USSA

The 1998
Ski Jumping
Trivia Questions
Archive of nine weeks of questions
Jan. 4 to March 7, 1998

USSA

SPONSORED BY SKI JUMPING COMMITTEE, USSA EASTERN DIVISION

Week nine: March 1 to 7:
We all know that the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were cancelled, but surely by the time the war flared up at both ends of the Eurasian continent, the site for the 1940 games had been chosen.

What was the designated host city for the 1940 Olympic Winter Games?

Sapporo, Japan

When war threatened this site, the Olympic Committee actually moved the Games, but the war got worse, and finally they cancelled the event altogether.

What city was named as the backup?

St. Moritz, Switzerland

This week's winner is our Canadian neighbor,Rennie Watt.
Visit Rennie's Ski Jumping Web Page.

Week eight: Feb. 22-28:
The Nagano Olympic Games are just over. Here is an easy Olympic question:

Who were the Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists in the K-90, 120, and team events?

  • 90 meter Special Jump
    1. Jani Soininen, Finland
    2. Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japan
    3. Andreas Widhoelzl, Austria

  • 120 meter Special Jump
    1. Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japan
    2. Jani Soininen, Finland
    3. Masahiko Harada, Japan

  • 120 meter Team Jump
    1. Japan
    2. Germany
    3. Austria

(For extra credit, give the medalists in the two Nordic Combined events.)

  • Individual Nordic Combined
    1. Bjarte Engen Vik, Norway
    2. Samppa Lajunen, Finland
    3. Valerij Stoljarov, Russia

  • Team Nordic Combined
    1. Norway
    2. Finland
    3. France


Week seven: Feb. 15-21:
For weeks before the Nagano Olympic Games, the media have been talking about the possibility of a Japanese sweep of the medals in one of the special jumping events. In the early days, Norway dominated jumping events, and it would be a good guess that the Norwegians swept the medals once or twice during that period.
  1. In which Games did Norway sweep?
     1932 in Lake Placid (Ruud, Beck, Wahlberg)
    1948 in St. Moritz (Hugstedt, Ruud, Scheldrup)

  2. Did the home team ever sweep, if so when?
     1972 in Sapporo (Kasaya*, Konno, Aochi) on the small hill.

    (*Yukio Kasaya was a judge in Nagano.)

Week six: Feb. 8-14:
The media love controversy, even if thay have to create it themselves. Four years ago in Lillehammer, they picked up on an incident which may not really have been an incident. It seems that a jumper on the second place team in the team jump prematurely congratulated a member of the first place team on their victory in the team competition. The one who received the congratulations then went up and shanked his last jump, threatening the lead of his team. The press wallowed in the incident!
  1. Name the two teams involved.
    Germany and Japan

  2. Name the two skiers involved.
    Harada and Jens Weissflog

  3. Tell the outcome. (Did it cost the leading team the gold?)
    The Japanese team was in the lead, the Germans stood second. Weissflog congratulated Harada, who then jumped very short. The German team swept by for the gold, Japan had to settle for silver.
Winner -- Larry Stone, again!

Week five: Feb. 1-7:
The Olympic Winter Games begin this week in Nagano, Japan. Here are some Olympic questions:
  1. Give the year and the location of the Winter Games from St. Moritz (1948) to Nagano (1998).
     1948 St. Moritz, SWI
    1952 Oslo, NOR
    1956 Cortina, ITA
    1960 Squaw Valley CA, USA
    1964 Innsbruck, AUT
    1968 Grenoble, FRA
    1972 Sapporo, JAP
    1976 Innsbruck, AUT
    1980 Lake Placid, USA
    1984 Sarajevo, YUG
    1988 Calgary, CAN
    1992 Albertville, FRA
    1994 Lillehammer, NOR
    1998 Nagano, JAP

  2. Which was the first Games to include two special ski jump events (two hill sizes)?
     Ans: Innsbruck 1964

  3. Which was the first Games to include a team jumping event?
     Ans: Calgary 1988

Winner -- Larry Stone.

Week four: Jan. 25-31:
The World Junior Nordic Skiing Championships wrapped up today (Jan. 25) in St. Moritz, Switzerland. A recent comment in the media suggested that the U.S. had never done well at these Championships. That is not true.

Name three North Americans who have taken home gold medals in Jumping or Nordic Combined at the World Junior Nordic Skiing Championships in the last two dozen years.

A trick question? Remember, Canada is part of North America.

Todd Lodwick won the World Junior Nordic Combined title in 1996.
Horst Bulau (Ottawa) won the special jump in 1979, and
Steve Collins (Thunder Bay) followed with a win in 1980.

Week three: Jan. 18-24:
World War Two took a generation of young men from nations around the world, and forced cancellation of the 1940 Olympic Games. When the Winter Olympics were resumed in 1948, the athletes were a mix of grizzled veterans and inexperienced youngsters. The day of the 1948 Olympic ski jump brought nasty weather, and the coach of the Norwegian jumping team made the rash move of removing one of his young charges from the entry list and pencilling in his own name, feeling that he could better cope with the difficult jumping conditions.
  1. What was the site of the 1948 Winter Olympics?
     St. Moritz, Switzerland,
    site of this week's World Junior Championships
  2. Who was the Norwegian coach?
     Birger Ruud
  3. What past accomplishments justified his confidence in his ability?
     Gold medals in 1932 and 1936!
  4. What was the outcome of the move (how did he jump)?
     Silver medal in 1948!
  5. (Here is the zinger!) Who was the young jumper who lost his Olympic opportunity?
     This luckless lad was George Thrane (rhymes with Donna).

Winner: Mark Levasseur got three out of five.
Dave Norby (Madison, WI) and Larry Stone got one.

Week two: Jan. 11-17:
The Brattleboro Outing Club celebrated, last February, the 75th anniversary of the club and of jumping at Harris Hill.

Who had the honor, in 1922, of taking the inaugural jump off the newly constructed hill?

Too easy? Try this: who came down second?

Answer:
 Fred Harris directed (and financed) the construction of the ski jump which would eventually bear his name, and it was Fred who took the inaugural ride. The second person down the slide, according to contemporary newspaper accounts, was Fred's sister Evelyn.

Winner: Lew McKeon guessed Fred Harris.
Nobody knew that his sister was the next one down.

Week one: Jan. 4-10:
In the 1990's, the U.S. Ski Jumping Team has been dominated by skiers from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
 What small town (and what ski club) dominated the U.S Ski Jumping Team in the 1980's?
Answer:
The Hastings brothers and the Holland brothers made Norwich, Vermont the Capitol of U.S. Ski Jumping in the 1980's. They all learned to jump in the junior jumping program of the Ford Sayre Ski Club across the Connecticut River in Hanover, New Hampshire.

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