Olympics and Sports GK Questions for Kids (with Answers)
Sport is a great way to make general knowledge exciting. These 30 Olympics and sports GK questions cover how the Olympic Games began, what the rings and the flame mean, India’s Olympic heroes and the basic rules of popular sports.
30 questions · answers included · free to print and share
Easy olympics and sports GK questions (ages 5–7)
1.How many rings are there on the Olympic flag?
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
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Answer: Five
The five rings stand for the five inhabited continents joined together by sport.
2.In which country did the ancient Olympic Games begin?
- Italy
- Greece
- Egypt
- India
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Answer: Greece
The ancient Games were held at Olympia in Greece, starting in 776 BCE according to tradition.
3.How often are the Summer Olympic Games usually held?
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Answer: Every four years
The four-year period between two Olympic Games is called an Olympiad.
4.How many players does a cricket team have on the field?
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Answer: Eleven
A cricket pitch is 22 yards long, which is about 20 metres.
5.Which sport is played with a racket and a shuttlecock?
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Answer: Badminton
A shuttlecock is traditionally made with 16 feathers fixed into a rounded cork base.
6.What is lit at the start of the Olympic Games and kept burning until the end?
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Answer: The Olympic flame
The flame is lit in Olympia, Greece, using the Sun’s rays and a curved mirror, and then carried by a torch relay.
7.Which medal does the winner of an Olympic event get?
- Gold
- Silver
- Bronze
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Answer: Gold
Modern Olympic gold medals are actually made mostly of silver with a coating of gold.
8.Wimbledon is a famous tournament in which sport?
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Answer: Tennis
Wimbledon, in London, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and was first played in 1877.
9.How many players does a basketball team have on the court at one time?
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Answer: Five
Basketball was invented in 1891 by a teacher named James Naismith, who used peach baskets as hoops.
10.In which sport do players score goals by kicking a ball into a net?
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Answer: Football
The FIFA World Cup for football is held every four years, just like the Summer Olympics.
Medium olympics and sports GK questions (ages 8–10)
11.Who won India’s first individual Olympic gold medal?
- Abhinav Bindra
- Milkha Singh
- Neeraj Chopra
- P. V. Sindhu
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Answer: Abhinav Bindra
He won it in the 10 m air rifle shooting event at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
12.In which event did Neeraj Chopra win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics?
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Answer: Javelin throw
The Tokyo 2020 Games were held in 2021, and his gold was India’s first Olympic gold medal in athletics.
13.In which sport has India won eight Olympic gold medals?
- Hockey
- Wrestling
- Shooting
- Boxing
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Answer: Hockey
India’s men’s hockey team won gold eight times, including six in a row from 1928 to 1956.
14.Which Indian hockey player is known as the “Wizard of Hockey”?
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Answer: Major Dhyan Chand
India celebrates National Sports Day on 29 August, his birthday.
15.What does the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” mean?
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Answer: Faster, Higher, Stronger
In 2021 the Latin word “Communiter”, meaning “Together”, was added to the motto.
16.How long is a marathon race?
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Answer: 42.195 km
The race is named after a Greek legend about a messenger who ran from the town of Marathon to Athens.
17.In which city were the first modern Olympic Games held in 1896?
- Paris
- Athens
- London
- Rome
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Answer: Athens
The modern Olympic Games were started by Pierre de Coubertin of France.
18.Which Indian boxer from Manipur won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics?
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Answer: Mary Kom
M. C. Mary Kom is also a six-time world champion in amateur boxing.
19.Which Indian badminton player won silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020?
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Answer: P. V. Sindhu
She became the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals.
20.In cricket, how many balls are there in one over?
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Eight
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Answer: Six
If a bowler bowls a wide or a no-ball, an extra ball has to be bowled in that over.
21.How many players from each team are on the court in a kabaddi match?
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Answer: Seven
The raider must keep saying “kabaddi” in a single breath while in the other team’s half.
22.How long is an Olympic-size swimming pool?
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Answer: 50 metres
Swimmers in a 100 m race swim two full lengths of the pool.
Hard olympics and sports GK questions (ages 11–13)
23.Who won independent India’s first individual Olympic medal?
- K. D. Jadhav
- Milkha Singh
- Leander Paes
- Abhinav Bindra
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Answer: K. D. Jadhav
Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won a bronze medal in wrestling at the Helsinki 1952 Olympics.
24.Which Indian sprinter was known as the “Flying Sikh”?
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Answer: Milkha Singh
He finished fourth in the 400 m race at the Rome 1960 Olympics, missing a medal by a tiny fraction of a second.
25.Who was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal?
- Karnam Malleswari
- P. T. Usha
- Mary Kom
- Saina Nehwal
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Answer: Karnam Malleswari
She won a bronze medal in weightlifting at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
26.What are the five colours of the Olympic rings?
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Answer: Blue, yellow, black, green and red
With the white background, these colours were chosen because every country’s flag at the time had at least one of them.
27.Which Indian shooter won two bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
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Answer: Manu Bhaker
She became the first athlete of independent India to win two medals at a single Olympic Games.
28.How many events does an athlete take part in during a decathlon?
- Five
- Seven
- Ten
- Twelve
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Answer: Ten
The decathlon takes place over two days and mixes running, jumping and throwing events.
29.In which city were the first Asian Games held in 1951?
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Answer: New Delhi
Like the Olympics, the Asian Games are usually held every four years.
30.India won the Thomas Cup for the first time in 2022. In which sport?
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Answer: Badminton
The Thomas Cup is the world team championship for men’s badminton.
Keep learning olympics and sports
The questions move from easy (ages 5–7) to medium (ages 8–10) to hard (ages 11–13), and each answer has a short fun fact. Medal results are historical, with the year and the Games named.
How to use these questions at home
- Watch a match or an Olympic highlight together and ask the questions about that sport during the breaks.
- Make a family timeline of India’s Olympic medals using the years in the answers; it turns dates into a story.
- Ask your child to explain one sports rule from the quiz to you, as if you had never played it.