India won its first Olympic gold medal in which sport?
- A.Shooting
- B.Wrestling
- C.Field hockey
- D.Athletics
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, field hockey. The Indian men's hockey team won the gold medal at the Amsterdam Games of 1928 and then kept winning, taking eight Olympic golds in all, in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980. The six in a row from 1928 to 1956 remain unmatched in the sport, and Dhyan Chand, who played in the first three, is remembered as its greatest player of the age.
Option A, shooting, gave India its first individual gold much later, when Abhinav Bindra won the 10 metre air rifle at Beijing in 2008. Option B, wrestling, gave India its first individual medal after independence through K. D. Jadhav in 1952, but that was a bronze. Option D, athletics, produced India's earliest Olympic medals of any kind, the two silvers Norman Pritchard won in 1900, again not gold. Read whether the question asks for the first medal, the first gold or the first individual gold.
Read the full article: Olympic Games: History, Symbols and India's Medals
Practice Questions
View allThe first recorded ancient Olympic Games are dated to which year?
- A.1200 BCE
- B.776 BCE
- C.490 BCE
- D.393 CE
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The ancient Games were held at Olympia in Greece in honour of Zeus, and 776 BCE is the earliest celebration for which a written record of the winner survives.
Read the full explanation →Who is regarded as the founder of the modern Olympic Games?
- A.Avery Brundage
- B.Demetrius Vikelas
- C.Baron Pierre de Coubertin
- D.Juan Antonio Samaranch
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The French educationist believed that sport built character in the young, and at a congress at the Sorbonne in Paris he founded the International Olympic Committee on 23 June 1894, which led directly to the first modern Games at Athens in 1896.
Read the full explanation →The first modern Olympic Games in 1896 were held in which city?
- A.Paris
- B.London
- C.St. Louis
- D.Athens
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Greece was chosen for the first modern Games because the ancient festival had been held there, and the event took place in 1896, two years after the International Olympic Committee was founded.
Read the full explanation →Where is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee located?
- A.Lausanne, Switzerland
- B.Geneva, Switzerland
- C.Zurich, Switzerland
- D.Paris, France
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The International Olympic Committee moved its headquarters there during the First World War and has remained in the city since, which is why Lausanne is also called the Olympic Capital and houses the Olympic Museum.
Read the full explanation →The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius means which of the following?
- A.Faster, Farther, Stronger
- B.Braver, Higher, Stronger
- C.Faster, Higher, Stronger
- D.Higher, Faster, Together
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The three Latin words were suggested to Pierre de Coubertin by his friend Henri Didon, a French priest and educator who used them for the pupils at his school, and Coubertin adopted them for the Olympic movement.
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