Olympic, Gymnastics - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: N. Ramachandran

Explanation:
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the prestigious Olympic Order to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president N Ramachandran. The award is given in acknowledgement for Ramachandran’s outstanding contribution to the Olympic movement. Former IOA president, the late B.S. Adityan was also honoured with the same award, in 1995.

• Ramachandran was elected president in February 2014
• IOC is an NPO with 100 active members and 32 honorary members

ANSWER: BFI

Explanation:
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has granted affiliation to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), ending a long-standing impasse between the two bodies.

As per the directives of the International Olympic Committee vide their letter dated February 7, the IOA grants affiliation to the BFI subject to ratification by the Executive Council/General Body of the IOA.

The affiliation ends a logjam that goes back to September last year when BFI took charge of the sport after elections conducted in the presence of International Boxing Association (AIBA) and sports ministry observers.

The IOA had initially refused to grant recognition to BFI stating that it still considered the now-defunct Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) as the official national body for the sport.

It had eventually referred the matter to its affiliation committee after persistent requests from the BFI.

With this, the BFI now becomes the fully recognised body for Indian boxing, having already been granted affiliation by AIBA and the sports ministry.

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:

Sports Discipline	National Observer
Athletics	PT Usha Anju Bobby George
Archery	Dr Sanjeev Kumar Singh
Badminton	Aparna Popat
Boxing	Mary Kom Akhil Kumar
Hockey	Jagbir Singh
Shooting	Abhinav Bindra
Tennis	Somdev Devvarman
Weightlifting	Karnam Malleshwari
Wrestling	Sushil Kumar
Football	I M Vijayan
Swimming	Khajan Singh
Table Tennis	Kamlesh Mehta

Apart from providing inputs for their respective disciplines, the National Observers would also to be consulted as a group on cross cutting issues impacting sports development in the country.

The National Observers would be playing a key role in the implementation of action plans for Mission Olympics 2020, 2024 and 2028.

On 30 January 2017, the government constituted a Task Force to prepare an action plan for 2020, 2024 and 2028 Olympic games.

On 5 February 2017, the foundation stone of the boundary wall of the first-ever Centre of Excellence for differently-abled sportsmen was laid at Sector-25 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

On 10 February 2017, the Mission XI Million initiative was launched to promote football among school children.

On 14 March 2017, Hockey India announced the appointment of four new Scientific Advisors for men and women, both senior and junior teams.

ANSWER: Alibaba

Explanation:
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has become a major sponsor of the Olympic Games.

It has signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee that runs until 2028.

This is after joining The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme.

At the Davos WEF, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Alibaba Group announced the formation of a long-term partnership that will last through 2028.

As part of the new collaboration, Alibaba has become the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” partner of the Olympics, as well as a Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel.

The company will support the global development of digital opportunities including the Olympic Channel.

Other major sponsors of the games are Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Visa.

This strategic partnership underlines the global appeal of the Olympic values and opens an exciting new chapter in this digital age.

Jack Ma: Know More

• Born: 10 September 1964
• Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Alma mater: Hangzhou Normal University, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
• Occupation: Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group
• Net worth Increase: US$22 billion

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
The first Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award will recognise the late legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.
Owens award was started in 2016

• It marks the 80th anniversary of Jesse Owen’s 4 gold medal performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
• It is going to honour people who have served as an inspiration
• Granddaughter of the famous athlete Jesse Owens, Margaret Dotch will present the award at the next week’s Best of the Games award ceremony to Ali’s wife Lonnie
• Ali won the gold medal at the Rome 1960 Olympics
• He also took 3 world heavyweight championships in 1964, 1974 and 1978
• James Cleveland Jesse Owens was an American track and field athlete who crushed Hilterian myth of Aryan supremacy
• He was the most successful athlete at the games
• He set three world records and tied another in less than an hour at 1935 Big Ten Track meet in Ann Arbour Michigan, called the “greatest 45 minutes ever in sports”
• His record has never been equalled
• At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, he won 4 gold medals including 100 and 200m long jump

ANSWER: 4

Explanation:
The bronze medal winner became the only Indian wrestler to be ranked in the top 10 of the United World Wrestling rankings.
She was the country’s first female Olympic medallist in the sport as well.

• Only two Indian male sportspersons made it to world top 20, with Sandeep Tomar ranked 15th in 57 kg category and Bajrang Punia in 18th place in 61 kg category
• Sakshi is an Indian freestyle wrestler born in September 1992
• She is part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat.
• Sakshi had previously won the silver at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and bronze medal at the Doha based 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:
Poland’s Olympic champion Anita Wlodarcyzk broke her world record in the hammer throw on 28th August with a throw of 82.98 metres in Warsaw.

• She set the new mark at Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Event at the Polish capital on a day where she had three throws over the 80m mark
• No other thrower has gone over 80m and Anita has won it 11 times in total
• 31 year old’s new record beats her previous best of 82.29m as she won the Olympic gold at Rio earlier in the month

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 26th August 2016 announced the decision to set up a task force to prepare an action plan for the next three Olympic Games.

• The task force will be set up over the next few days
• Announcement was made at the CoM meeting in New Delhi
• Task force will prepare a comprehensive action plan for effective participation of Indian sportspersons in the Olympic Games to be held in 2020, 2024 and 2028.
• The 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo
• The task force comprising in house as well as outside experts will prepare overall strategy for sports facility, training, selection procedure and other related matters
• Decision was made against the backdrop of poor performance of India at Rio Olympics
• The country was able to win only one silver and one bronze medal after sending the biggest contingent of 118 athletes.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu set the world record of 4:26:36s capturing a gold medal in record time and beating the previous record set by Ye Shiwen of China in London 2012 Olympics.

• Australian team comprising Bronte Campbell, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie and Emma McKeon won the 4x100 m freestyle relay retaining the title they won in 2012 with a timing of 3:30:65s.
• Sarah Sjostorm broke her own world record in the 100m butterfly to become the first Swedish woman to win the Olympic gold medal for swimming. Sjostorm is a three times world champion and set a time of 55.48s to break her previous mark of 55.64s.
• Adam Peaty set a world record of 57.55 seconds in the men’s 100m breastroke heats.
• The previous Olympic record was help by South African swimmer Cameron Van Der Burgh.
• Katie Ledecky of the US broke her own world record to win the women’s 400m freestyle gold medal.
• Ledecky set a new mark of 03:56:46s cutting down on 1.91 seconds of the previous record set in Australia by her.
• Lilly King, a 19-year-old first time Olympian set the Olympic record of 1:04:93s to win the 100m breast-stroke gold.
• Japan’s Ippei Watanabe secured the men’s 200m breast-stroke Olympic record clocking 2:07:22 s in the semi finals.
• Canadian teenagers broken the 100m Olympic freestyle swimming record - Penny Oleksiak and Simone Manuel touched the wall in 52.70s. This marks the second time there has been a tie for gold in women’s 100m freestyle
• With a brilliant performance, Singapore’s Joseph Schooling beat Michael Phelps and took him his first Olympic gold medal with a new Olympic record of 50.39s.
• US swimmer Ryan Murphy competed the fastest swim in history with a 51.85s 400medal relay. He became the 2nd fastest performer and the second under 52 seconds in the individual race with a timing of 51.97

ANSWER: Brazil

Explanation:
At the Rio Olympics, Brazil star forward Neymar gave the 2016 Rio Olympics host nation its biggest victory as he handed the country its first Olympic football gold medal, winning penalty in a 5-4 shootout victory over Germany.

• Neymar is undeniably Brazil’s biggest soccer star.
• He was injured in the FIFA championships this year.
• In a dramatic penalty kick shotout, the 24 year old star secured a historic win for his nation.
• Earlier, the Brazilian skipper put his side in the lead with a superb free kick in the 27th minute of the game before Germany skipper Maximilian Meyer came with an equaliser just before the hour to force the extra period.
• This victory of Brazil comes two years after an embarrassing 1-7 home loss to Germany’s senior team in the World Cup semi-finals two years ago.