The Really Tough Olympics Quiz

Q1)

The man in the first picture (small, B&W) has some kind of firsts to his credit. He has worked in a number of movies. Identify him and Put Fundaez.


Ans.: Norman Pritchard. He was the first Indian athlete to participate in the Olympic Games. He was also the first Indian and first Asian to win an Olympic medal. He won two silver medals in the 1900 Summer Olympic Games at Paris. He studied at Saint Xaviers College, Kolkata and is credited with the first hat-trick in an open football tournament in India, for Saint Xavier’s against Sova Bazar in July, 1897. He acted in a number of Hollywood movies and Broadway plays. For more information on him, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Pritchard


Q2) Of late, this photograph has been doing rounds on the internet. What subject does it spoof.

Ans.: How China came up with the The Beijing Olympics Logo. It’s a spoof.

(Click on the pic for a bigger view, its hilarious)

Q3) Connect and Put Fundaez

Ans.: These are the flags of Australia, Sweden, China and Hong Kong. The funda is Equestrian Events held at different countries (or two different continents) than the host country. During the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the Equestrian Events were held at Stockholm, Sweden because of strict quarantine requirements of China. Again in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Equestrian Events are being held at Hong Kong, due to high levels of equine disease in Beijing. Hong Kong was chosen the site, because it has high standards of quarantine for horses (due to the horse racing industry)

Q4) Put Fundaez

Ans.: The International Olympic Committee had a great political success (in the 1956 Melbourne Games) in managing to bring together the two Germanys (East and West) within a combined team (EUA) competing under a black, red and yellow flag with the Olympic rings and with "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's IX Symphony as their anthem.

Q5) What is happening here. Put Fundaez.

Ans.: The first full marathon (distance of 42.195 km) was held in the 1908 London Olympics. This is the photo of Italian runner Dorando Pietri. He was the first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but was later disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes who trailed him by 30 seconds.

Extra Funda: This was the first time that the marathon was run over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). This distance was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. The marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances.