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How well do you know the Olympic Games?
As the world's top athletes gather in France for the 2024 Games, take CNN's Summer Olympics Quiz to test your knowledge of the Games' history and highlights.
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In which year did women first compete in the modern Olympics?
Women first competed in 1900 at the Summer Olympics in Paris, where they comprised around 2% of athletes. The 22 women participated in tennis, sailing, croquet, golf and equestrian. Since then, the number of female participants and events has grown gradually.
What is the record for the men’s 100-meter dash at the Olympics?
Usain Bolt completed the current Olympic record for the 100-meter dash in 2008 with a time of 9.63 seconds. Bolt dominated the Olympic track and field event, winning eight gold medals between 2008 and 2016. He also ran the event with a time of 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championship, the world record.
What new events are being included in 2024?
Breakdancing will debut as a new sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with an event each for men and women.
The canoe slalom has included events in which athletes raced against the clock. For the first time, the canoe slalom in this Olympics will include a kayak cross event in which four athletes will race one another.
What sports won’t appear at the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Baseball and karate were both featured in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics but won’t be seen in Paris. Baseball had been a medal event six times since 1992 and is widely popular in Japan, which is home to many fanatic baseball fans. Due to scheduling conflicts between the Games and Major League Baseball’s regular season coupled with the sport’s lack of popularity in France, fans will have to wait until 2028 to see it back at the Olympics.
Karate’s place in the Games came into question even before its debut. The sport only made it to the 2020 Summer Olympics after organizers added a provision to allow host cities to propose additional sports. Cutting karate for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, organizers cited concerns over the sport’s lack of entertainment value and ability to attract younger viewers.
How many National Olympic Committees will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that are each charged with representing their respective countries or territories at the games. The IOC historically took an inclusive approach to allowing teams from territories to compete.
In 1911, a founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, said, “there is an athletic geography that may differ at times from political geography.” As the Olympics has become tangled in geopolitical tensions, its philosophy has shifted. In 1996, the IOC published new rules, defining countries eligible to form NOCs as “independent State recognized by the international community.”
Today there are more NOCs than the 193 countries that are voting members of the United Nations.
What is the longest distance the Olympic torch has traveled to the opening ceremony?
The Olympic torch arrived in Beijing on March 31, 2008, before it traveled through 21 countries across five continents. Four months later, the Olympic flame returned to Beijing for the opening ceremony after completing an 85,000-mile journey and set a record for the longest distance torch relay.
How old is Quincy Wilson, who could become the youngest US male track Olympian in history?
Wilson, a 16-year-old sprinter from Potomac, Maryland, failed to qualify for the 400m race at his US Olympic Trials debut but made the pool for the 4x400 meter relay team and is expected to compete in Paris. He also broke the under-18 world record for the 400m twice and will be the youngest US male track Olympian in history.
In the 2024 Paris Olympics, athletes from these two countries will be "neutral" rather than donning uniforms from or otherwise referencing their home countries. Which are they?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended in February 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was supported by Belarus, that the two countries should be prohibited from competing in international sporting events. In January 2023, the IOC announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete as neutral athletes without donning or referencing their nationality.
What is the motto for the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympics have made a goal of “opening” up the Olympics to be more inclusive of the public. Amateur athletes will have the opportunity to participate in a marathon with the same route as Olympic athletes and many games will be held at iconic sites throughout Paris.
Originally, officials ambitiously set a goal of welcoming over 600,000 spectators to the opening ceremony. They since slashed that number in half, citing security concerns, but the ceremony is still expected to far surpass historic attendance.
What year did the Olympics first achieve equality in the number of women and men competing?
After over a hundred years of games, the Olympics will achieve equal representation for the first time, with 5,250 female and 5,250 male athletes competing. Out of 329 medal events in Paris, there will be 152 events for female athletes, 157 for male athletes and 20 mixed-gender events.
