Tokyo 2020: the big Olympics quiz

Heptathlons enjoy the moment after their event has finished. Photograph: Antonin Thuillier/AFP/Getty Images

1. Which country won the most medals per capita (they won one medal for every 11,333 people in the country)?

   1. San Marino

   2. Turkmenistan

   3. Burkina Faso

   4. Qatar

2. Who won the silver medal in the men’s high jump?

   1. Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi shared the silver medal

   2. Maksim Nedasekau

   3. Gianmarco Tamberi

   4. No one

3. 

   What were the medals made from at these Games?

   1. Metals excavated from below Mount Fuji

   2. They were the medals that had been made for the 1940 Games, which were due to be held in Tokyo but had to be cancelled when the second world war broke out in 1939

   3. Recycled mobile phones and electrical equipment

   4. Recycled coffee

4. Ukrainian shooter Serhiy Kulish won silver in the 10m air rifle event in Rio five years ago and was in the mix for another medal in Tokyo, but what went wrong?

   1. He dropped his gun, shot himself in the foot and was disqualified

   2. He left his contact lenses in his hotel, could not get back in time due to various Covid checks and missed his final

   3. He mistakenly fired at someone else’s target, received zero points for his shot and dropped down to eighth position

   4. His gun broke before his event and he didn’t have a spare so was not able to compete

5. Which athlete won the most gold medals in Tokyo?

   1. Katie Ledecky

   2. Caeleb Dressel

   3. Sunisa Lee

   4. Allyson Felix

6. 

   Kirani James has now won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics. What makes his achievement even more spectacular?

   1. No one else from his country has ever won an Olympic medal

   2. His father also won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics

   3. He has won his three medals in three different events

   4. He is still a teenager

7. Which country became the smallest in history to win a gold medal at a Summer Olympics? (They have a population of just 64,000).

   1. Grenada

   2. Bermuda

   3. San Marino

   4. Suriname

8. What was unusual about the men’s shot put competition?

   1. The athletes that won gold, silver and bronze in Rio five years ago won gold, silver and bronze again in Tokyo

   2. Two of three medalists were brothers, but they were representing different countries

   3. All eight finalists beat the previous world record

   4. All three medalists were from Turkmenistan – and there were the only medals the country won at the Games

9. 

   What was the combined age of the three female skateboarders who won medals in the park event in Tokyo?

   1. 36

   2. 40

   3. 44

   4. 50

10. How many countries won medals in Tokyo?

    1. 66

    2. 80

    3. 94

    4. 109

11. What was the age difference between the youngest and oldest medal winners in Tokyo?

    1. 30 years

    2. 40 years

    3. 50 years

    4. 60 years

12. 

    The women’s football final between Canada and Sweden went to penalties. Of the 12 penalties taken in the shootout, how many were scored?

    1. Eleven

    2. Three

    3. Five

    4. One

13. There were four new sports introduced in Tokyo. Which of these sports did not make its debut at these Games?

    1. Karate

    2. Surfing

    3. Skateboarding

    4. Breakdancing

    5. Climbing

14. In which of these events did one country win gold, silver and bronze?

    1. Men’s surfing

    2. Women’s 100m

    3. Men’s marathon

    4. Women’s hammer throw

15. 

    Jessica Fox won a gold medal for Australia in canoeing in Tokyo. Which countries did her parents, Richard and Myriam, represent when they were Olympic canoeists?

    1. Australia and New Zealand

    2. Great Britain and France

    3. Brazil and Argentina

    4. USA and Canada

Solutions

1:A - San Marino had never won an Olympic medal before these Games. Now they have three: two in shooting and one in wrestling. With a population of just 34,000, they won a medal for every 11,333 people in the country. For the sake of comparison, Team GB won a medal for every 1,049,338 people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland., 2:D - Barshim and Tamberi shared gold, and Nedasekau was awarded bronze. Funnily enough, the three athletes all jumped the same height: 2.37 meters., 3:C - In the build-up to the Games, people in Japan donated nearly 158 million pounds of electronics, which were reduced down to approximately 71 pounds of gold, 7,700 pounds of silver, and 4,850 pounds of bronze., 4:C - “I am not happy,” he said. “Who shoots into someone else’s target? Only people like me.”, 5:B - Not only did Dressel win five gold medals in the pool, but he also broke two world records. His fellow swimmer, Duncan Scott, did pretty well too, becoming the first British athlete to win four medals at a single Olympics (one gold and three silver)., 6:A - James is the only athlete from Grenada to have won an Olympic medal. He won gold in London, silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo. , 7:B - Flora Duffy became Bermuda’s first Olympic champion when she won the women’s triathlon. “The whole of Bermuda is going crazy,” she said. “That’s what makes it so special. My mum grew up in Burnley and my dad is from Barrow-in-Furness, but I’m born and raised in Bermuda. That’s where my heart is.”, 8:A - Ryan Crouser won gold; Joe Kovacs won silver; and Tomas Walsh won bronze. It was the first time in any individual event at the Olympics that the same athletes won gold, silver and bronze in an event at consecutive Games.., 9:C - Sakura Yosozumi won gold at 19; Kokona Hiraki won silver at 12; and Sky Brown won bronze at 13., 10:C - It was an all-time record for an Olympics. The teams from Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Brazil, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and Turkey all won more medals than they had done at any previous Games., 11:C - Kokona Hiraki won a silver medal at the age of 12 in the park skateboarding event and Andrew Hoy won a silver in equestrianism at the age of 62., 12:C - More than half of the penalties were either missed or saved. Canada won the shootout, eventually., 13:D - It will be making its debut in Paris in 2024., 14:B - Three Jamaican athletes made it on to the podium: Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson., 15:B - Her father competed for Great Britain at the 1992 Games and her mother won a bronze medal for France at the 1996 Games.

Scores

1. 4 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

2. 3 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

3. 2 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

4. 1 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

5. 5 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

6. 6 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

7. 7 and above.

   That's the equivalent of a bronze medal. Well played

8. 8 and above.

   That's the equivalent of a bronze medal. Well played

9. 9 and above.

   That's the equivalent of a bronze medal. Well played

10. 10 and above.

    That's the equivalent of a silver medal. Well played

11. 11 and above.

    That's the equivalent of a silver medal. Well played

12. 12 and above.

    That's the equivalent of a silver medal. Well played

13. 13 and above.

    That's the equivalent of a silver medal. Well played

14. 14 and above.

    That's the equivalent of a silver medal. Well played

15. 0 and above.

    Ah well. Better luck at Paris 2024

16. 15 and above.

    You went for gold and you got it. Well played