140+ Olympic Trivia Questions About Athletes

The Olympics are captivating because they bring together the best athletes of our generation. But how much do you know about the games and the athletes competing? Test your knowledge of the games with this set of Olympic trivia:

Fun Olympic Trivia:

Question: An Olympic gold medal is made mostly of what metal?
Answer: “Gold” medals are 92.5% silver.

Question: Which organization is the governing body of the Olympic Games?
Answer: International Olympic Committee.

Question: What woman became the first Olympic athlete to win gold twice 20 years apart?
Answer: Brigit Fischer.

Question: How many athletes have won gold medals competing for two different nations?
Answer: Three athletes have won gold medals competing for two different nations.

Question: Who was the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games?
Answer: Steven Redgrave.

Question: In which year was Tennis reinstated as an Olympic sport?
Answer: 1988.

Question: Who was the first Black athlete to win gold in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Vonetta Flowers.

Question: During the 1932 Summer Olympics, what error was made in the men’s 3000 meters steeplechase event?
Answer: There was one extra lap.

Question: Women’s wrestling was televised for the first time in what year’s Olympic Games?
Answer: 2004.

Question: What country boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics?
Answer: The United States.

Tricky Olympic Trivia:

Question: The 1976 Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck, Austria, after which city withdrew its bid?
Answer: Denver, Colorado.

Question: Who was the first athlete to take the Olympic oath?
Answer: Victor Boin.

Question: How many silver medals did Dana Torres win in Beijing?
Answer: Three.

Question: True or false: Chase Kalisz won the first gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Answer: False.

Question: How old was the oldest Olympic medal winner?
Answer: 72 years old.

Question: Which Winter Olympic sports were originally part of the Summer Olympics?
Answer: Ice hockey and figure skating.

Question: What is the lowest-populated country to win a medal at the Summer Olympic Games?
Answer: Bermuda.

Question: What is the Olympic motto?
Answer: Faster, Higher, Stronger.

Question: How many grams of gold are in Olympic gold medals?
Answer: Six grams.

Question: Which member of the British royal family won an Olympic medal?
Answer: Zara Tindall.

Challenging Olympic Trivia:

Question: In which country did the Olympics originate?
Answer: Greece.

Question: The first Olympic games in Greece were held how often?
Answer: Every four years.

Question: The longest wrestling match in Olympic history lasted how many hours?
Answer: 11 hours and 40 minutes.

Question: When were the first known Olympic games held?
Answer: 776 B.C.

Question: What is the official motto for the Olympics?
Answer: “Citius, Altius, Fortius.”

Question: What language is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”?
Answer: This phrase is in Latin.

Question: Which city has hosted the Olympics three times?
Answer: London.

Question: When was the last Olympic medal made of solid gold awarded?
Answer: 1912.

Question: How many events were held at the first modern Olympics?
Answer: 43.

Question: Which athletes enter last in the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony?
Answer: The host country.

Difficult Olympic Trivia:

Question: How many athletes participated in the first modern Olympics?
Answer: 280.

Question: Which American athlete with a wooden leg won six gymnastics medals at the 1904 Olympics?
Answer: George Eyser.

Question: Which Olympic athlete was known as the “Milwaukee Meteor?”
Answer: Archie Hahn.

Question: How many nations participated in the first modern Olympics?
Answer: 13.

Question: How old was the youngest Olympic champion?
Answer: Seven.

Question: The ancient pentathlon event was a combination of which sports?
Answer: Discus, javelin, long jump, running, and wrestling.

Question: Which ancient Greek athlete won 12 titles across four consecutive Olympics?
Answer: Leonidas of Rhodes.

Question: What was the punishment for breaking the rules in the ancient Greek Olympic Games?
Answer: Public whipping and/or fines.

Question: BMX made its Olympic debut in which city?
Answer: Beijing

Question: The Beijing Olympics’ oldest and youngest athletes’ ages had a difference of how many years?
Answer: 55.

Tricky Olympic Trivia:

Question: In 1904, which athlete was disqualified for doing a big portion of the 40-kilometer race via car?
Answer: Fred Lorz.

Question: Michael Johnson was the first man in history to win both of which races?
Answer: 200- and 400-meter.

Question: In which year was softball introduced to the Olympics?
Answer: 1996.

Question: The first American fencing gold medal was awarded in which Olympic Games?
Answer: Athens in 2000.

Question: The Olympics were suspended for 36 hours after a terrorist attack in which city’s Olympic Village?
Answer: Munich.

Question: At the 2008 Olympics, Michael Phelps broke whose record in most gold medals in swimming?
Answer: Mark Spitz.

Question: In the ancient Greek Olympics, wrestlers used oil to keep what out of their pores?
Answer: Sand.

Question: Wealthy winners of the ancient Greek Olympics could erect statues of themselves where?
Answer: The Olympia Altis Grove.

Question: Which American Olympic athlete was later a prisoner of war in World War II?
Answer: Louis Zamperini.

Question: Which Olympic Games featured an unknown champion in rowing?
Answer: 1900.

Clever Olympic Trivia:

Question: Wrestlers covered their bodies in what in the ancient Greek Olympics?
Answer: Oil.

Question: When was the first Olympics closing ceremony?
Answer: 1924.

Question: When were women first permitted to compete in the Olympics?
Answer: 1900.

Question: Which Winter Olympic Games were the first to be broadcast in color?
Answer: Grenoble.

Question: How long were the London Olympic Games in 1908?
Answer: 188 days.

Question: When was electronic timing was used as the official time for the Olympics?
Answer: 1968.

Question: Who was the first female Olympic champion?
Answer: Hélène de Pourtalès.

Question: True or false: In the 2021 Olympics, all the women who won medals in the women’s street skateboarding event were teenagers.
Answer: True.

Question: The ancient Greeks sacrificed which animal at the conclusion of the earliest Olympic games?
Answer: Oxen.

Question: Who organized the opening ceremonies for the 1960 Winter Olympics?
Answer: Walt Disney.

Mindblowing Olympic Trivia:

Question: In ancient Greece, a separate festival celebrating female athletes was called what?
Answer: Heraean Games.

Question: Which comedian appeared in the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony?
Answer: Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean“).

Question: The Olympic Games could be viewed on mobile devices for the first time in which year?
Answer: 2006.

Question: Zimbabwe participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time in which year?
Answer: 2014.

Question: Which Olympian was also a winner of The Masked Dancer?
Answer: Gabby Douglas.

Question: Which was the first Latin American city to host the Olympics?
Answer: Mexico City.

Question: Which four years have seen the Olympics canceled?
Answer: 1916, 1940, 1944, and 2020.

Question: The Olympic flag first flew in which city?
Answer: Antwerp, Belgium.

Question: The first smoke-free Olympic Games were held in which city?
Answer: Calgary.

Question: Who is the only woman to have competed in six editions of the Olympic Winter Games?
Answer: Marja-Liisa Kirvesmiemi-Hämäläinen.

Historic Olympic Trivia:

Question: Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic Cauldron in which city?
Answer: Atlanta.

Question: Which Olympic gymnast was awarded the first-ever perfect 10 on the uneven bars?
Answer: Nadia Comaneci.

Question: Who was the first American woman to win an Olympic event?
Answer: Margaret Abbott.

Question: When was the last time the United States dipped the American flag to a foreign leader in the Olympics?
Answer: 1932.

Question: Which new sports will debut at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo?
Answer: Skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, and karate.

Question: Which dog breed was the first official Olympic mascot?
Answer: Dachshund.

Question: How many Olympic medals does Simone Biles have so far?
Answer: Five (four gold, one bronze).

Question: How many countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics?
Answer: 66.

Question: Which German athlete was a third-generation Olympian in 1992?
Answer: Andrea Keller.

Question: When did snowboarding make its Olympic debut?
Answer: 1998.

Important Olympic Trivia:

Question: In 1900, which Olympic athlete refused to participate in a race on Sunday because of his religious beliefs?
Answer: Myer Prinstein.

Question: Which American figure skating became the youngest champion ever in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Tara Lipinski.

Question: South Africa participated in which Olympic Games for the first time since 1960?
Answer: 1992.

Question: Which city hosted the first boycott-free Olympics since 1972?
Answer: Barcelona.

Question: What year did the NBA “Dream Team” participate in the Olympics?
Answer: 1992.

Question: The 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis coincided with which other major event in the city?
Answer: World’s Fair.

Question: Who was the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron?
Answer: Enriqueta Basilio.

Question: The 1968 Olympic Torch relay followed the path of which historical explorer?
Answer: Christopher Columbus.

Question: Which was the largest city to ever host the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Turin, Italy.

Question: In 2004, which men’s soccer team didn’t give up a single goal to their opponents?
Answer: Argentina.

Fascinating Olympic Trivia:

Question: Usain Bolt shattered which two records in 2008?
Answer: 100- and 200-meters.

Question: Which male gymnast won four gold medals in a single day?
Answer: Vitaly Scherbo.

Question: The Olympic Torch is lit where each year?
Answer: Olympia, Greece.

Question: The Olympic Torch is used to light what?
Answer: The Olympic Cauldron.

Question: A race was held in the 1896 Olympic Games in honor of whom?
Answer: Pheidippides.

Question: What colors are the Olympic rings?
Answer: Blue, yellow, black, green, and red.

Question: What are the five official Olympic values?
Answer: Joy of effort, fair play, respect for others, the pursuit of excellence, and balance between body, will, and mind.

Question: The Olympic torch is a tribute to the fire that burned throughout the ancient Greek Olympic games honoring which goddess?
Answer: Hestia.

Question: Which color is NOT one of the rings on the Olympic flag? Green, yellow, black, or orange?
Answer: Orange.

Question: What do the Olympic rings represent?
Answer: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceana.

The Best Olympic Trivia:

Question: When were the first winter Olympics held?
Answer: 1924.

Question: Where was the first winter Olympics held?
Answer: Chamonix, France.

Question: When did team figure skating debut in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: 2014.

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.

Question: The priestess of which Greek goddess was the only married woman permitted to watch the ancient Greek Olympics?
Answer: Demeter.

Question: The only event in the first-known ancient Greek Olympics was a footrace of what length?
Answer: 192 meters.

Question: Who won the first-known Olympics in ancient Greece?
Answer: Coroebus.

Question: Which ancient Greek mythical figure is said to have founded the Olympics?
Answer: Heracles (Roman name Hercules).

Question: When did the Olympic Games first feature a marathon?
Answer: 1896.

Hard Olympic Trivia:

Question: Where did Pheidippides run?
Answer: From Marathon, Greece to Athens.

Question: In 2016, which sport made the Olympic roster for the first time since 1924?
Answer: Rugby.

Question: In what year did the Olympic flag debut?
Answer: 1920.

Question: The Olympics were first held to honor which Greek god?
Answer: Zeus.

Question: The Soviet Union boycotted the Olympics in which American host city?
Answer: Los Angeles.

Question: Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis both won gold in which four events?
Answer: 100-meter, 200-meter, 4×100-meter relay, and long jump.

Question: The 1976 Montreal Olympics saw the debut of which three women’s sports?
Answer: Basketball, rowing, and handball.

Question: The first women’s marathon was in which Olympic Games?
Answer: Los Angeles in 1984.

Question: The first opening ceremony for the Olympics was held in which city and year?
Answer: London, 1908.

Question: How long a distance was the first Olympic marathon?
Answer: 25 miles.

Interesting Olympic Trivia:

Question: Who won first place in the first-ever Olympic marathon race?
Answer: Spyridon Louis.

Question: What is the standard marathon race length today?
Answer: 26 miles and 385 yards (42,195 meters).

Question: Which Roman emperor declared himself the winner of an Olympic chariot race… even though he fell out of his chariot?
Answer: Nero.

Question: Which Olympian reprises her famous smirk in a GEICO commercial for car insurance?
Answer: McKayla Maroney.

Question: Who was the first Olympic athlete to be disqualified for testing positive for steroids?
Answer: Ben Johnson.

Question: Table tennis made its Olympic debut in which year?
Answer: 1988.

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.

Question: How old was Lindsey Vonn when she made her Olympic debut?
Answer: 17.

Question: What Olympic figure skating team got perfect scores for their interpretation of Maurice Ravel‘s “Bolero?”
Answer: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

Question: Which emperor banned the Olympics in 393 A.D.?
Answer: Theodosius I.

More Olympic Trivia:

Question: In which city and year did Japan win their first Olympic gold medal?
Answer: Sapporo, 1972.

Question: Who was the first athlete to win eight medals in a single Olympic Games?
Answer: Aleksandr Dityatin.

Question: Which host city was the first to use artificial snow in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Lake Placid, N.Y.

Question: How many gold medals did Eric Heiden win in the 1980 Winter Olympics?
Answer: Five.

Question: Who wrote the music for The Olympic Hymn?
Answer: Spyros Samaras.

Question: Who wrote the lyrics for The Olympic Hymn?
Answer: Kostis Palamas.

Question: Triathlon and taekwondo were added to the Olympics in what year?
Answer: 2000.

Question: What prize was given to winners of the Olympics in ancient Greece?
Answer: Olive branch crown.

Question: Which country has hosted the most Olympic Games?
Answer: United States.

Question: When did the Olympics first award gold, silver, and bronze medals?
Answer: 1904.

Question: The first modern Olympics were held in what year?
Answer: 1896.

Question: Where were the first modern Olympic Games held?
Answer: Athens, Greece.

Question: Who is credited with starting the modern Olympic games?
Answer: Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

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