20th Century Olympians Trivia Quiz

Answer: West Germany

Between the 1928 Games and 1968, the competition was won by India 7 times and Pakistan twice. They also took four silver medals between them. In 1972, in Munich, West Germany defeated Pakistan by one goal to none.

Answer: Boxing

Emmanuel Aghassian was born in Iran in 1930, and competed in both the 1948 and 1952 games. He lost in the first round on both occasions. Both boxers that beat him went on to win bronze. He shortened his name when he emigrated to the USA.

Answer: Discus

The man that achieved this feat and truly deserves the title of 'Olympian' was Al Oerter. Not only did he win four medals, each time he did it, he set a new Olympic record. He was also the first man to break the 200-foot barrier with the discus. He was given the honour of carrying the Olympic Flag in 1984, and carried the flame into the stadium in 1996. He passed away in October 2007.

Answer: Daley Thompson

Daley, or to give him his real name, Francis Morgan Thompson, was rarely seen without a smile on his face. In the 1984 competition, he set a world record that stood until 1992. He was the first decathlete to attempt three successive Olympic titles, but failed in 1988 because injury kept him down to fourth place.

He was the first person to hold the Olympic, Commonwealth, World, and European titles in a single event at the same time. In major competitions, between 1979 and 1987, Thompson was never beaten.

Answer: Zola Budd

Budd was granted citizenship because of a newspaper campaign and because her grandfather was English. At the time she was seen as an exceptional long distance runner. The other controversy concerns, her collisions with Mary Decker which took place during the women's 3000m event. Decker collided with Budd at least three times and eventually crashed out of the race. An official investigation by the IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations, cleared Budd of any wrong doing because she was leading and it is the following athlete's responsibility to avoid collisions.

Answer: Sailing

In 1912, Craig won both the 100 and 200m titles beating teammate Don Lippincott both times. He retired from the sport immediately after the games. In 1948, he was selected as an alternate on the USA sailing team, although he didn't compete. He did, however, carry the flag into the stadium.

Answer: Paavo Nurmi

All the athletes named have been given the 'title' at one time or another, but Nurmi is the one that really stands out. A total of 12 Olympic medals is a feat that is hard enough. To do it over distances that ranged from 1500m to 10,000m is incredible. During his races, he always carried a stopwatch with him, although he would sometimes toss it aside if he thought he had built up enough of a lead.

In 1932, he was barred from the Olympics because he had been deemed to have turned 'professional'.

Answer: Yugoslavia

The USA won the first seven titles, the Soviet Union, took the next. In 1980, Yugoslavia became only the third country to take gold in basketball.

Answer: Ran an extra lap

Volmari "Vomma" Fritijof Iso-Hollo, one of the last of the 'Flying Finns' won the race, but was denied a 'World Record' because the official lap counter lost track of the race because he was watching another event. He failed to ring the bell to signify the last lap. Because of this, the entire field ran at total of 364 yards extra. If the official had kept his mind on his job, Iso-Hollo would probably have broken the World Record, a feat he eventually managed the following year.

Answer: Great Britain

Because of boycotts of the games, which started in 1956 at Melbourne, Great Britain, France, Australia and Greece are the only countries to have participated in every summer Olympic Games of the 20th century. The Boycotts happened for mainly political reasons, and the then Soviet Union didn't even enter a team until Helsinki in 1952. That was the first time that a team from 'Russia' had entered in 40 years.