Olympic Games of the 1930s (and 1940s) Quiz

Answer: Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing would appear as an official sport in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany.

Women's speed skating was featured in 500 m, 1000 m, and 1500 m distances. The races were run "packstyle" which means all the competitors in an event raced at once (as opposed to having heats). The top three in each race were all from Canada or the United States. Women would begin officially competing in speed skating at the 1960 Winter Olympics.

The Curling demonstration involved four US teams and four Canadian teams. The three top teams were all Canadian. Each team competed against each of the four teams from the other nation. Curling had been an official sport in the 1924 Olympics but would not return as an official sport until 1998.

Twelve competitors (five from Canada and seven from the US) competed in dog sledding. Canadians won first and third places with a US competitor winning second. The teams ran twice over a 25 mile course roughly two weeks before the Olympics officially began.

Answer: Canada had the second largest team and Norway won the second largest number of medals

Norway had the second largest number of medals (3 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze) earned by its 19 athletes. Canada had the second largest number of athletes (42) and earned seven medals (1 gold, 1 silver, and 5 bronze). By comparison, the US had a delegation of 64 athletes and won 12 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze).

In several events the US was one of only a few nations competing. Of the 17 nations participating, nine sent delegations of under 10 athletes.

Answer: 3rd place (Bronze Medal)

There were only teams from three nations that year -- USA, India, and Japan. The USA lost both of its matches - -9-1 to Japan and 24-1 to India. India defeated Japan 11-1 to take the gold medal. The US Men's Field Hockey Team has also competed in the 1936, 1948, 1956, 1984, and 1996 Summer Olympics, failing to win a single game in any of those matches.

In the US, Field Hockey is not usually an important college sport and where it is played, the women's game is often more emphasized than the men's.

Answer: All the winners represented the same nation

The winners of each of the named events represented Japan. Several of the winners were actually under 20 years old and were not related to each other. The lone outlier was Buster Crabbe (1908-1983) of the United States who later became famous as a movie star, portraying characters such as Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers.

In addition to the five gold medals earned in men's swimming, Japanese swimmers also earned four silver medals and two bronze medals. Interestingly, in the women's swimming events, US swimmers won four of the five events, plus an additional silver medal and bronze medal.

Answer: Great Britain

While the United States won the bronze medal and Canada and Sweden tied for fifth place, it was Great Britain that upset Canada. In the final game, Great Britain scored the go-ahead goal with less than two minutes left in the game. In addition to Canada and the United States, Great Britain faced Czechoslovakia in the final four. Though the Winter Olympics only began in 1924, ice hockey was a medal event in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Answer: Italy

Military Patrol was won by the Italian team (Enrico Silvestri, Luigi Perenni, Stefano Sertorelli, Sisto Scilligo) in 2:28:35.0. Since this was the first Italian team to win military patrol (or in Nordic skiing) in the Olympics, they were each awarded 30,000 lira by Benito Mussolini.

The IOC had not wanted to include military patrol in the 1936 Olympics, but the insistence of Adolf Hitler led to it being included as a demonstration event. Military patrol is similar to biathlon, involving cross-country skiing and shooting.

Answer: High Jump

The fourth gold medal for Jesse Owens (1913-1980) was as part of the US team for the 4x100m relay. With Hitler and the Nazi regime emphasizing issues of race at this Olympics, the four victories of Jesse Owens, an African-American, were seen by many as a direct rebuttal to those theories.

The men's high jump was won by Cornelius Johnson of the United States. Footage of Jesse Owens in included in Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 film "Olympia".

Answer: Basketball

23 teams competed with all the medals being won by North American teams (gold--US, silver--Canada, bronze--Mexico). By 21st century standards, the scores of many of the games were relatively low. For instance, in the title game, the United States defeated Canada, 19-8. Part of this low score may be due to the game being played outdoors in the rain, but even many of the games in better weather had a total score of under 60 points. James Naismith (1861-1939), the inventor of basketball, was present to award the medals in that sport.

Football (soccer) made its Olympic debut in 1900. Baseball first appeared as an exhibition sport in 1904 and made its official Olympic debut in 1992. Polo first appeared in the 1900 Olympics.

Answer: World War Two

World War Two would cause a twelve year gap between Olympics (1936-1948). As countries geared up for war, there was an attempt to relocate the 1940 Winter and Summer Olympics, but the large number of nations involved in World War Two led to eventual cancellation.

Many of the nations which were chosen as locations for the 1940 and 1944 Olympics would later be assigned a Winter or Summer Olympics.

Answer: Japan

The 1940 Winter Olympics were initially scheduled for Sapporo, Japan. After war broke out between Japan and China, Japan would return these games to the International Olympic Committee in 1938. There were attempts to move the Winter Olympics to St. Moritz, Switzerland and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, before they were cancelled. Sapporo would later host the 1972 Winter Olympics.

The 1940 Summer Olympics were initially scheduled for Tokyo, Japan. Japan would also return these games to the IOC. An attempt would be made to move the Summer Olympics to Helsinki, Finland, before they too were cancelled. Helsinki would later host the 1952 Summer Olympics and Tokyo would later host the 1964 Summer Olympics.