Aussies at the Olympics Trivia

1. Australia has been a part of Olympic History since the first modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Which equation best describes Australia's performance in the 1896 Olympics.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: One athlete won two gold medals.

Edwin Flack (1873-1935) was Australia's sole representative at the 1896 Olympics. He won the gold in the 800 meters and 1500 meters races. He also won a bronze medal in doubles tennis as part of a multi-national team. Living in London in 1896, he spent most of his life in Australia.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: 8

Jacqueline Freney, who has cerebral palsy, won a total of eight gold medals in the pool. She won six in individual events and won another two in team relay events. Her gold medal haul was the highest achieved by a single Paralympian at the London games; and also broke the record held by Siobhan Paton (six gold), which had stood since the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. Jacqueline's first Paralympic medals came in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, where she won a total of three bronze medals. She followed those up by winning two silver medals at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships held in Eindhoven, Holland. With her success at the 2012 games, the American-based "Swimming World Magazine" awarded her the World Disabled Swimmer of the Year in the female category.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: Ron Clarke

Ron Clarke set 17 world records in a glittering career, but sadly never medaled at an Olympic Games. He later became Mayor of the Gold Coast in Queensland. The 1956 Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, his home state, the first time in the Southern Hemisphere.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: 1936 Garmisch and Partenkirchen

The Bavarian market towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined forces to host the 1936 games. Australia's sole representative at our country's inaugural games was speed skater Kenneth Kennedy. Unfortunately, he finished near the bottom of the standings in both the 1500m and 5000m. Nor did he have any support staff with him despite the IOC sanctioning his entry.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: New Zealand

In 1908 and 1912 a joint Australia-New Zealand team competed as "Australasia". In 1908 the team won the gold medal in Rugby. In 1912 both medals were in swimming--the women's 100 meters freestyle and the men's 4 x 200 meters freestyle relay.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Wheelchair Rugby

The 2012 Summer Paralympics was the first time that the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team won the gold medal in this event. They defeated Canada, Sweden and Belgium in the group stages to progress to the semis. They then went on to beat Japan 59-45 only to meet Canada again in the final. Australia won the final 66-51 with Ryley Batt, scoring 37 of the "Steelers" points in the final.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: Win a gold medal

Durack competed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. She both won gold and set a world record in the 100 metres freestyle event. After the games she beat her own record twice with her fastest recorded time being 1 minute 16.2 seconds which stood until 1920. In 1932 fellow female Australian athlete Claire Dennis also won an Olympic gold medal.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: Figure skating

Nancy Burley and Gweneth Molony flew the Australian flag at the figure skating in 1952. Nancy and her partner Adrian Swan finished 10th and 14th in their discipline, while Gweneth failed to reach the top twenty.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: Rowing

Bobby Pearce (1905-1976) won in the single scull rowing event. He turned pro after the 1932 Olympics and retired from competitive rowing in 1938. During World War Two he worked training new soldiers.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Liesl Tesch

The Two Person Keelboat event requires a crew consisting of one female and male crew member. Liesl Tesch and Daniel Fitzgibbon won their first ever gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics with a race to spare, even though the pair of them had competed in previous games. Daniel competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing with Rachel Cox in the Two Person Keelboat, winning a silver medal. Liesl Tesch had competed in previous games as part of the Australian women's national wheelchair basketball team. She won silver medals at the Sydney and Athens games and a bronze medal in Beijing games with the basketball team. All the other names listed played for Australian women's national wheelchair basketball team in the 2012 Summer Paralympics, in which the team lost in final to the team from Germany.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: They went to them all

Australia along with only a small number of other countries including Greece has been represented at every modern Summer Olympic Games. Olympic sports that Australia have been particularly triumphant in are swimming with athletes such as Ian Thorpe, Andrew Charlton and Murray Rose and running with athletes including Cathy Freeman and Betty Cuthbert. In addition Australia has also done significantly well in cycling, archery, rowing and field hockey.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: Armband

Team uniforms are now de rigueur for any sports, and are specially tailored to suit each sporting discipline. Back in 1952, with few athletes and even fewer dollars to lavish on them, Colin was only given a black tie and a black armband, with which to mourn the death of King George VI.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: Soccer/Football

Here's the run-down. Marjorie Jackson won the Women's 100 meters race and 200 meter race (Athletics). Shirley Strickland won the Women's 80 meters Hurdles (Athletics). Russell Mockridge won the Men's 1000 meters Time Trial (Cycling). Lionel Cox and Russell Mockrdige won the Men's 2000 meters Tandem race (Cycling). John Davies won the Men's 200 meters Breaststroke (Swimming). Australia fielded its first soccer/football team in the 1956 Olympics.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Worldwide PB

Joann Formaso riding the horse Worldwide PB, won the gold medal in the individual championship test, grade Ib on the 1st September 2012. She won with a score of 75.826 beating the British rider Lee Pearson's score of 75.391. This was first time since the 2000 games in Sydney that Lee had not won a gold medal in an individual dressage event at the Paralympics, though he did get some consolation by getting the gold medal in the team event. Joann despite her having nerve and spinal cord damage due to accidents involving horses also has to combat allergies. As she is allergic to some things which ironically include hay and horse feed among them.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: Athletes from all nations enter the stadium in unity during the closing ceremony.

The 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games became known as the "Friendly Games", despite a number of countries withdrawing due both the Suez Crisis and the Soviet presence at the Games. Following the suggestion of a Melbourne schoolboy the athletes become one at the final of the closing ceremony.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: Ice Hockey

An ice hockey team wished to participate in the games, and as there was no money forthcoming, they were willing to pay their own fare and accommodation costs. All they needed was permission from the Australian Olympic Federation (AOF). Their request, however, was not just denied, it was ignored. The AOF did not respond to them. One of these athletes was Geoff Henke, who later became a sports administrator.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: 100 meters freestyle swimming

Dawn Fraser (born 1937) has won 4 Olympic gold medals: the three mentioned for the 100 m freestyle swim and one for the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay in the 1956 Olympics. In October 1962 she set the then-world record for the 100 meters freestyle swim for women at 58.9 seconds. She is one of only three swimmers in Olympic history to have won the gold medal in the same event in three consecutive Olympics.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Scott McPhee

Kieran Modra and Scott McPhee beat fellow Aussies Bryce Lindores and Sean Finning in the men's individual Pursuit B at the velodrome. With the Australians claiming gold and silver, the bronze medal went to the Spanish team of Miguel Angel Clemente Solano and Diego Javier Munoz as they beat the team from Ireland. The B classification is for athletes who are blind or have a visual impairment and they compete on a tandem bicycle with a sighted rider up front as the pilot. Kieran has competed in three different sports for Australia at the Summer Paralympics. While he has earned more medals in cycling, he won two bronze medals in swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. He did start out his career in Athletics, representing Australia in the Pole Vault at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: Lauren Burns

Lauren Burns took up taekwondo when she was 14 years old. She soon began competing in the sport nationally and internationally and eventually went on to gain her third dan black belt. In 1994 taekwondo was announced as an Olympic sport, and the first time the competition was included, was at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Lauren trained hard to make the Australian team. At 26 years of age, Lauren Burns was the first competitor to win an Olympic Gold Medal in that sport that year.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: 83

Our ice hockey team lost all six matches, going down to Czechoslovakia 18-1 and the United States 12-1. Finland gave us our biggest beating though, a whopping 19-1. But Aussies are nothing if not persistent, and despite failing to qualify for any games since, they live in hope.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: The equestrian events were held in another country.

The equestrian events were actually held in Stockholm, Sweden. Australia had a six-month quarantine policy on any livestock imported into the country, including horses. The Equestrian events were held in June in another country in another hemisphere and the other events were held in November. Australia fielded athletes but did not win any medals in the discipline in 1956.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Maddison Elliot

Maddison Elliot was only thirteen years old when she competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. The eomen's 4x100 metre freestyle relay 34pts race had no heats and was a straight final. The Aussie team finished with a world record time of 4:20.39. The same team apart from Maddison Elliot who was replaced by Annabelle Williams also won gold in the women's 4x100 metre medley relay 34pts race. This time however they had to settle for just setting a new Oceania Record with the time of 4:53.95. Maddison Elliot also collected a silver medal in the women's 50m freestyle S8. She also collected bronze medals in the women's 100 m freestyle S8 and women's 400m freestyle S8. She left the 2012 Summer Paralympics with four medals.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: Edwin Flack

Flack was the only athlete to represent Australia at the first modern Olympic Games in Greece. He won gold in both the 800 metre and 1500 metre runs and competed in the marathon of which he was in the lead near the end of the race before he suddenly collapsed. Flack also won a bronze medal in mixed doubles tennis.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: Geoff Henke

Geoff Henke was a member of the disappointed ice hockey team of 1956 and became the Australian Winter Olympic Team manager in 1976. In 1981 he took the AOF board members to the Australian Alps to promote winter sports. Eventually, the board began to take notice and finally stopped laughing at the idea of Australians competing in winter sports.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: Sailing

William Northam, Peter O'Donnell, and James Sargeant won the gold medal for Sailing, Men's 5 1/2 Meter Class. The 5 1/2 meter class is one of five divisions of Olympic sailing. The sailing events were held off the coast of Enoshima Island on the bay of Sagami.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Brands Hatch

The road events for the para-cyclists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics was held at Brands Hatch. The T1 - T2 class is for athletes with co-ordination and balance impairments and they use a tricycle to compete. Because the T1 - T2 Time Trail is a mixed event Carol competed against men in this race and finishing times are factored taking into account the level of impairment. Her time after factoring was 13:50.54 beating the German para-cyclist Hans-Peter Durst, whose time of 14:11.95 won him a silver medal. Carol Cooke was born in Canada and in her teens was part of the Canadian swim team hoping to compete in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She worked for the Toronto Police Force before moving to Australia. Carol was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998 but this didn't stop her from wanting to compete. She just missed out on going to the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing as part of the rowing squad for Australia by 0.8 seconds.

From Quiz Fish Out Of Water

Answer: Bronze

The team qualified for the four-team final and adopted the strategy of staying on their feet and hoping one of the others would fall or be disqualified. The strategy worked when the Canadian team fell and were unable to regain the lost time. So a medal came our way, almost by default, but it was a medal just the same.The victorious relay team consisted of Steven Bradbury, Kieran Hansen, Andrew Murtha and Richard Nizielski.

From Quiz Australia Wins Gold!

Answer: Women's (Field) Hockey

Tracey Belbin, Deborah Bowman, Sharon Buchanan, Lee Capes, Michelle Capes, Sally Carbon, Elsbeth Clement, Loretta Dorman, Maree Fish, Rechelle Hawkes, Lorraine Hillas, Kathleen Partridge, Jackie Pereira, Sandra Pisoni, Kim Small, and Liane Tooth were the members of the Women's (Field) Hockey Team for Australia. South Korea won the silver medal and the Netherlands won the Bronze medal. The gold medal was one of three that Australian athletes won at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

From Quiz Never Tie A Kangaroo Down

Answer: Flag bearer at the closing ceremony

Evan O'Hanlon was given the honour of bearing the Australian flag at the closing ceremony. He won the men's 100m and 200m T-38 races which where races that he won 4 years earlier at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. In the finals of both events in 2012, Evan set new world record times. In the Beijing games he also won a gold medal in the men's 4 x 100m relay T35-38, this event was not available in the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

From Quiz Aussie Olympic Triumphs

Answer: Herb Elliot

Herb Elliot is from Perth, Western Australia. He trained under the famous coach Percy Cerutty at Portsea training camp, one of whose stamina-building regimes was to have his runners sprint up and down sand dunes in bare feet. After retiring from athletics in 1961 Elliot went on to become a successful international businessman. He has been honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), and has been ranked as one of the 100 most influential Australians. Ron Clarke was a highly successful middle and long-distance runner of the same era, who was elected Mayor of the Gold Coast in 2004. John Landy AC, CVO (Commander of the Royal Victorian Order), MBE, was a track athlete who became 26th Governor of the state of Victoria in 2001. Judy Amoore, latterly Judy Pollock, set many records and was selected for three Olympics - Tokyo, Munich and Montreal. All of them high achievers.

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Last Updated Oct 25 2025 5:54 AM

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