Wizard Recommends Cards

Olympics Trivia

To help celebrate the 2024 summer games in Paris I present the following Olympics trivia challenge.

Questions:

  1. 1. Which three countries hosted the summer Olympic games in at least two different cities?
  2. 2. Which country has hosted the summer games the most times?
  3. 3. Where will the 2028 and 2032 summer games be held?
  4. 4. Where will the 2026, 2030, and 2034 winter games be held?
  5. 5. Which two cities have hosted the summer games three times?
  6. 6. Which city has hosted both the summer and winter games?
  7. 7. Which game made its debut in the 2024 games?
  8. 8. Which athlete holds the most medals?
  9. 9. Which female athlete holds the record for most medals?
  10. 10. Which country suffered the 11 athletes taken hostage and later killed and in which games?
  11. 11. Which country came in third for total medals in the 1972 summer games?
  12. 12. True or false – In ancient times, Olympic athletes competed naked?
  13. 13. When and where were the first Olympics of modern times?
  14. 14. When were the first Olympics that allowed women to compete? For extra credit, which five sports were they allowed to compete in?
  15. 15. Which country has the most Olympic gold medals?
  16. 16. Which Olympic games were the first to be televised?
  17. 17. At the age of 14, who scored seven perfect 10 tens in the 1976 games?
  18. 18. Why are there five Olympic rings?
  19. 19. In which year did the US boycott the summer games?
  20. 20. What are the five colors of the Olympic rings?

Answers:

  1. 1. United States (Los Angeles, Atlanta, St Louis), Germany (Berlin, Munich), Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)
  2. 2. United States (Los Angeles 1932, 1984; Saint Lous 1904, Atlanta 1996)
  3. 3. Los Angeles 2028, Brisbane 2032
  4. 4. Milan 2026, French Alps 2030, Salt Lake City 2034
  5. 5. London (1908, 1948, 2012), Paris (1900, 1924, 2024)
  6. 6. Beijing
  7. 7. Breaking
  8. 8. Michael Phelps (23 gold, 28 total)
  9. 9. Larisa Latynina (USSR) (9 gold, 18 total)
  10. 10. Israel, 1972 games in Berlin
  11. 11. East Germany (66 total)
  12. 12. True
  13. 13. Athens 1896
  14. 14. Paris 1900 – Tennis, sailing, croquet, golf, equestrianism
  15. 15. United States with 1022
  16. 16. 1936 Berlin
  17. 17. Nadia Comaneci of Romania
  18. 18. They represent the five continents (North and South America count as one)
  19. 19. 1980 in Moscow
  20. 20. Blue, yellow, red, green, black

Sources:

List of multiple Olympic medalists

List of Olympic Games host cities

Olympics trivia

1972 Summer Olympics

August 8, 2024 Puzzle Question

There are five lions and one goat in a pen. The lions are all awake and hungry. If a lion eats the goat or another lion, it will get sleepy and get eaten by another lion. The lions are all perfect logicians and do not share their food. The priority of the lions is first to stay alive and second to eat. What would happen? For extra credit, what would happen with n number of lions?

August 8, 2024 Puzzle Answer

A good strategy for puzzles like this, in which there are multiple items involved, is to start with one item and then keeping adding more, looking for a pattern. Let’s do that.

If there were one lion, it is obvious what would happen. The one lion would eat the goat and live.

If there were two lions, neither lion would act, knowing if he ate the goat, then he would get sleepy. Then the other lion would eat him. So, nothing would happen with two lions.

If there were three lions, they would each think about what would happen if they ate the goat. If one of them did, then the lion who ate the goat would effectively become the goat when he got tired, reducing it to the two-lion case above. As shownabove, the sleepy lion could feel safe, because the other two lions wouldn’t attack. Thus, with three lions, the goat would get eaten by the first lion to figure this out.

If there were four lions, each lion would figure out that if he ate the goat, the situation would reduce to the three-lion case above. As shown, with three lions, the goat or sleepy lion would quickly get eaten. Thus, nothing would happen with four lions.

Do you see the pattern? If there is an odd number of lions, then the goat will get quickly eaten. If there is an even number, nothing will happen. Since five is an odd number, the goat would be eaten.

August 15, 2024 Puzzle Question

Four people need to cross a bridge at night. The bridge is in poor repair. At most two people can be on the bridge at a time. Also, there are boards missing, so a flashlight is required to cross. Throwing the flashlight is not allowed. If two people cross at the same time, they must go at the slower person’s speed. It takes the four people 1, 2, 5 and 10 minutes respectively to cross. How can they all get across in 17 minutes?

Stay tuned next week for the answer.