125 Olympics Trivia Questions and Answers to Test Your Knowledge About the History of the Winter and Summer Games
The Olympics are always a historic event, whether due to the incredible displays of athleticism or the sociopolitical and cultural conditions surrounding the games and pageantry. From the triumphs of Simone Biles and Michael Phelps to the traumas in Atlanta and Munich, throughout history, the Olympic Games have hosted plenty of blood, sweat and tears. Celebrate the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris by testing just how much you know about the events with these Olympics trivia questions and answers that will definitely flex your trivia muscles!
Olympics Trivia Questions and Answers
1. Question: In which country did the Olympics originate?
Answer: Greece
2. Question: The Olympic games in Greece were held how often?
Answer: Every four years
3. Question: When were the first known Olympic games held?
Answer: 776 B.C.
4. Question: The first modern Olympics were held in what year?
Answer: 1896
5. Question: Where were the first modern Olympic Games held?
Answer: Athens, Greece
6. Question: Who is credited with starting the modern Olympic games?
Answer: Baron Pierre de Coubertin
7. Question: What is the official motto for the Olympics?
Answer: “Citius, Altius, Fortius”
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8. Question: What does “Citius, Altius, Fortius” mean in English?
Answer: “Faster, Higher, Stronger”
9. Question: What colors are the Olympic rings?
Answer: Blue, yellow, black, green and red
10. Question: What are the five official Olympic values?
Answer: Joy of effort, fair play, respect for others, pursuit of excellence; and balance between body, will and mind.
11. Question: The Olympic torch is a tribute to the fire that burned throughout the ancient Greek Olympic games honoring which goddess?
Answer: Hestia
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12. Question: What do the Olympic rings represent?
Answer: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana
13. Question: When were the first winter Olympics held?
Answer: 1924
14. Question: Where was the first winter Olympics held?
Answer: Chamonix, France
15. Question: When were the Olympic gold medals last made entirely of gold?
Answer: 1912
16. Question: Who wrote the music for The Olympic Hymn?
Answer: Spyros Samaras
17. Question: Who wrote the lyrics for The Olympic Hymn?
Answer: Kostis Palamas
18. Question: What prize was given to winners of the Olympics in ancient Greece?
Answer: Olive branch crown
19. Question: Which country has hosted the most Olympic Games?
Answer: United States
20. Question: When did the Olympics first award gold, silver and bronze medals?
Answer: 1904
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21. Question: Which city has hosted the Olympics three times?
Answer: London, however Paris will join the three-timers club in 2024.
22. Question: How many countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics?
Answer: 66
23. Question: The Olympic Torch is lit where each year?
Answer: Olympia, Greece
24. Question: The Olympic Torch is used to light what?
Answer: The Olympic Cauldron
25. Question: A race was held in the 1896 Olympic Games in honor of whom?
Answer: Pheidippides
26. Question: Where did Pheidippides run?
Answer: From Marathon, Greece to Athens
27. Question: In 2016, which sport made the Olympic roster for the first time since 1924?
Answer: Rugby
28. Question: In what year did the Olympic flag debut?
Answer: 1920
29. Question: The Olympics were first held to honor which Greek god?
Answer: Zeus
30. Question: The first opening ceremony for the Olympics was held in which city and year?
Answer: London, 1908
31. Question: The priestess of which Greek goddess was the only married woman permitted to watch the ancient Greek Olympics?
Answer: Demeter
32. Question: The only event in the first-known ancient Greek Olympics was a footrace of what length?
Answer: 192 meters
33. Question: Who won the first-known Olympics in ancient Greece?
Answer: Coroebus
34. Question: Which ancient Greek mythical figure is said to have founded the Olympics?
Answer: Heracles (Roman name Hercules)
35. Question: When did the Olympic Games first feature a marathon?
Answer: 1896
36. Question: How long a distance was the first Olympic marathon?
Answer: 25 miles
37. Question: Who won first place in the first-ever Olympic marathon race?
Answer: Spyridon Louis
38. Question: What is the standard marathon race length today?
Answer: 26 miles and 385 yards (42,195 meters)
39. Question: Which Roman emperor declared himself the winner of an Olympic chariot race...even though he fell out of his chariot?
Answer: Nero
40. Question: Which emperor banned the Olympics in 393 A.D.?
Answer: Theodosius I
41. Question: How many events were held at the first modern Olympics?
Answer: 43
42. Question: How many athletes participated in the first modern Olympics?
Answer: 280
43. Question: How many nations participated in the first modern Olympics?
Answer: 13
44. Question: Which four years have seen the Olympics canceled?
Answer: 1916, 1940, 1944 and 2020
45. Question: The Olympic flag first flew in which city?
Answer: Antwerp, Belgium
46. Question: When was the first Olympics closing ceremony?
Answer: 1924
47. Question: When were women first permitted to compete in the Olympics?
Answer: 1900
48. Question: Who was the first female Olympic champion?
Answer: Hélène de Pourtalès
49. Question: The ancient Greeks sacrificed which animal at the conclusion of the earliest Olympic games?
Answer: Oxen
50. Question: In ancient Greece, a separate festival celebrating female athletes was called what?
Answer: Heraean Games
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51. Question: The ancient pentathlon event was a combination of which sports?
Answer: Discus, javelin, long jump, running and wrestling
52. Question: Which ancient Greek athlete won 12 titles across four consecutive Olympics?
Answer: Leonidas of Rhodes
53. Question: What was the punishment for breaking the rules in the ancient Greek Olympic Games?
Answer: Public whipping and/or fines
54. Question: Wrestlers covered their bodies in what in the ancient Greek Olympics?
Answer: Oil
55. Question: In the ancient Greek Olympics, wrestlers used oil to keep what out of their pores?
Answer: Sand
56. Question: Wealthy winners of the ancient Greek Olympics could erect statues of themselves where?
Answer: The Olympia Altis Grove
57. Question: Which American Olympic athlete was later a prisoner of war in World War II?
Answer: Louis Zamperini
58. Question: Which Olympic Games featured an unknown champion in rowing?
Answer: 1900
59. Question: Which American athlete with a wooden leg won six gymnastics medals at the 1904 Olympics?
Answer: George Eyser
60. Question: Which Olympic athlete was known as the "Milwaukee Meteor?"
Answer: Archie Hahn
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61. Question: South Africa participated in which Olympic Games for the first time since 1960?
Answer: 1992
62. Question: Which city hosted the first boycott-free Olympics since 1972?
Answer: Barcelona
63. Question: What year did the NBA "Dream Team" participate in the Olympics?
Answer: 1992
64. Question: The 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis coincided with which other major event in the city?
Answer: World's Fair
65. Question: Which male gymnast won four gold medals in a single day?
Answer: Vitaly Scherbo
66. Question: Which German athlete was a third-generation Olympian in 1992?
Answer: Andrea Keller
67. Question: When did snowboarding make its Olympic debut?
Answer: 1998
68. Question: In 1900, which Olympic athlete refused to participate in a race on Sunday because of his religious beliefs?
Answer: Myer Prinstein
69. Question: Which American figure skating became the youngest champion ever in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Tara Lipinski
70. Question: Triathlon and taekwondo were added to the Olympics in what year?
Answer: 2000
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71. Question: What woman became the first Olympic athlete to win gold twice 20 years apart?
Answer: Brigit Fischer
72. Question: Who was the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games?
Answer: Steven Redgrave
73. Question: Who was the first Black athlete to win gold in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Vonetta Flowers
74. Question: Women's wrestling was televised for the first time in what year's Olympic Games?
Answer: 2004
75. Question: BMX made its Olympic debut in which city?
Answer: Beijing
76. Question: The Beijing Olympics' oldest and youngest athletes' ages had a difference of how many years?
Answer: 55
77. Question: In 1904, which athlete was disqualified for doing a big portion of the 40-kilometer race via car?
Answer: Fred Lorz
78. Question: At the 2008 Olympics, Michael Phelps broke whose record in most gold medals in swimming?
Answer: Mark Spitz
79. Question: Which comedian appeared in the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony?
Answer: Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean")
80. Question: The Olympic Games could be viewed on mobile devices for the first time in which year?
Answer: 2006
81. Question: Zimbabwe participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time in which year?
Answer: 2014
82. Question: Which Olympian was also a winner of The Masked Dancer?
Answer: Gabby Douglas
83. Question: Which was the first Latin American city to host the Olympics?
Answer: Mexico City
84. Question: Who was the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron?
Answer: Enriqueta Basilio
85. Question: The 1968 Olympic Torch relay followed the path of which historical explorer?
Answer: Christopher Columbus
86. Question: Which was the largest city to ever host the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Tokyo, Japan
87. Question: In 2004, which men's soccer team didn't give up a single goal to their opponents?
Answer: Argentina
88. Question: Usain Bolt shattered which two records in 2008?
Answer: 100- and 200-meters
89. Question: When did team figure skating debut in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: 2014
90. Question: Which two Black American gold and bronze medal-winning athletes were expelled from the Olympic village for protesting racial segregation during the 1968 Olympics?
Answer: Tommie Smith and John Carlos
91. Question: In which city and year did Japan win their first Olympic gold medal?
Answer: Sapporo, 1972
92. Question: Who was the first athlete to win eight medals in a single Olympic Games?
Answer: Aleksandr Dityatin
93. Question: Which host city was the first to use artificial snow in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Lake Placid, N.Y.
94. Question: How many gold medals did Eric Heiden win in the 1980 Winter Olympics?
Answer: Five
95. Question: The Soviet Union boycotted the Olympics in which American host city?
Answer: Los Angeles
96. Question: Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis both won gold in which four events?
Answer: 100-meter, 200-meter, 4x100-meter relay and long jump
97. Question: The 1976 Montreal Olympics saw the debut of which three women's sports?
Answer: Basketball, rowing and handball
98. Question: The first women's marathon was in which Olympic Games?
Answer: Los Angeles in 1984
99. Question: How old was Lindsey Vonn when she made her Olympic debut?
Answer: 17
100. Question: What Olympic figure skating team got perfect scores for their interpretation of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero?"
Answer: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
101. Question: Which Olympian reprises her famous smirk in a GEICO commercial for car insurance?
Answer: McKayla Maroney
102. Question: Who was the first Olympic athlete to be disqualified for testing positive for steroids?
Answer: Ben Johnson
103. Question: Table tennis made its Olympic debut in which year?
Answer: 1988
104. Question: Who is the only athlete in history to win medals at the Winter and Summer Olympics in the same year?
Answer: Christa Luding-Rothenburger
105. Question: The first smoke-free Olympic Games were held in which city?
Answer: Calgary
106. Question: Who is the only woman to have competed in six editions of the Olympic Winter Games?
Answer: Marja-Liisa Kirvesmiemi-H?m?l?inen
107. Question: Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic Cauldron in which city?
Answer: Atlanta
108. Question: Which Olympic gymnast was awarded the first-ever perfect 10 on the uneven bars?
Answer: Nadia Comaneci
109. Question: Michael Johnson was the first man in history to win both of which races?
Answer: 200- and 400-meter
110. Question: In which year was softball introduced to the Olympics?
Answer: 1996
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111. Question: The first American fencing gold medal was awarded in which Olympic Games?
Answer: Athens in 2000
112. Question: The Olympics were suspended for 36 hours after a terrorist attack in which city's Olympic Village?
Answer: Munich
113. Question: The 1976 Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck, Austria, after which city withdrew its bid?
Answer: Denver, Colorado
114. Question: How many silver medals did Dana Torres win in Beijing?
Answer: Three
115. Question: Which Winter Olympic sports were originally part of the Summer Olympics?
Answer: Ice hockey and figure skating
116. Question: What is the lowest-populated country to win a medal at the Summer Olympic Games?
Answer: Bermuda
117. Question: How many grams of gold are in Olympic gold medals?
Answer: Six grams
118. Question: Which Winter Olympic Games were the first to be broadcast in color?
Answer: Grenoble
119. Question: How long were the London Olympic Games in 1908?
Answer: 188 days
120. Question: When was electronic timing was used as the official time for the Olympics?
Answer: 1968
121. Question: Who was the first American woman to win an Olympic event?
Answer: Margaret Abbott
122. Question: When was the last time the United States dipped the American flag to a foreign leader in the Olympics?
Answer: 1932
123. Question: Which new sports debuted at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo?
Answer: Skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate
124. Question: Which dog breed was the first official Olympic mascot?
Answer: Dachshund
125. Question: How many Olympic medals does Simone Biles have so far?
Answer: Five (four gold, one bronze)
