Team Eggheads at the Olympics Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Flying Squirrel

Douglas was given the nickname by the US gymnastics team coordinator Martha Karolyi, wife of famed gymnastic coach Bela Karolyi. Not everyone thinks it is a great nickname for the gymnast. In an interview, former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes expressed her dislike of the nickanme saying, "I do not like the nickname. I'm going to call her 'Doin' It Douglas' or 'Wowing It Douglas.'" Whatever her nickname, Gabby Douglas flew to new heights in the 2012 Olympics.
(Question and extra information submitted by unterkircher)

Answer: Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth graciously agreed to take part in the opening ceremony of the Games. In conjunction with actor Daniel Craig, in his character of 007, she was seen greeting Mr Bond at the palace. Following this, by using an experienced male jumper dressed in a copy of the Queen's outfit, she was (apparently) seen to climb into a helicopter and then leap out over the site of the opening ceremony to float down to join in the celebrations. Shortly thereafter, the head of the Commonwealth took her seat in the stands for the remainder of this entertaining spectacle.

Her participation in this fun-loving episode was hilarious, brilliant and completely unexpected. (Question and additional information submitted by Creedy)

Answer: The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins's series of books that began with "The Hunger Games," has done for archery what the Twilight Series did for vampires. Jennifer Lawrence, the actress who portrayed the character of Katniss in the movie version of "The Hunger Games," trained with USA Olympian Khatuna Lorig, who came in fourth in the 2012 Olympics.
(Question and additional information submitted by jerico54)

Answer: Clara Hughes

Clara Hughes is one of Canada's most successful women's Olympic athletes ever, having won a total of 6 Medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. She won 2 Bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Games in Cycling and 4 medals - 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze in Speedskating - spread out over 3 Winter Olympics from 2002 to 2010. Of the other answers, Elvis Stojko, and Kurt Browning are two of Canada's most successful former figure skaters. Cindy Klassen is a Canadian speedskater who has also won six Olympic medals in that discipline.
(Question and additional information submitted by George48)

Answer: Triathlon

The Triathlon consists of a 1500m swim, followed by a 40km cycle race, and finishes with a 10km run, which arguably makes it the most punishing event of the whole Olympic programme. Alistair Brownlee from Yorkshire finished in first position to win the Gold Medal whilst his younger brother Jonny came home third to collect the Bronze Medal, despite incurring a 15 second penalty for mounting his bike too quickly after the swimming section. Javier Gomez from Spain finished in second position to prevent a 1-2 finish for the Brownlee brothers. (Question and additional information submitted by moonraker2)

Answer: Aries Merritt

Aries Merritt's goal in starting on the opposite foot was for his left and right sides to flow in sync down the track, with neither side being dominant. This radical change allowed him to take one less step to the first hurdle resulting in Aries achieving a personal best time of 12.92 seconds and earning him the gold. Merritt became the first hurdler to win the US Indoor Nationals, the Indoor World Championship, the 2012 US Olympic Trials and the Olympics - all in the same year.
(Question and additional information submitted by CoachinChina)

Answer: Boxing

Women from all countries could now participate in boxing for the very first time. They were able to fight in the Flyweight, Lightweight and Middleweight events at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in the Docklands area of London. The three gold medallists were Nicola Adams representing Great Britain (Flyweight), Katie Taylor representing Ireland (Lightweight) and Claressa Shields representing the United States (Middleweight). Well done ladies!
(Question and additional information submitted by Plodd)

Answer: Glasgow, Scotland

Andy Murray was born on May 15, 1987 in Glasgow, Scotland. Most of his childhood was spent in Dunblane, Scotland. In addition to winning Gold in the Men's Singles, he also won Silver in the Mixed Doubles with partner Laura Robson. His brother, Jamie, is also well known as a doubles player.
(Question and additional information supplied by veronicavee)

Answer: All winners stand on level ground.

There is both a traditional and practical reason for the level ground. Rowers have great respect for any team that wins one of the three medals and feel the only difference should be the color of the award. On a more practical level, some rowing events have as many as nine members on a team which would mean twenty-seven winners on the podium. Another difference is that rowing medals are presented right after the race finishes.
(Question and additional information submitted by unterkircher)

Answer: Independent Olympic Athlete

These four athletes were from countries who do not have a National Olympic Committee. One of these was Guor Maria from South Sudan who is a permanent refugee resident of the U.S. Guor is not a U.S. citizen, nor does he have a passport from any other country, so he could not be either a U.S. or Sudanese competitor. The other three came from the Netherlands Antilles which no longer exists and was made part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010.
(Question and additional information submitted by unterkircher)