Intro to the Olympics Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1992 Barcelona

In addition to badminton, the 1992 (XXV) Summer Olympics in Barcelona also saw the debut of baseball and women's judo as official sports. Baseball had previously been a demonstration sport, but the other two were both newly introduced in this year.

In its inaugural year as an Olympic sport, badminton had four different events: doubles and singles for both men and women. The gold medals were earned by Indonesia in both singles events, and by the Republic of Korea in both doubles events.

Answer: 1936 Berlin

The 1936 (XI) Summer Olympics held in Berlin were the first to be televised. They were also the venue that debuted basketball, canoeing, and handball. Handball would not be seen again until 1972 in Munich, but the other two continued long-term.

With its debut, basketball saw 21 nations compete for the medals, but of course there were only three to earn any. The United States took the gold, with Canada claiming silver and Mexico the bronze.

Answer: 1904 St. Louis

Boxing was introduced with seven events at the 1904 (III) Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The medal winners for every weight category were ALL from the United States; gold, silver and bronze. Here are the gold medal winners:

Flyweight - George Finnegan
Bantamweight - Oliver Kirk
Featherweight - Oliver Kirk
Lightweight - Harry Spanjer
Welterweight - Albert Young
Middleweight - Charles Mayer
Heavyweight - Samuel Berger

Answer: 2024 Paris

Breakdancing was introduced at the 2024 (XXXIII) Summer Olympics in Paris. Medals were awarded in two events; one for males and the other for females. In all, 16 nations participated, with 33 individual competitors.

Judges based their scoring on an even weighting of five different criteria: technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality, and originality. The gold medal winners in each event were Philip Kim (aka Phil Wizard) from Canada and Ami Yuasa (aka Ami) from Japan.

Answer: 1912 Stockholm

The modern pentathlon was introduced at the 1912 (V) Summer Olympics in Stockholm, and was invented by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who also founded the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

As the name suggests, the modern pentathlon consists of five events: (pistol) shooting, swimming, fencing, equestrian, and athletics (running). In much the same way as the original pentathlon, the five disciplines chosen reflected the skills of the best soldier. Where the original sports were long jumping, javelin throwing, discus throwing, footracing, and wrestling (excellent skills for foot soldiers), the modern pentathlon displayed the skills of a cavalry soldier of the 19th century. At the 1912 games, all three medals were earned by Sweden.

The event has been altered over the decades that have followed, and it wasn't included as an event for women until the year 2000. For the 2024 Summer Olympics, the events were refined as pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200-metre freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3.2-kilometre cross-country run.

Answer: 1900 Paris

It was intended that rowing be included at the inaugural 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, but strong winds prevented its inclusion, so rowing did not officially debut until the 1900 (II) Summer Olympics in Paris, and only as a men's sport. Four events were included in that debut: single sculls, coxed pair, coxed four, and eight. (Women's rowing would not be competed until 1976).

The medals were earned by:
Single sculls: France (gold), France (silver), and Great Britain (bronze)
Coxed pair: Mixed Netherlands/France team (gold), France (silver), and France (bronze)
Coxed four (Final 1): France (gold), France (silver), and Germany (bronze)
Coxed four (Final 2): Germany (gold), Netherlands (silver), and Germany (bronze)
Eight: USA (gold), Belgium (silver), and Netherlands (bronze).

Other sports introduced in 1900 (that have continued) included archery, equestrian, football, golf (with a large gap in time), rowing, rugby (also with a large gap in time), and sailing.

Answer: 2020 Tokyo

Of course, the 2020 (XXXII) Summer Olympics in Tokyo were delayed until 2021 due to the coronavirus, so technically, skateboarding did not debut until 2021. Either way, it was at the XXXII Summer Olympics. There were four medal events at the skateboarding debut, including men's and women's park and street skateboarding, each with their own specially designed courses.

Eighty contestants from 25 different countries competed for the medals, with the following results:
Men's park: Australia (gold), Brazil (silver), and USA (bronze)
Men's street: Japan (gold), Brazil (silver), and USA (bronze)
Women's park: Japan (gold), Japan (silver), and Great Britain (bronze)
Women's street: Japan (gold), Brazil (silver), and Japan (bronze).

Surfing, sport climbing, and karate were also introduced at these Olympics.

Answer: 1988 Seoul

Table tennis made its debut at the 1988 (XXIV) Summer Olympics in Seoul, in both men's and women's categories. Prior to its inclusion in the Olympics, it had been part of the Paralympic Games since its inception in 1960.

129 athletes competed from 41 different countries for the four different medalling events: men's and women's singles and doubles. The winners were:

Men's singles: South Korea (gold), South Korea (silver), and Sweden (bronze)
Men's doubles: China (gold), Yugoslavia (silver), and South Korea (bronze)
Women's singles: China (gold, silver, & bronze)
Women's doubles: South Korea (gold), China (silver), and Yugoslavia (bronze).

Answer: 2000 Sydney

After trialing as a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1992 games, Taekwondo officially debuted as a medal sport at the 2000 (XXVII) Summer Olympics in Sydney. Triathlon (swim/bike/run) also debuted that year.

Taekwondo was competed in four weight categories for both men and women. The gold medalists in each weight category were:

Men's flyweight - Michail Mouroutsos (Greece)
Men's lightweight - Steven López (USA)
Men's middleweight - Ángel Matos (Cuba)
Men's heavyweight - Kim Kyong-hun (South Korea)
Women's flyweight - Lauren Burns (Australia)
Women's lightweight - Jung Jae-eun (South Korea)
Women's middleweight - Lee Sun-hee (South Korea)
Women's heavyweight - Chen Zhong (China)

Answer: 1964 Tokyo

Volleyball debuted at the 1964 (XVIII) Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with events for both men and women. In the same year, judo also got its Olympic start.

The volleyball tournament was done in a round robin, with the best record (no playoffs) winning the gold, and silver and bronze going to second and third, respectively.

For the men's tournament, the medal-winning countries were the Soviet Union (gold), Czechoslovakia (silver), and Japan (bronze), while in the women's tournament the winners were Japan (gold), the Soviet Union (silver), and Poland (bronze).