PyeongChang 2018 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yuna Kim

Yuna Kim (sometimes referred to as Kim Yuna) won the gold medal in ladies' figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. After her gold medal win, Yuna skyrocketed to fame in South Korea.

Although it was not known previous to the ceremony, it was widely expected within South Korea that she would be the one to light the Olympic cauldron.

Answer: Spectators could not wave Russian flags

Russia had been banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of state-sponsored doping during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The ban was reversed before the Games started.

However, Russia was again banned; from the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. A deal was made that Russian athletes who had no doping history could participate in the Games. Some Russian athletes were also more vigorously tested prior to the Games.

Among the sanctions placed on the Olympic Athletes from Russia were that they could not wave the Russian flag or play the Russian anthem should they win gold. Spectators in the audience were allowed to (and did) wave Russian flags. In addition, Russian officials were not allowed to attend any of the events.

OAR's participation was controversial. Many athletes from other countries expressed their view that Russia should have been banned entirely. This was most prominent in the sliding sports of luge, bobsled and skeleton where Russian doping was prominent in the 2014 games. In some cases, athletes from other countries refused to acknowledge the presence of the OAR athletes.

The Russian duo of Anastasia Bryzgalova and Alexander Krushelnitsky had won bronze in the mixed doubles curling event but had their medal stripped when Krushelnitsky tested positive for doping.

Answer: Norway

Norway once again dominated the cross-country skiing competition winning 14 medals in that sport, including five by Marit Bjorgen. Bjorgen also set a record for most total medals won by any Winter Olympian with 14, surpassing biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen, also of Norway. Norway, along with Germany, also tied the all-time record for most gold medals in a single Winter Olympics with 14, a record set by Canada in 2010.

Answer: Figure skater Nathan Chen

Nathan Chen won a bronze medal as part of Team USA in the team event. He was considered the gold medal favorite for the men's individual event but made several critical errors in his short program (reminiscent of the short program he skated in the team event). Chen made a comeback in the free skate by becoming the first person to land five quads in a free skate and the first to attempt six. This gave him the highest score in the free skate but it was only enough to finish fifth.

Freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy was the reigning silver medalist and was the gold medal favorite in the men's slopestyle event. However, Kenworthy had broken his thumb in a practice run and developed a hematoma on his hip that prevented him from performing to his full potential.

Speed skater Joey Mantia was considered a medal contender in a number of events, specifically in the men's mass start, a new Olympic event that Mantia had won gold during the 2017 World Championship. However, Mantia failed to medal in a single event. His best finish was fourth in the 1000 meters.

Freestyle skier Maddie Bowman was the reigning gold medalist in the ski halfpipe. She advanced to the finals where she failed to complete a single run out of three and finished in 11th of 12th place.

Despite these setbacks, the United States won 23 medals overall in 11 different sports (the most of any country). Chris Mazdzer won the country's first medal in men's luge. Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won the country's first ever gold medal in cross-country skiing and Team Shuster won USA's first ever gold medal in curling.

Answer: Alpine skiing and snowboarding

Ester Ledecka is primarily known as a snowboarder and she won gold in the women's snowboard parallel giant slalom. Ledecka surprised everyone when she first won the gold in the women's Super G alpine skiing event. Ledecka was not considered a medal contender.

In alpine skiing, the best competitors compete first and typically the first 18 to ski. Austria's Anna Veith was declared the unofficial winner by commentators from around the world, even though the competition was not completed. Many countries switched their Olympic coverage to other events (especially in places where the broadcast was live) and had to make the correction after Ledecka won.

Answer: Germany

Germany is usually a powerhouse in all three sliding sports and one at least one medal in all three sports. However, Germany's best performance was in bobsleigh where they won all three gold medals. In the four-man bobsleigh, German teams won gold and silver (the silver team tied with a South Korean team).

In two-man bobsleigh, the gold-medal winning German team tied with a team from Canada. This was the second time Canada won a gold medal in this event. The first time was also a tie.

Answer: Canada did not win a gold medal in ice hockey

This was the first time since 1998 that Canada did not win a gold medal in either the men's or the women's ice hockey events. Canada had won both golds at the previous two Winter Olympics. The USA defeated the Canadian women in the gold medal match and the Canadian men defeated the Czech Republic to win bronze.

Curling became an official medal sport in 1998 and Canada had won a curling medal in every Olympics. That tradition continued when Canada won gold in the mixed doubles. However, Canada failed to medal in either the men's or the women's events.

Canada won ten bronze medals to Norway's eleven. Canada medalled in four of the five figure skating disciplines, failing to medal in the men's individual event. Canada won gold in the team event and in ice dancing. Canada won bronze in the figure skating pairs and individual women's events.

Answer: Women's ice hockey

The women's ice hockey team was made up of athletes from both North and South Korea. They competed under the name of Korea. The two nations also walked under the name of Korea (whose flag was an outline of Korea on a white field) at the Opening Ceremony. Two athletes, one from each side, also jointly carried the torch to Yuna Kim during the cauldron lighting ceremony.

Answer: Nordic combined

The Nordic combined is an event that is a mix of cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Women were not allowed to compete in ski jumping at the Olympics until 2014. There were still no Nordic combined events for women in 2018 despite the fact that women competed in both cross country and ski jumping. Women were banned from ski jumping events for decades because of the misbelief that ski jumping had a negative impact on the uterus.

Answer: Alpine skiing

South Korea is known as a powerhouse in short-track speeding and three of their five gold medals came in that sport (and six of 17 overall medals). South Korea also won seven medals, one gold in speed skating (sometimes called long-track speed skating).

Yun Sung-bin won South Korea's gold medal in the skeleton. He became the first Asian athlete to win a medal of any color in any sliding event at the Olympics. He also won South Korea's first medal of any color in any winter sport not on ice skates.

South Korea did not win a medal in alpine skiing.