Olympic Quiz

This was a quiz I put together for a work charity night, with a roughly Olympic theme. Because it was a charity/fun quiz there are a higher than normal proportion of questions which require (unless you’re a complete obsessive or share my brain) a bit of luck to get right. This is because I was very keen not to let any team get too wide a lead early on. (This was due to a format tweak – like several quizzes, we allowed jokers that doubled points on a round. However in this case the jokers had to be bought, money to the charity. I reckoned that if a team was obviously way ahead this would discourage joker purchase – since the leading team could also buy one.)

Anyway, here we go – round one, Olympic Trivia.

1. Vanderlei de Lima won two medals in this year’s Men’s Marathon. For three points, which two medals were they and why did he get two?

2. What percentage of swimming gold medals are won from lane 4 in the pool? A point if you’re 1% out either way.

3. Whose synchronised swimming team was forced to change their routine at the Atalanta Olympics because it was an allegory of the Holocaust?

4. “”Walking in the sand is difficult – we have to train hard to do what we do” What sport is being talked about, and what national team does the speaker belong to? Two points.

5. Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of her womens shot putt gold medal after a drugs test. Her mighty throw, of 21m 6cm, was only 10cm behind the winning men’s throw. To the nearest 10cm, how far ahead of her closest rival was it?

6. When was the last time Olympic gold medals were made of solid gold?

A: 1912
B: 1920
C: 1936
D: 1952?

7. At the 2000 Olympics, which team used up their allocated condom supplies first?

8. At the 1896 games, winners received three rewards. One was a diploma for their achievement ? what were the other two?

9. One of these creatures was NOT an official Winter Olympics mascot – but which!

A: Vucko the Little Wolf
B: Copper the Coyote
C: Magique the Snow Imp
D: Benny the Pine Tree
E: Sukki the Snow Owl

10. True or False question. Which of the following sports have ever been official medal sports at an Olympic Games. Say TRUE if you think they have, FALSE if they haven’t.

Cricket
Synchronised Weightlifting
Swimming Obstacle Race
Live Pigeon Shooting
Chess
Callisthenics