Do You Know Your Winter Olympics Trivia?

75x150__0000_winter_olympics.jpg

This month, the world’s attention is focused on the XXII Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. For 17 days, athletes from around the globe compete in a variety of winter sports to see who is the fastest, the most accurate, the most graceful and, in some cases, the most daring.

How well do you know your Winter Olympics trivia? Test your knowledge with this quiz. (Answers appear at the end.)

1. In what year were the first Winter Olympics held?
   1. 1920
   2. 1924
   3. 1912
   4. 1936
2. Where were the first Winter Olympics held?
   1. Eau Claire, Wis.
   2. Chamonix, France
   3. Munich, Germany
   4. St. Moritz, Switzerland
3. How many new sports are being introduced at the 2014 Winter Olympics?
   1. Three
   2. None
   3. Twelve
   4. Six
4. Who is the all-time winningest individual medal winner in the Winter Olympics?
   1. Eric Heiden
   2. Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards
   3. Bjørn Daehlie
   4. Katarina Witt
5. What country has won the most Winter Olympic medals?
   1. Norway
   2. United States
   3. Liechtenstein
   4. Canada
6. True or false: The Olympic Torch has been in space.
7. How far will the flame have been carried by torchbearers for the 2014 Winter Olympic games?
8. How many times has the U.S. hosted the Winter Olympics?
   1. One
   2. Four
   3. Two
   4. Seven
9. Which Winter Olympics first saw the Jamaican Bobsled team?
   1. Calgary in 1988
   2. Albertville in 1992
   3. Sarajevo in 1984
   4. Lillehammer in 1994
10. Who won the first ever gold medal in the Winter Olympics?
    1. Philippe D’arbanville
    2. Charles Jewtraw
    3. Werner Heisenberg
    4. Sancho Panza
11. What does “Miracle on Ice” refer to?
    1. The world’s best new martini recipe.
    2. A way of keeping ice frozen above 32 degrees.
    3. The U.S. Men’s Hockey victory over the Soviet Union in 1980.
    4. Cars that don’t slide in freezing rain.
12. How many countries are represented in the 2014 Winter Olympics?
    1. 74
    2. 38
    3. 82
    4. 107
13. What do the colors of the Olympic flag represent?
    1. Nothing in particular, they just look nice.
    2. They are the flag colors of the nation that held the first Olympics.
    3. They have at least one color of every nation’s flag.
    4. They are the corporate colors of the first company to sponsor an Olympic team.
14. Sochi will also host the 2014 Winter Paralympics. When and where were the first Winter Paralympics held?
    1. Japan in 1972
    2. Sweden in 1976
    3. United States in 1980
    4. Norway in 1976
15. Where will the next Olympics be held?
    1. Tokyo, Japan
    2. Berlin, Germany
    3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    4. Madrid, Spain

We hope you enjoyed this fun Olympic quiz. If you correctly answered 13 or more questions, consider yourself a gold medal winner! If you correctly answered 10 to 12 of the questions, consider yourself a silver medalist. And, if you got between 7 and 9 answers correct, you’ve made a respectable bronze medal showing.

The athletes of the 2014 Winter Olympics represent the dreamer in all of us. They’ve set their sights on a goal and have done everything they can to pursue their dream of competition on a world stage. We applaud all of the athletes and wish them the very best.

Your dream is out there, too. Go get it. We’ll protect it.

Answers:

1) b. The first winter games were held in 1924.

2) b. The first winter games were held in Chamonix, France.

3) c. The 2014 Winter Olympics will introduce 12 new sports. (Biathlon mixed relay – Mixed; Figure skating team event – Mixed; Luge team relay – Mixed; Ski Halfpipe – Men’s; Ski Halfpipe – Women’s; Ski Slopestyle – Men’s; Ski Slopestyle – Women’s; Snowboard Slopestyle – Men’s; Snowboard Slopestyle – Women’s; Snowboard parallel slalom – Men’s; Snowboard parallel slalom – Women’s; Women’s ski jumping.)

4) c. Bjørn Daehlie of Norway won 12 individual medals in cross-country skiing between 1992-1998.

5) a. Norway holds top honors for most Winter Olympics medals, with a total of 303. The U.S. is second with 253, and the former Soviet Union holds third place, with 194 medals.

6) True. The Olympic torch went to the International Space Station on Nov. 7, 2013, along with new crew members. On Nov. 9, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazan stepped out into space holding the Olympic Torch in space for more than an hour.

7) The Olympic flame arrived in Moscow from Athens on Oct. 6, 2013. Two days later, the relay began its route around Russia, a course than will have spanned 65,000 km. when it concludes on Feb. 7, 2014, at the "Fisht" Olympic Stadium in Sochi. The 2014 Winter Olympic Torch Relay will be the longest national relay by time and distance in the history of the Olympic Winter Games.

8) b. Four: Lake Placid (1932, 1980), Squaw Valley (1960) and Salt Lake City (2002).

9) a. 1988 in Calgary, Canada.

10) b. American Charles Jewtraw became the first Winter Games champion by winning the first event, 500 meter speed skating.

11) c. The 1980 U.S. Hockey Team win over the long-dominant and heavily favored Soviet Union became known as "The Miracle on Ice."

12) c. 82 countries are represented at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

13) c. The five colors of the Olympic rings and the white background reflect at least one color of every nation’s flag.

14) b. The Winter Paralympics were first held in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.

15) c. The next Summer Olympics will be held in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The next Winter Olympics will be held in 2018 in PyeongChang, South Korea.