Olympics History Trivia

1. Problem No. 1: Honesty. American Fred Lorz was the first to cross the line in the men's marathon in the 1904 St Louis games. Why was he later disqualified?

From Quiz Olympic Problems

Answer: He had travelled part of the route by car

It was a very tough marathon with fewer than half the starters lasting the course in the 33 degree celsius conditions. In addition to the heat, there was no water stops other than a well halfway along the route and it was run over steep hills and on roads that had not been closed to traffic. Lorz dropped out at the nine mile mark, exhausted and suffering from cramp from his exertions in the heat. He accepted a lift back to the stadium but in the car was persuaded to rejoin the race. Problem was, the car had travelled 11 miles before he decided to run again. Rejuvenated from his rest, he raced ahead towards the finish and crossed the line first. It wasn't until the medal ceremony that he was called out by spectators for his dishonesty, at which point he confessed he had only finished as a joke and apologised to the organisers. The race and the gold medal was awarded to Thomas Hicks, who had finished second. He had been administered strychnine by his coach to improve his performance but at this time this was not illegal.

From Quiz Olympic Games of the 2010s

Answer: The NHL rink is narrower

An Olympic hockey rink is 200 feet long and 98.5 feet wide. An NHL hockey rink is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. There was some question as to whether North American Hockey teams would be at an advantage in Vancouver because of their familiarity with the narrower rink. The rink used was the now Rogers Center, home of the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL. The Canadian team won the gold, the US team won the silver, and the Finnish team won the bronze in both the Men's and Women's competition.

From Quiz Olympic Games of the 1990s

Answer: Australia

Australia's first Winter Olympic medal would come two years later at Lillehammer when Steven Bradbury, Kieran Hansen, Andrew Murtha, and Richard Nizielski won the bronze medal for the 5000m relay in short track speed skating. Annelise Coberger won the silver medal for New Zealand in the women's slalom of alpine skiing. China won three medals at this Olympics, all silver. Li Yan won for women's 500m short track speed skating. Ye Qiaobo won medals for women's 500m and women's 1000m for speed skating. South Korea made a mark in the 1992 Winter Olympics with four medals. Kim Ki-hoon won the gold medal and Lee Joon-ho the bronze medal for the men's 1000m for short track speed skating. Kim Ki-hoon, Lee Joon-ho, Mo Ji-soo, and Song Jae-kun won the gold medal for the men's 5000m relay for short track speed skating. Kim Yoon-man won the silver medal for the men's 1000m for speed skating.

From Quiz History of Olympic Games 1896-2016

Answer: 1964

Japan was the first Asian country to host the Games in 1964. The Games were held from 10th to 24th October. They were supposed to host the 1940 Games which were cancelled due to WWII. The host did well to finish third on the medal tally with 16 golds, behind USA with 36 golds and USSR with 30 golds.

From Quiz It's Hard to Type with a Cat on Your Lap...

Answer: Zorn, Trischa

Trischa Zorn was born in California in 1964. Despite being blind from birth, she completed university studies and started a teaching career. Her Paralympic swimming career started in 1980, and that year she won five individual gold medals as well as two team gold medals. Her best result was in 1988, with ten individual gold medals and two team gold medals. In 2004 she competed for the last time at the Paralympics, adding one bronze medal to her vast collection. In total Trischa Zorn won 30 individual gold medals, 8 individual silver medals and 4 individual bronze medals, as well as seven gold, two silver and one bronze in the team competitions. The red herrings never competed in the Paralympics, but claimed gold in the Olympics. Nadia Comaneci was an Olympic gymnast, the first to reach a perfect score. Françoise Mbango Etone was an Olympic athlete who won two gold medals in the triple jump competition. Gao Min was a female Olympic diver with two gold medals.

From Quiz Great Olympic Wrestlers (Freestyle)

Answer: John Smith

John Smith wrestled at Oklahoma State University where he was a two time NCAA champion. He comes from a wrestling family - and has wrestled with and coached his brothers, sons, and nephews.

From Quiz Olympics of the 1960s

Answer: Bobsleigh

When Squaw Valley was chosen as a future Olympic site in 1956, the facilities there were very limited. The California State Legislature would authorize $5,000,000 to spend on a number facilities including housing for athletes and performance venues. The organizers chose not build a bobsleigh facility as it was felt that only a small number of the nations participating would have a bobsleigh team (9 of the 30 countries). Biathlon actually made its first appearance at the 1960 Winter Olympics.

From Quiz Greek, Set, Match

Answer: Kostas Tsiklitiras

Konstantinos Tsiklitiras (1888-1913), nicknamed Kostas, competed in both defunct jumping disciplines in London 1908 and in Stockholm 1912. Besides these jumping events, he also practiced water polo and soccer in Greece. In London Tsiklitiras scored a standing high jump of 1,55 m. He shared second place with the American John Biller, and the gold went to the famous Ray Ewry (also from the USA). For the standing long jump, Ewry reached 3,33 m and first place, while Tsiklitiras and the American Martin Sheridan jumped for 3,22 m. But when the distance was calculated using Imperial standards instead of metres, Tsiklitiras had a narrowly better result than Sheridan. In Stockholm Tsiklitiras repeated his standing high jump of 1,55 m. But this gave him only the third place, as the Americans Ben Adams (with 1,60 m) and Platt Adams (1,63 m) outdid him. In the standing long jump, Tsiklitiras won with 3,37 m. Platt Adams (3,36 m) claimed second place and Ben Adams (3,28m) completed the podium. Vyntra and Papadopoulos (both born 1981) gained fame as soccer players. Stojakovic (born 1977 in Serbia, but with the double nationality) played basketball.

From Quiz Who Lit The Cauldron?

Answer: Paavo Nurmi

Nurmi was known as 'the flying Finn' and was a winner of nine Olympic gold medals in the 1920s for Finland. In the summer games of 1952, the Olympic torch was passed to him to light the cauldron at ground level on the field. The torch was then passed on to four Finnish footballers who carried it to the top of the stadium where Hannes Kolehmainen, another Finnish born athlete, lit the higher cauldron. Werner Heisenberg was a German physicist; Johnny Weissmuller played 'Tarzan' in films and was previously an Olympic swimmer for the USA; Harold Abrahams was a British athlete, one of two whose story was told in the Oscar winning film 'Chariots of Fire'.

From Quiz Summer Olympic Games

Answer: Greece

Coroebus from the ancient district of Elis in Greece was the winner of the only event in 776 B.C. It was the Stadion, a running event. In those very early days of course, all competitors came from Greece.

From Quiz Faster Disaster

Answer: Luge

On February 12th, 2010, 21-year old Nodar David Kumaritashvili of Georgia suffered a fatal crash when he was thrown off his luge and over the sidewall of the track. His body hit an unpadded steel support pole. At the time he was traveling at 143.6 km/h (89.2mph). A year earlier at a test event on the Whistler track, a luger had attained a speed of 95.65mph. Nodar was an accomplished athlete and had started in the sport at just 13 years of age. Vancouver was set to be his Olympic debut.

From Quiz Games, Gold, and Glory

Answer: Eddie Eagan

American Eddie Eagen won a gold medal for boxing at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp. He was also a part of a bobsled team that won a gold medal at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Games. A Yale graduate who attended Harvard Law School and studied at Oxford, Eagen was also the first American to win the British Amateur Boxing Championship. None of the other athletes mentioned participated in the Winter Olympics. Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish long distance runner, Carl Lewis was a middle-distance runner and jumper, and Steve Redgrave was a British rower.

From Quiz Amazing Mascots of Amazing Olympics

Answer: Beaver

In the language Anishinaabe, "Amik" is beaver. It has a pure dark black color with stripes of the Iris, aka rainbow, colors. The black beaver, basis for the mascot, is native to Canada.

From Quiz The Race Is On!

Answer: 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers)

Marathons are named after the Battle of Marathon, an ancient battle between Greece and Persia. After the Greeks won, a herald was sent to run from Marathon to Athens to tell the Greeks of their victory. He ran the long distance, told the Greeks they won, and then died. The 2004 marathon actually went from Marathon to Athens.

From Quiz Olympians

Answer: Gymnastics

She won the 1984 gold medal in Los Angeles, making her the first American woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics.

From Quiz Olympic Knowledge

Answer: Athens, Greece

The modern Olympics (the name Olympics was derived from Olympia, a city in Greece, that always "hosted" the ancient Olympics) were going to start in 1900 in Paris, but the IOC (International Olympic Committee) decided that the Olympics should start in 1896 in Greece because that's where the Olympics started. Paris hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924 (both summer). St. Louis hosted the Olympics in 1904 (summer), and Rome hosted the Olympics in 1960 (summer).

From Quiz They Won Our Hearts

Answer: Eric The Eel

Before coming to the Olympics, Eric had never swum in an Olympic size pool, and had only taken up swimming about eight months earlier. He gained entry without meeting any qualifying standard, on a wildcard designed to encourage developing countries to compete without having expensive training facilities. His heat time for his first race was 1 minute 52.72 seconds, over a minute slower than the world record, and he actually won it as his two competitors were disqualified for false starts. He came last in the final but received massive cheers and encouragement from the audience.

From Quiz Olympics: More Than a Game

Answer: Dr William Brooks

Dr William Brooks was a trained physician who believed that exercise could help prevent illness. Baron de Coubertin attended the Much Wenlock Games. Thomas Arnold was headmaster of Rugby (a school in Engalnd). Baron de Coubertin was impressed with physical education at English schools and had visited Rugby. Prince Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria. Juan Antonio Samaranch is a former president of the International Olympic Committee.

From Quiz The Olympic Games

Answer: Zeus

In the original Olympic Games, there were not gold, silver, and bronze medals like there are today. There was only one champion of each sport, and he lived a life of luxury for pleasing Zeus. Zeus was the most powerful of the Greek gods, and the champions of each event were believed to be watched over by Zeus.

From Quiz Legends of the Olympics

Answer: Marathon

Up to the marathon, none of the track and field events had been won by the Greeks (all had gone to the United States or Australia). This was particularly hard on the Greeks in the case of the discus throw, a classic sporting event that (like the marathon) had not had international competition before, and which the Greeks hoped to win. Instead it was won by the American Robert Garrett, even though he had started training only on the voyage to Greece (he also won the shot put, and finished second on high jump and long jump).

From Quiz Olympic Hosts Revisited

Answer: 1908 and 1948

London first held the games in 1908. They were due to host them again in 1944, but they were canceled because of World War II. Instead, London hosted the first games after the war in 1948. 2012 London will be the first city to have staged the Summer Games for a third time.

From Quiz Olympic Symbols

Answer: Henry Didon

The Olympic motto was carved over the entrance of Father Didon's school. It was first used at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

From Quiz Olympic Games Ancient History

Answer: 776 BC

It consisted of only one event, the "stade" race (about 220 yards), and the first winner was Coroibis of Elis.

From Quiz Almost Hosted The Olympics

Answer: Chicago

The games were relocated to St. Louis as a World's Fair was taking place there at the time.

From Quiz Coubertin's Legacy

Answer: 9

These were athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, swimming, shooting, weightlifting, and wrestling. James Connolly(USA), became the first winner in 1527 years when he won gold in what is now called the triple jump.

From Quiz History of the Olympic Games

Answer: 776 BC

The Ancient Olympic Games were held every four years at Olympia, and all free Greek men could compete. The first Ancient Olympic Games were held in 776 BC and the last in 393 AD, when Emperor Theodosius I abolished them. Scholars have speculated that the games in 776 BC were not the first games, but rather the first games held after they were organised into four yearly festivals. A naked runner, Coroebus, a cook, won the sole event at these Olympics, a run of around 192m (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in written history.

From Quiz Olympic Sport Debut Years

Answer: 1896

Athens 1896: aquatics broad umbrella includes events like Diving, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming and Water Polo. Swimming has been an Olympic sport since 1896, Diving made its debut in current form in 1928, however it has has been contested since 1904. Synchronised Swimming was first held in 1984 in solo and duet events, 1996 saw only a team's competition with the duet event returning in 2000. Water Polo was played during the 1900 Paris Olympics and has been contested at all games since 1908 with the woman's competition debuting in 2000.

From Quiz Olympic Host Cities

Answer: Lillehammer

This small Norwegian town was the 1994 host, two years after the Games of Albertville. The reason for this un-Olympic interval was that the IOC wanted Winter and Summer Games to be arranged in separate years and achieved this by shortening one interval for the Winter Games.

From Quiz The Ancient Greek Olympics

Answer: nothing

Shocking?? The competitors trained and competed in the nude. That is why the statues of discus throwers and chariot racers have nothing on. The Ancient Greeks had few 'hang-ups' about the human body, which they tended to regard as something of beauty in its own right.

From Quiz Olympic Symbols and Ceremonies

Answer: Baron Pierre de Coubertin

The Olympic Flag made its debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.

This is category 743
Last Updated Nov 16 2024 5:44 AM

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.