Flags of the 1896 Olympics

By their flags, name the countries that attended the first modern Olympics, the 1896 Athens games.

Not necessarily then-sovereign countries

Check the pinned comment for caveats (contains spoilers!)

Answer must correspond to the yellow box

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Last updated: October 18, 2025

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First submitted	November 3, 2022
Times taken	17,480
Average score	85.7%
Rating	4.86

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19 Comments

+16

Level 81

Oct 18, 2025

- At the time, Australia was not a unified entity, but rather six distinct British colonies. The sole Australian participant came from the Colony of Victoria, but had lived in London for a few years prior to the games. Nevertheless, most sources simply count his as Australian.

- Because it wasn't unified yet, Australia in general didn't have an official flag. Here, we've used an unofficial flag that was popular with federalists.

- Austria and Hungary, despite being in union at the time, are counted separately by most sources.

- Bulgaria's sole participant was a Swiss national living in Sofia. As this was before Olympic committees officially sent people to the games, Bulgaria's participation is disputed.

- Chile's participation is also disputed. Luis Subercaseaux, who was then only thirteen, was registered to compete, but it's unclear if he actually did.

Level 61

Oct 15, 2025

Some of these flags I wish were still around

Level 83

Oct 15, 2025

Rectangular Switzerland is cursed

Level 51

Oct 15, 2025

it's better

Level 81

Oct 15, 2025

That's a mistake on my part. The Swiss national flag was square by 1896, but every Wikipedia article about Switzerland at the Olympics uses the rectangular flag, and I guess younger me just copied that over.

Now that the quiz has been featured, I'll have to verify all the flags.

+13

Level 81

Oct 15, 2025

Interesting that Chile of all places was there. Wonder what the story is

Level 80

Oct 16, 2025

Actually it was just one Chilean 13-year old boy that was scheduled for 3 different track races and one cycling race. However he did NOT take part in any of these events, so... that's the story.

Level 68

Oct 15, 2025

An interesting mix of countries for the 1896 Olympics.

Level 64

Oct 17, 2025

I finally get the chance to advertise one of my own quizzes under someone else's as an easy segue!

If you want an expanded related quiz, then check out my quiz on all Olympic competing countries at every Games as presented in the language of the host city of that Games here.

Level 64

Oct 19, 2025

As part of the process of making that quiz, I am all too aware of the issues raised in that sticky that has since been added to this quiz. I even had to write an entire caveat specifically because of it!

Level 44

Oct 26, 2025

the only one I didn't get was... Greece duh

Level 76

Oct 26, 2025

I kept thinking "scotland- wait no"

Level 54

Oct 26, 2025

Does anyone know the story behind the Austrian flag? It is pretty ugly.

Level 89

Oct 26, 2025

It's the flag of the Habsburg royal family; sometimes the family crest is in the middle.

Level 88

Oct 26, 2025

The pictures include the wrong version of the US flag. The time, the flag had 45 stars - there should be 3 rows, each, of 7 and 8 stars. (21 + 24 = 45)

Level 81

Oct 26, 2025

The games were held before the flag was officially changed later in the year.

Level 45

Oct 30, 2025

For absolutely no reason at all, my mind was focused on solely European countries causing me to miss Australia. However, the USA and Sweden were recognisable enough.

Level 82

Nov 8, 2025

Sweden is in Europe though

Level 34

Mar 4, 2026

I expected to have trouble with this but it was surprisingly easy