Olympics Quizzes Online & Trivia

Every four years, the Summer Olympics are held and every four years the Winter Olympics are held. When the Modern Olympics began in 1896, the games for both summer and winter were held during the same year, but in different locations. However, in 1992, the games would be held in different years. Starting in Lillehammer, Norway for the 1994 Olympics, the Winter Olympics were held without the Summer Games being held in the same year. In 1996, Atlanta held the Summer Olympics. Now, they go back and forth with the Olympics happening every two years, but different seasons. The reason for the Modern Olympics taking place every four years is due to that happening during the Ancient Olympics. Evidence shows that they held Olympics every four years for hundreds of years.

Over time there have been sports that have been tried to be included in the Olympics and some sports have been taken out. Ultimately, the International Olympics Committee is responsible for making the decisions about which sports will be included in the Olympics. Actually, it is a smaller committee within the IOC called the Olympic Program that makes the decision. There are certain criteria that must be met for a sport to be included. If the sport is included, it may be included for men and not for women because the criteria set is based on gender. One criteria is that the sport in question must be practiced by over seventy-five countries for men. Women must be playing this sport in forty countries in order for the sport to be considered.

Generally speaking, Russia was banned from the Olympics due to doping. Evidence arose that as many as 1,000 Russian athletes were using enhancing drugs that were not allowed to be used during the Olympics. These drugs would unfairly strengthen their bodies and allow them to win due to the enhancement drugs. At the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the Russians that were not found guilty of using enhancement drugs will be allowed to participate under the title of “Olympic Athletes from Russia.” An investigation began when a law professor conducted a report independently about these athletes and among them were also scientific and government people who were also involved that lied or covered up the doping of these athletes. From that point, a commission was created to further look into the matter.

The Olympic rings on the Olympic flag represent the continents. Even though there are seven continents, Antarctica is not represented and both Americas are considered one continent. It is believed that Europe is represented by the color blue, Asia is represented by yellow, Australia is represented by green, the Americans are represented by red and Africa is represented by black. Even though this is believed to be known, there is no evidence to show exactly if these colors actually represent these continents. Instead, it is simply believed to be the colors that represent the continents. The only color that is known to be true to what it signifies is the white background on the flag. This truly signifies and represents world peace.

When seeing an athlete win a gold medal, the medal is impressive and exciting. It looks like it is made of solid gold. Even athletes are known for biting the medal in order to show that it is real. However, gold medals are not entirely made of gold. They appear to look gold, but they are actually mostly silver. Both the silver and gold medals are over 90% of their make-up to be silver. The gold medal is then plated with gold. Less than 10% of the medal is actually gold and only 6 grams of the entire medal is gold. Historically, the gold medals used to be made entirely of gold. Now, they are not. Based on the amount of the price of gold at the time the medal is sold, the gold medal is actually worth only five hundred dollars.

The Olympics today have been and have always been associated with Greece. Greece is the actual beginning of the Olympics. During ancient history, the Greeks began the Olympics with certain sports including boxing and wrestling, to name a few. Over time, games were added. These games began in order to honor the gods and goddesses that they worshipped. Now, during the Modern Olympics, when it began in 1896, the site for this Olympics was also Greece. Now, during the opening ceremonies, the first group of people to enter the stadium are those who are from Greece. This seems appropriate since their country began the Olympics hundreds of years ago and then began them again during modern times in the late 1800s.

There is a strict process for deciding on the next host country of the Olympics. The committee responsible for this selection is known as the International Olympic Commission. First, the city completes an application to be selected for the next Olympic city. When the deadline has passed for the cities to complete an application for selection, the IOC looks at several factors of the city including is it can handle the Olympics and it can afford it. Many people think the athletes who come from the host country of the Olympics may have an advantage over other athletes based on the fact that they did not have to travel far. Therefore, the athletes are competing during the same time as they were practicing and they are used to the time when competing.

Many cities compete before the Olympics. Instead of athletes competing against each other, cities are competing to be the host city. The International Olympic Committee is in charge of selecting the city. The IOC has a strict process. At first, the Winter Olympics had to be a city that had the correct weather in order for all of the sports to be done. The process first begins with interested cities applying to the process for acceptance of being the host city. After submitting the application, each city will be considered by the IOC. The IOC looks at each city’s size. If the population and size of the city is too small, it might eliminate this city. Another factor is money. The city must be able to afford spending enough money to hold the Olympics.

Throughout the years participants in the Olympics have come from many countries. However, not all countries have participated. This may be due to the country voluntarily not sending athletes to the country. Other reasons include that their own country through their national Olympic committee forbid them to represent their country in the Olympics. After the major wars, those countries that lost the war were punished and were not allowed to send athletes to the Olympics to represent these countries. This includes Germany, Turkey, and Japan plus a few more. Syria is not on the list of a country that has been banned from the Olympics. However, Syria may not allow itself to send representatives due to the problems in the country.

When a city and its country gets selected as the host country of the Olympics, it may seem like the city spends the next few years celebrating and waiting for the Olympics to come. However, the city must spend a lot of money preparing for the Olympics. They must build the correct field, stadiums and other areas that are needed for each and every event. Even though it may seem that a few events could use the same field, stadium or area, it may not be able to. For example, figure skating events may use the same ice arena that the hockey teams use, but they can’t due to time constraints and the length of the arena needed for each event. Therefore, after spending billions of dollar to create the Olympics, the city keeps the money made from the events.

The Olympics is a chance that not many athletes get to experience. Therefore, some people do not participate in the Olympics because they do not qualify for it, but others do not participate in the Olympics because they prefer not to. The two sports that seem to not send the most qualified athletes to the Olympics are from the sports of boxing and wrestling. Even though all sports can be dangerous, many boxers, their managers, and promoters fear that sending their athletes to the Olympics will hurt the boxer’s career due to injuries and it will cost the promoters money. Since the promoters can’t make money during the boxer’s time in the Olympics, the boxer, their managers and their promoters will lose money.

Formula One is a type of racing. It is actually the top racing for cars. The difference between this type of racing and other car racing like Nascar is that this racing is only for one person to drive the car because there is only one seat. Many sports have been requested to include in the Olympics, but they are not always included. The International Olympic Committee must make these decisions in regard to the sports that should be added or taken away. At one time car racing was a part of the Olympics, but not anymore. Some people do not believe that car racing is a sport. The IOC must make the decision about what makes a sport a sport. Sometimes, people believe that driving a car does not take athletic ability and skill.