THE OLYMPIC SUM PUZZLE
JULY’S BRAIN TEASER
July’s conundrum paid homage to the Olympics, which should have been taking place in Tokyo.
We’ve also dug up some fun facts about the modern Olympics to wow your friends with (or use for your next quiz!)
THE OLYMPIC SUM
Place the digits from 1 to 9 in each closed area so that the sum of the digits in each complete circle is the same. 1 has already been placed.
To find out the correct answer fill out the form below…
BEFORE YOU GO…
We’ve dug up some fun facts about the modern Olympics to wow your friends with (or use for your next quiz!)
Do you know…
what gold medals are made of?
how many modern Olympic games have been cancelled - when and why?
why are the Olympic rings the colours that they are?
what 5 countries have appeared at every (modern era) summer Olympics?
the age of the youngest Olympian?
Here are 10 facts that give you the answers and more…
1. Gold medals are mostly made of silver.
Despite the popular belief that the Gold Medal is composed of pure gold, this hasn’t been the case since the 1912 Olympics. Today’s Olympic Gold Medal is an impostor, made almost entirely from silver with approximately 6 grams of gold to meet the standard laid out in the Olympic Charter.
2. The Olympic Torch Relay is not an ancient tradition.
The Torch Relay has its roots in the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics. Carl Diem, Chief Organiser of the Olympic Games, conceived of the relay as a propaganda tool for the Nazi Party to showcase the supposed superiority of the Aryan race. The relay passed through Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia, who would all succumb to Nazi rule within 10 years.
3. Only four modern Olympic Games have been cancelled.
The games were cancelled due to World War I (1916), World War II (1940, 1944) and this year.
4. At least one of the Olympic Rings' colours appears in every national flag.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder off the modern Olympic Movement, conceived of the five-ringed symbol. He specifically chose the different colours—blue, green, yellow, black, and red—because at least one of those colours appeared on all the national flags of the world.
5. Only five countries have been represented at every modern-era Summer Olympic Games.
Greece, Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Australia.
6. Only one person has ever won gold medals during the Summer and Winter Olympics.
American Eddie Eagan has this distinction. In 1920, Eagan took home gold in boxing. He later earned a gold medal at the 1932 Lake Placid Games in the team bobsled event.
7. Two athletes have won gold medals competing for two different nations.
Daniel Carrol first won gold in Rugby representing Australia in 1908 and then again in 1920 for the United States. Kakhi Kakhiashvili won his first gold medal in Men’s Weightlifting competing as part of the Unified Team in the 1992 Barcelona Games, and later as a Greek citizen in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
8. Athletes in the ancient Olympic Games competed in the nude.
In fact, the word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek root “gymnos” meaning nude. As such, the literal translation of gymnasium is “school for naked exercise.”
9. The first Olympic drug suspension did not occur until 1968.
Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish Pentathlete, tested positive for alcohol. He purportedly drank several beers before the Pentathlon and was thus suspended from the competition.
10. The youngest Olympian in the modern era is Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics at the age of 10.
Other young Olympian facts: At age 13, springboard diver Marjorie Gestring is the youngest female individual gold medallist in history, while 14-year-old Kusuo Kitamura (swimming) is the youngest male individual gold medallist.
