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50 free Olympic History trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The modern Olympics were revived by a French baron who had been inspired by a village sports day in Shropshire. Pierre de Coubertin founded the IOC at the Sorbonne in 1894, Athens hosted 241 men in 1896, and the Games nearly died in the sideshows of the Paris and St Louis world's fairs before Athens rescued them again in 1906 with an edition the IOC no longer counts. These 50 questions follow the story from there: the first Winter Games at Chamonix, the flag first flown at Antwerp, the flame first lit at Amsterdam and the torch relay invented for Berlin, Jesse Owens, the war cancellations, Melbourne's Stockholm horses, Mexico City's Black Power salute and Fosbury's flop, Munich, the Moscow boycott and Peter Ueberroth's Los Angeles surplus, the Salt Lake scandal, Paralympic and Youth Games, and the first woman to lead the IOC. The expert tier asks about Hélène de Pourtalès, Dorando Pietri's silver cup, Barry Larkin's burning underpants and the podium borrowed from the British Empire Games. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you miss. Play solo or print it for an Olympics night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year were the first modern Olympic Games held?
1896
Athens hosted 14 nations and 241 athletes, all men, in 43 events.
Q 02Who is known as the father of the modern Olympic Games?
Pierre de Coubertin
He was the IOC's second president; the Greek writer Demetrius Vikelas was the first.
Q 03Which Shropshire town's Olympian Games inspired Coubertin after his 1890 visit?
Much Wenlock
Physician William Penny Brookes founded the annual festival in 1850; it still runs today.
Q 04Where was the 1894 congress that founded the IOC held?
The Sorbonne, Paris
On its final day delegates chose Athens for the first Games two years later.
Q 05Who was the first president of the International Olympic Committee?
Demetrius Vikelas
The Greek writer served until 1896; Coubertin then led the IOC for nearly three decades.
Q 06Which Greek philanthropist funded an 1859 Olympics and the restoration of the Panathenaic Stadium?
Evangelos Zappas
His cousin Konstantinos left a trust that helped finance the 1896 Games too.
Q 07Who became the first Olympic champion in more than 1,500 years, in April 1896?
James Connolly
The American won the triple jump on the opening day of competition.
Q 08Which event did Greek hero Spyridon Louis win in 1896?
The marathon
Greece won the most medals overall, 47, while the United States took the most golds.
Q 09What did winners receive at the 1896 Games instead of gold medals?
A silver medal and olive branch
Runners-up got copper medals; the IOC later retroactively assigned gold, silver and bronze.
Q 10The gold-silver-bronze format for first, second and third was introduced at which Games?
St Louis 1904
From 1904 to 1912 the gold medals were solid gold; today they are gilded silver.
Q 11The 1900 and 1904 Games were both staged as part of what?
World's fairs
Both failed to attract much notice; many 1900 competitors did not know they were at the Olympics.
Q 12Who became the first female Olympic champion, in sailing at Paris 1900?
Hélène de Pourtalès
Charlotte Cooper became the first woman to win an individual event two months later, in tennis.
Q 13Which sport appeared only once, at Paris 1900, and drew a single paying spectator?
Croquet
The tournament also marked the first appearance of women at Olympic level.
Q 21Which Games were cancelled because of the First World War?
1916
The Second World War then wiped out 1940 and 1944.
Q 22Which town hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924?
Chamonix
It was billed as an 'International Winter Sports Week'; the IOC only designated it the first Winter Games in 1926.
Q 23Until which year were the Winter and Summer Games held in the same year?
1992
Lillehammer 1994 began the staggered two-year cycle.
Q 24A symbolic Olympic flame first burned at which Games?
Q 14What name is given to the 1906 Athens edition that revived the movement?
The Intercalated Games
The IOC recognised them at the time but withdrew recognition in 1949.
Q 15Why was Dorando Pietri disqualified after crossing the line first in 1908?
Umpires helped him up
Queen Alexandra gave him a gilded silver cup in consolation; Arthur Conan Doyle reported the race.
Q 16Jim Thorpe was stripped of his 1912 golds for having done what?
Played semi-pro baseball
The IOC restored his medals in 1983 and made him sole champion of both events in 2022.
Q 17In which two events did Jim Thorpe win gold at Stockholm 1912?
Pentathlon and decathlon
He was the first Native American to win gold for the United States.
Q 18The Olympic flag was first flown at which Games?
Antwerp 1920
Adopted in 1914, it waited out the First World War; most opening-ceremony rituals date from Antwerp too.
Q 19Why were blue, yellow, black, green, red and white chosen for the rings and field?
Every nation's flag had at least one
The rings themselves stand for the five inhabited continents.
Q 20Who coined the motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius'?
Henri Didon
The Dominican priest used it at an 1891 Paris youth gathering; Coubertin proposed it in 1894 and it became official in 1924.
Amsterdam 1928
It topped the stadium's Marathon Tower, designed by architect Jan Wils, so people could find the Games.
Q 25The torch relay from Olympia was invented for which Games?
Berlin 1936
Carl Diem's idea carried the flame 3,187 km through seven countries; Leni Riefenstahl filmed it.
Q 26How many gold medals did Jesse Owens win in 1936?
Four
Germany still topped the table with 101 medals; Berlin was also the first televised Games.
Q 27The Olympic flame is lit before each Games at the temple of which goddess?
Hera
A parabolic mirror focuses the sun; a backup flame from the rehearsal is used on cloudy days.
Q 28The flame travelled by aeroplane for the first time to which Games?
Helsinki 1952
For Melbourne's equestrian events in Stockholm, every torchbearer rode on horseback.
Q 29What did Australian student Barry Larkin carry as a hoax torch in 1956?
Burning underpants in a pudding can
He handed it to the Mayor of Sydney and slipped away unnoticed.
Q 30Why were the 1956 equestrian events held in Stockholm rather than Melbourne?
Australian quarantine laws
They ran five months early; Melbourne was the first Games in the Southern Hemisphere.