), who were all Telekom team members and had trained together. They did not deny that the order of finish was pre-planned, as Ullrich was Team Telekom's leader. Although such cross-national arrangements are discouraged during the Olympics, they are not strictly prohibited, but such a deal does not appear to have recurred in road cycling in subsequent Olympics.

In the road time trial that year, where such a deal was impossible, U.S. Postal Service riders won the gold (Ekimov from Russia) and the bronze (Armstrong from the U.S.), with Ullrich claiming the silver.

Answer: Guy Lapébie

Guy Lapébie was the younger brother of 1937 Tour winner Roger Lapébie. He won a silver in the Men's Road Race and a gold in the Men's Team Road Race (as well as another gold in the Men's Track 4000m Team Pursuit) at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Although WWII claimed his best riding years, in 1948 he finished third overall at the Tour de France.