Well, it is hard to avoid the fact this is an Olympic year. Once reserved for real amateurs, the Olympics kind of became a place where the competing sides of the cold war sought to show up each other. When I watched as a kid, I was awed by people who would work so hard for the love of a sport. Now that it is just another sporting event with big bucks involved, I don’t watch much. Although I do enjoy true amateurs from poor nations reaching out and grabbing the glory.

So let’s see how good the old memory is as we look back to Olympics past.

1) This man took 3 consecutive heavywieght gold medals in boxing, a feat that will not likely be reproduced. he is
a) Cassius Clay
b) Lennox Lewis
c) Teofilio Stevenson
d) George Foreman

2) Overcoming many obstacles, including infantile paralysis, scarlet fever and whooping cough as a child, this athlete worked hard to become a triple gold medal winner in sprint events. Who is this person?

a) Jackie Joyner

b) Wilma Rudolph
c) Jackie Robinson
d) Carl Lewis

3) 1936. Berlin. Hitler and his “Aryan dominance” was destroyed by what athlete?
a) Jessie Owens
b) Jackie Robinson
c) Jim Thorpe
d) Wilt Chamberlain

4) Mexico City had one indelible image; two black men with their heads down and gloved fists thrust into the air. Who were they?
a) Joe Frazier and George Foreman
b) Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos
c) Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown
d) Bob Beamon and Ralph Boston

5) The first African American medal winner for the US was in what year?
a) 1936
b) 1928
c) 1912
d) 1904

6) Back to Mexico City, 1968. This man damn near jumps out of the stadium setting a broad jump mark that lasts 20+ years.
a) Ralph Boston
b) Tommie Smith
c) Bob Beamon
d) Carl Lewis

7) Although the Olympics are not supposed to be political, politics seems to always find a way to be a large part of the story. Why did the US boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics?

a) To protest the USSR invasion of Afghanistan
b) to protest the USSR supporting VietNam during the war.
c) The USSR had broken the nuclear test ban treaty.
d) the USSR athletes had failed multiple drug tests, but were not banned.

8) Speaking of politics, one of the worst incidents ever – the kidnapping of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists – happened at what Olympics?
a) Moscow 1980
b) Montreal 1976
c) Seoul, S. Korea, 1988
d) Munich, W. Germany, 1972

9) The 2000 Olympics were held in late winter and early spring. Why?
a) In order to not hold the Winter and Summer games in the same year, the summer games were pulled forward to fill in the schedule.
b) the games were held early as a celebration of the millenia.
c) to fill in an empty spot in the US television schedule
d) the games were held in the southern hemisphere. Thus holding them in September was during their late winter to early sping time.

10) Where will the 2016 Summer Olympics be held?
a) Chicago, Illinois
b) Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
c) Madrid, Spain
d) Tokyo, Japan

On your Marks! Get Set! Go!

1) c) Teofilio Stvenson of Cuba

2) b) Wilma Rudolph

3) a) Jessie Owens

4) b) who can forget Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos

5) d) 1904 George Poage won 2 bronze medals (St. Louis)

6) c) Bob Beamon

7) a) USSR invasion of Afghanistan

8) d) the infamous Munich games

9) d) the only logical choice.

10) b) RIO!