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50 free Winter Olympics trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Winter Olympics began almost by accident: an "International Winter Sports Week" in Chamonix in 1924 that the IOC only retroactively declared the first Winter Games a year later. Since then the Games have been to three continents and thirteen countries, survived a world war, split from the Summer Games in 1994, and grown from 16 events to well over 100. These 50 questions run the whole century. The early years bring an 11-year-old Sonja Henie, the only man to win Summer and Winter gold in different sports, and the Austrian army hauling snow into Innsbruck. The Cold War decades cover Squaw Valley's Disney-produced ceremonies, Eric Heiden's five golds and the Miracle on Ice. Later Games add Torvill and Dean, Eddie the Eagle, the Lillehammer skating saga, the Salt Lake bribery affair, the most expensive Games ever staged in Sochi, and the hosts lined up for 2030 and 2034. The easy tier asks about famous hosts and moments; the expert tier goes to torch relays on skis, demonstration sports with dogs, and the Italian count who first proposed a winter week in 1911. Every answer is cited and briefly explained.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The first Winter Olympics, in 1924, were held in which French town?
Chamonix
The IOC only retroactively named the 1924 event the first Winter Games, in 1925.
Q 02Which country has hosted the Winter Games four times, more than any other?
United States
Lake Placid twice, Squaw Valley and Salt Lake City, with Utah due again in 2034.
Q 03Which resort was the first city to host the Winter Olympics twice, in 1928 and 1948?
St. Moritz
Its 1928 venues were still standing, which made it an easy post-war pick.
Q 04Which 1932 host was the first Winter Olympic city outside Europe?
Lake Placid
Only 17 nations made the trip, which was too long and costly in the Depression.
Q 05Which Norwegian, aged 11, finished last in 1924 but became a crowd favourite?
Sonja Henie
She came back four years later and won, then defended the title twice.
Q 06How old was the 1928 ladies' skating champion, the youngest Olympic winner for 70 years?
15
The record held until a 13-year-old relay skater won gold in 1994.
Q 07Gillis Grafström, first to win gold at both Summer and Winter Games, competed in which sport?
Figure skating
He won his 1920 gold at the Antwerp Summer Olympics, then three more Winter golds.
Q 08Eddie Eagan won a 1932 bobsleigh gold after winning a 1920 gold in which sport?
Boxing
He remains the only Olympian to win gold in different sports at Summer and Winter Games.
Q 09Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at which Games?
1936
Ski instructors were barred as professionals, so the Swiss and Austrians boycotted the races.
Q 10The cancelled 1940 Winter Games had originally been awarded to which city?
Sapporo
The award was rescinded in 1938 after the Japanese invasion of China.
Q 11The 1952 Oslo flame was lit in the fireplace of which skiing pioneer's house?
Sondre Norheim
It was the first Winter Olympic flame, and the relay was run entirely on skis.
Q 12At the 1956 opening ceremony, final torchbearer Guido Caroli entered the stadium how?
On ice skates
His skate caught a cable, he fell and burned his arm, but the cauldron was lit.
Q 13Which Games were the first Winter Olympics to be televised?
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo
No TV rights were actually sold until the 1960 Summer Games in Rome.
Q 21Which U.S. city gave up the 1976 Games after voters rejected public funding?
Denver
Colorado voted 3:2 against paying in November 1972, and Innsbruck stepped in.
Q 22Which American speed skater won five individual golds at the 1980 Games?
Eric Heiden
He set an Olympic or world record in every one of his five events.
Q 23The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" U.S. hockey team was composed of whom?
College players
They beat the seasoned Soviet side and went on to win gold.
Q 24Torvill and Dean's perfect-scoring 1984 free dance was set to which piece?
Q 14Which company produced the opening and closing ceremonies at the 1960 Games?
Walt Disney
The Squaw Valley organisers built the whole resort from scratch for about $80 million.
Q 15Which 1960 host remains the only Winter Games held without bobsleigh?
Squaw Valley
Too few countries entered to justify the cost of a track, so a world championship filled in.
Q 16Who hauled snow and ice to the venues when Innsbruck ran short in 1964?
The Austrian army
Unexpected warm weather had melted the stockpile the organisers had saved.
Q 17Which 1968 host staged the first Olympic Games broadcast in colour?
Grenoble
TV rights fetched $2 million, more than double the Innsbruck price.
Q 18Which French skier swept all the men's alpine events in 1968?
Jean-Claude Killy
Only Toni Sailer had done it before him, in 1956.
Q 19Which Austrian skier was excluded from the 1972 Games for earning too much money?
Karl Schranz
IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar every skier who had attended a U.S. ski camp.
Q 20Francisco Fernández Ochoa won 1972 slalom gold as the first Winter champion from where?
Spain
Through the 2022 Games he remained his country's only Winter Olympic champion.
Boléro
Every judge gave them 6.0 for artistic impression.
Q 25Which 1988 host staged the first Winter Games to span three weekends?
Calgary
Curling, short track and freestyle skiing all appeared there as demonstration sports.
Q 26Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards set a British ski-jump record of how many metres in 1988?
73.5
He finished last in both events but became the most famous man at the Games.
Q 27Cool Runnings is about which nation's 1988 bobsled team?
Jamaica
The 1988 Games inspired two films, the other being Eddie the Eagle.
Q 28Which Finnish ski jumper won all three events in his sport in 1988?
Matti Nykänen
Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip matched his three golds on the ice.
Q 29Which 1992 host staged the last Winter Games held in the same year as a Summer Games?
Albertville
The IOC had voted in 1986 to put the two Games on separate cycles.
Q 30Which 1994 host is the northernmost city ever to stage the Winter Games?
Lillehammer
Juan Antonio Samaranch called them "the best Olympic Winter Games ever".