Paris 2024 Olympic Firsts Quiz

The Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris ended a little while ago on Sunday, August 11th. Congratulations to all athletes who came to these Olympics and competed fairly and to the best of their ability! This GeoFact of the Day quiz highlights medal winners representing countries — and an athlete valiantly competing for the Refugee Team — that have not won a medal previously or have not won a gold medal until Paris 2024. Three Caribbean island countries, three African countries, one European country, one Central American country, and the Refugee Olympic Team are all represented in this post. Quiz answers are listed below — enjoy and good luck!

1)      GRENADA earned bronze medals in men’s javelin throw and men’s decathlon. 2024 is the first Olympic year in which Grenada won more than one medal. Which name is not one of the athletes who won these medals?
A — Lindon Victor
B — Anderson Peters
C — Timothy Conch

2)      BOTSWANA celebrates its first ever gold medal, which was won by Letsile Tebogo. Letsile also earned a silver medal as a teammate on the men’s ___________ team.
A — badminton
B — 4 x 400 meter relay
C — football

3)      ____________ is the home country of Cindy Ngamba, the women’s 75 kg boxer who earned the first ever medal (bronze) on the Refugee Olympic Team.
A — CAMEROON
B — SOMALIA
C — YEMEN

4)      True or false: EL SALVADOR is the Central American country winning its first ever gold medal.

5)      Track athlete Julien Alfred won a gold medal in the women’s 100 meter dash and a silver medal in the women’s 200 meter dash at the Paris 2024 Olympics. She won these first ever medals on behalf of which Caribbean island country?
A — SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
B — SAINT LUCIA
C — TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
D — BARBADOS

6)      Two freestyle wrestlers — Chermen Valiev and Islam Dudaev — won the first ever medals (both bronze) for their country in Southeastern Europe. Which country?
A — ALBANIA
B — GREECE
C — NORTH MACEDONIA
D — MONTENEGRO

7)      David de Pina (Daniel Varela de Pina) won a bronze medal in men’s 51 kg boxing and therefore earned the first ever medal for which island country in Africa? Hint: this country is an archipelago located west of mainland West Africa, and the country’s name translates to green cape in Portuguese.
A — MAURITIUS
B — SEYCHELLES
C — SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE
D — COMOROS
E — CABO VERDE
F — MADAGASCAR

8)      True or false: Thea LaFond competed in women’s triple jump and earned the first ever medal — and a gold one at that — for DOMINICA.























ANSWERS

Question 1:
C . . . . . Timothy Conch

Question 2:
B . . . . . 4 x 400 meter relay

Question 3:
A . . . . . Cameroon

Question 4:
False . . . . . Guatemala

Question 5:
B . . . . . Saint Lucia

Question 6:
A . . . . . Albania

Question 7:
E . . . . . Cabo Verde

Question 8:
True

Independence Day Recently Celebrated in Central America

People all across several countries in Central America — COSTA RICA, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HONDURAS, and NICARAGUA — celebrated Independence Day on Tuesday, September 15th. All five countries achieved independence from Spain in 1821. Happy belated Independence Day!

El Salvador Exports

The following items are major exports of EL SALVADOR: beans, beverages, cement, chemicals, clothing and textiles, coffee, corn (maize), dairy products, electricity to neighboring countries, ethanol, fertilizer, footwear, furniture, gold, leather goods, metal products (especially of iron and steel), offshore assembly exports, oilseeds, petroleum (small amounts), processed food, rice, sorghum, sugar, and vegetable oil. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include the United States (top importer), Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Spain, Mexico, Myanmar, Italy, Canada, Jamaica, Vietnam, Taiwan, Germany, Cuba, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Togo.

El Salvador Quiz

Post #4 — Country Quizzes Week

During the week of Monday, February 27th to Sunday, March 5th, GeoFact of the Day is hosting a Country Quiz Week. Every day or every other day, there will be a new quiz on a particular country around the world. Want to see a post about a favorite country? Feel free to share your suggestion by posting a comment! See if you can answer these questions pertaining to EL SALVADOR without the help of literary resources and the Internet. Answers are provided at the end — Good Luck!

1)      Featuring two oud*-shaped tail feathers, Turquoise-browed motmot birds can brag that they are the national bird of El Salvador and which other Central American country?
A — HONDURAS
B — NICARAGUA
C — PANAMA

* The oud is an instrument commonly played in North Africa, Eurasia, and the Middle East

2)      Off the Gulf of Fonseca coast in southeastern El Salvador, Conchagua and its surrounding forests are separated from the water by a 100-feet-wide (30.48 meters) strip of sandy beaches. What color is the area's sand?
A — black
B — tan
C — white

3)      Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and nicknamed the "Pompeii of the Americas," Joya de Cerén was a farming community buried under volcanic ash from the San Salvador Volcano's Loma caldera, similar to how Herculaneum and Pompeii in ITALY were buried by ash from Mount Vesuvius. Since the 1970s, archaeologists found all of the following items except __________.
A — pottery
B — carbonized remains of and "fossils" of fruit trees
C — garden tools
D — sauna building
E — none of the above; all of these things were found

4)      Almost 200 years ago on September 15th, 1821, El Salvador declared independence from what country?
A — GREAT BRITAIN
B — MEXICO
C — SPAIN

5)      La Gruta del Espíritu Santo — or the Holy Spirit Grotto in English — features centuries-old petroglyphs of human and animal figures painted black, green, ochre, red, white, yellow, and other colors. This cave is located closest to what town or city?
A — Corinto
B — Sensuntepeque
C — San Miguel
D — Acajutla


















ANSWERS
Question 1:
B . . . . . Nicaragua

Question 2:
A . . . . . black, because it contains volcanic ash from Conchagua — a stratovolcano

Question 3:
E . . . . . none of the above; all of these things were found

Question 4:
C . . . . . Spain

Question 5:
A . . . . . Corinto

So, how did you do? Thanks for taking this quiz! Map image is credited to National Geographic's Mapmaker Interactive (↗)

El Salvador Endangered Species

As of June 30th, 2015, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for EL SALVADOR in Central America lists 6 critically endangered species and 24 endangered species. Fortunately, El Salvador does not have any extinct species on the IUCN Red List. The 6 critically endangered species are the Black-eyed Leaf Frog, Cerro Pital Salamander (Bolitoglossa synoria), Galapagos Petrel, Guatemala Spikethumb Frog, Hawksbill Turtle, and Lonchocarpus phaseolifolius legume. Some of the 24 endangered species include the Blue Whale, Brown Sea Cucumber, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Mertens' Earth Snake, Scalloped Hammerhead shark, and Yellow-backed Spiny-tailed Iguana.

El Salvador post (links opens in new tab or window)

Basics About El Salvador

Located in Central America to the east of Guatemala and south and southwest of Honduras, EL SALVADOR is a small country with access to the Pacific Ocean on its southern coast. San Salvador is the capital, which is located near central El Salvador and has well over 1 million residents. The former currency was the Salvadoran Colon; the currency used now is the United States Dollar. A vast majority of people are Roman Catholics, and there are some Protestants. Spanish is the official language, while Nahuatl and other languages are also spoken. Visit my El Salvador post!

By the way, happy first day of June!

El Salvador

With an area of about 8,124 square miles or 21,041 square kilometers, EL SALVADOR is a relatively small country located in Central America. El Salvador's bordering countries are Guatemala to the northwest and Honduras to the north and east. El Salvador also borders the Pacific Ocean along its southern coastline. The capital and largest city in terms of population is San Salvador, which has over 2,000,000 residents in the metro area. The currency was the Salvadorian Colón, and its ISO 4217 currency code was SVC. El Salvadorans currently use the United States Dollar.