2022 Sports Quiz: 22 Amazing Questions from 2022

Spanish tennis star 35-year-old Rafael Nadal became on Jan. 30, 2022, the first tennis player with 21 career Grand Slam men’s singles titles, one more than his rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Nadal won the Australian Open final against World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. Djokovic tied in on July 10, 2022, when he won the 2022 Wimbledon title against Australian Nick Kyrgios.

The Feb. 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics were the first to use almost 100% artificial snow, deploying more than 100 snow generators and 300 snow cannons to cover the ski slopes.

Tom Brady retired from the NFL on Feb. 1, 2022, after winning seven Super Bowls and setting numerous passing records in a phenomenal 22-year career. On Mar. 13, just 40 days later, Brady announced he would return to the Buccaneers for the 2022 season.

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, 15, became on Feb. 7, 2022, the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympics – and did so twice during the free skate event. She is also the second woman ever to land the quadruple toe loop after Alexandra Trusova, the fourth to land a quadruple jump of any kind, and the third woman to land a triple Axel and quadruple jump in the same program after Alysa Liu and Sofia Akateva.

Did Kamila Valieva get an Olympic medal?

On Feb. 9, 2022, Russian newspaper RBC reported that Valieva tested positive for Trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina and help endurance. The International Olympic Committee then delayed the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event due to an unspecified, last-minute “legal consultation.” At a news conference on Feb. 11 in Beijing, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee said he did not know when the IOC would resolve the matter or when the medals for the event would be awarded.

Norway won a record 37 medals in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – the most for one country at a single Winter Games. That’s five more than Russia, which finished second in the medals count. Norway’s 16 gold medals easily passed Germany’s 12. Norway’s first and last medals were won by the same athlete, Therese Johaug, who captured the Games’ first gold in the women’s skiathlon and their final one in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle race hours before the closing ceremony.

WNBA player and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was arrested and detained in Russia in late Feb. 2022 upon arriving from New York. Russian Customs Service found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage.

When was Griner released?

On Dec. 8, 2022, President Joe Biden announced that the US had secured Griner’s release in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been serving a 25-year sentence.

What was Griner doing in Russia?

Like many other WNBA players, Griner plays overseas in the offseason, where salaries can be much higher. She has been playing offseason with Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2015.

LeBron James became the first NBA player to record 10,000 career assists, rebounds, and points, on March 13, 2022. He is the seventh player in NBA history to reach 10,000 assists, one of seven players who have earned 30,000 points, one of 42 players to reach 10,000 career rebounds, and the only one in NBA history to pass the career 10K in all three.

Camp Nou is being rebranded as Spotify Camp Nou as part of a sponsorship agreement with Spanish soccer club FC Barcelona that gives the music streaming giant naming rights to the stadium. Spotify’s name will also appear on the jerseys of the Barça men’s and women’s teams for the next four seasons, starting in the 2022/23 season. The deal will reportedly be worth $310 million over a four-year period, which breaks down to $75 million annually.

Less than two months after winning the Australian Open for her third Grand Slam singles title, Ash Barty retired from tennis at age 25 while ranked No. 1. It’s her second retirement from tennis, having walked away from the game as a teenager in late-2014 for nearly two years because of burnout, saying she was overwhelmed by the pressure and travel required. In a six-minute video posted on her Instagram account on March 23, 2022, Barty said she no longer feels compelled to do what she knows is required to be the best she can be at tennis. Barty walks away with 15 titles to her name.

Rafael Nadal, 36, on June 5, 2022, beat Casper Ruud to win the French Open for the 14th time, making him the oldest man to win the French Open. It’s his 22nd Grand Slam win overall. The previous oldest French Open singles champion record holder was Andrés Gimeno (Spain), who won in 1972 at 34.

While LeBron James, between ages 22 and 36, was the youngest NBA player to reach 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, and 35,000 points in his career, Stephen Curry is the youngest NBA player to reach 3,000 3-Point Field Goals – an achievement he met in December 2021, at the age of 33 years, 289 days.

What happened in the 2022 NBA Finals?

On June 16, 2022, Stephen Curry won his first NBA Finals MVP award. He is the only player in NBA history to average at least five 3-pointers per game in the Finals – repeating the record in 2018 and 2022. Curry’s 31 3-pointers in 2022 were the most in a six-game series in any NBA Finals.

Serena Williams announced on Aug. 9, 2022, that she would retire from playing tennis after the US Open to focus on having a second child and being a mother, a fashion maker, and a venture capitalist.

Iga Świątek became the first player representing Poland to win a major singles title when she won the French Open in 2020. She repeated the achievement in June 2022 and earned her third major singles title on Sept. 10, 2022, when she won the US Open final and became the first Polish woman to win the US Open.

Despite Novak Djokovic spending the most weeks as world no. 1, Roger Federer has the record for most consecutive weeks at the top of the ATP rankings – 237.

Is Federer retiring from tennis?

After 25 years on tour, Federer, 41, announced his retirement. The Swiss star decided to play his final match alongside Rafael Nadal after facing him on the tennis court 40 times over the years. Federer’s appearance in the 2022 Laver Cup with Team Europe against Team World in doubles on Sept. 23, 2022, marks his final tour-level match.

In FIFA stadium safety guidance, stewards and police are prohibited from carrying or using crowd control gas.

What’s the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster?

A pitch invasion at the Malang regency Kanjuruhan stadium in Indonesia on Oct. 1, 2022, resulted in police firing teargas at fans and crowds in the stands. 125 people were killed in the incident.

According to the Guardian, 6,500 migrants from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka died in Qatar between 2010, when it was awarded the World Cup, and 2021.

Is that an official number?

Qatari officials admitted three workers died during World Cup 2022 preparations. On the other hand, human rights advocate Fair Square calls that number a “wilful attempt to mislead” because it only includes just 1% of Qatar’s construction projects. Human Rights Watch reports that Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the causes of thousands of migrant workers’ deaths, many labeled as the result of ‘natural causes.’

In support of mass protests at home, Iran’s World Cup team refused to sing their national anthem before the game on Nov. 21, 2022. Iranian protests have been raging since Mahsa Amini’s death after her arrest for not wearing a hijab in September, demanding the fall of the Shia Muslim theocracy.

The Saudi Arabians stunned Argentina at the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first non-European team to do so since Cameroon in 1990. Saudi Arabia – ranked 51st in the world – defeated Argentina 2:1 on Nov. 22 in what is Lionel Messi’s likely final World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Manchester United immediately, the Premier League club announced on Nov. 22, 2022. The decision comes after the 37-year-old said he had “no respect for the manager” in a controversial interview with Talk TV’s Piers Morgan. Having left United in 2010 to join Real Madrid, Ronaldo returned to the Old Trafford club in Aug. 2021. Currently, Ronaldo is in Qatar with Portugal as they attempt to win their first World Cup.

With a 1-0 win over the Portuguese on Dec. 11, 2022, Morocco became the first African and first Arab team to reach the semifinals of any World Cup – where it was defeated by team France 0-2 on Dec. 14. Qatar 2022 marked the first tournament held in the Middle East.

In association football, a hat trick occurs when a player scores three goals (not necessarily consecutively) in a single game. On Dec. 18, 2022, France forward Kylian Mbappé scored the first hat trick in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst for England in 1966.

On Dec. 18, 2022, Lionel Messi’s two goals helped Argentina win its third World Cup title by beating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw. He became the first man in a single edition of the World Cup to score in every round of the knockout and group stages, and, at 35, the oldest man to score five goals in a single World Cup tournament.