Early Olympic Years: Paris 1900 Quiz

Answer: II

The first modern-day Olympics was held in Athens in 1896. The Paris Olympics was the second modern-day contest, and it was held in conjunction with the 1900 World's Fair. Medals were not awarded in these Olympics, instead winners received trophies or cups for their efforts.

After the Athens Olympics, the Greek government demanded that future Olympics be held in Greece, but the International Olympic Committee ruled to vary the locations of future Olympics.

Answer: France

France more than doubled second place United States' 47 medals with 101 of their own. France were later awarded medals to the order of 26 gold, 41 silver, and 34 bronze. Great Britain finished third with 30 total medals. Just as China dominated the medals table in the Beijing Summer Olympics of 2008, so to did the home country France finish at the top of the table at the Paris Olympics of 1900.

Answer: The first black athlete in history to win a gold medal

There were no opening or closing ceremonies in the 1900 Olympic Games held in Paris. Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera took first place as part of the French Rugby team, who defeated Germany 27 points to 17 and became the first black athlete to win an event in modern Olympiads.

A great example of an athlete who is still remembered to this day is the extraordinary American, Jesse Owens, a man who demonstrated to Hitler that race was irrelevant in Berlin 1936.

Answer: Weightlifting

Weightlifting, along with wrestling, was not continued from the 1896 Summer Olympic Games to the Paris Olympics of 1900. On the other hand the international competition was seen to be rapidly expanding by 1900 with the introduction of thirteen brand new events to the Olympics.

The inclusion of these new events would attract interest from more sporting societies from a greater number of countries around the world.

Answer: No

The first modern Olympics that were held in the Greek capital of Athens in 1896 proved to be an all male affair. However, by the II Olympiad held in Paris (1900) women gained their rightful place in the competition. The first female Olympic champion was Charlotte Cooper of Great Britain who triumphed in the women's singles tennis event. Miss Cooper would go on to win a second event at the Paris Olympics and this was the mixed doubles tennis.

This remarkable woman also won the women's singles event at Wimbledon an astonishing five times (1895, 1896, 1898, 1901 and 1908).

Answer: USA

Alvin Kraenzlein was an American, born to a family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1876. The four events that Kraenzlein achieved success in at the 1900 Paris Olympics were the 60 metres sprint, 110 metres hurdles, 200 metres hurdles and the long jump. It is alleged that Kraenzlein, a dentistry student, was punched in the face by one of his opponents in the long jump after he won the event because the aggressor wasn't authorised to compete.

This was apparently the case because the event was held on a Sunday and the educational establishment that the aggressor, Myer Prinstein, attended would not allow him to compete due to religious reasons. No worries for Mr Prinstein however, as he would go on to win the gold medal in the long jump at the 1904 Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

Answer: Two

Indeed, the cricket event at the 1900 Paris Olympics managed to attract just two teams. They were a team based in Paris and a team that traveled from England, Great Britain. There were two other teams that expressed interest but didn't attend and they were teams from the Netherlands and Belgium.

The team that emerged victorious was the British team but needless to say, cricket didn't reappear in the next or any of the successive Olympiads of the twentieth century.

Answer: Golf

This is a demonstration of how poorly organised and executed the 1900 Olympics held in Paris was. Margaret Ives Abbott entered a nine-hole golf tournament and she triumphed, however due to the chaotic nature of the Second Olympiad she had no idea that she was the first ever female Olympic champion from America. Even by the time of her death in 1955, Margaret Ives Abbott had not a clue about her record making achievement.

Answer: Sweden

The number of teams that entered the first ever Olympic tug of war competition was disappointingly low with just three countries entering. These countries were Denmark, France and Sweden and due to a shortage of players the Danish and Swedish teams were combined and they faced France in a best of three tug of war battle.

The Danish/Swedish team won the battle by 2-0 over a despondent French side. The USA did enter this event but promptly withdrew when it was discovered that some of their tug of war team was needed in the final of the hammer throw, one of the many track and field events contested in Paris that year.

Answer: Croquet

I don't know if it is just me, but an Olympic competition in kite flying could quite possibly be one of the most absurd notions in world sport! However, this event was seriously considered with regards whether or not it should be classified as an Olympic sports in the Paris 1900 Games. In the end the panel who were deliberating decided that out of the four sports listed (croquet, cannon shooting, kite flying and pigeon racing), and only croquet would be classified as an official Olympic event.

Some other rather weird events in the Second Olympiad included life saving, ballooning, and quite unbelievably, fire fighting!