‘A lot of women get talked about by their male teammates’: Meet the first female world champion quiz | Trivia & Quizzes

Q. Who was the first woman to win the World Quiz Championships in its 21-year history?

A. Victoria Groce, who beat nearly 2,000 people from 48 countries to win the title.

This isn’t the first time the 43-year-old, who is also a hunter on the American version of The huntwas the subject of a quiz.

“I’ve heard my name come up on questionnaires before and I can tell you it’s so weird,” Groce told the Observer.

“At one point I had to answer a question where the answer was my name. So strange.”

The World Quiz Championships (WQC) is the pinnacle of one-on-one quizzing and participants provide a talent pool for television companies around the world.

Groce’s rivals included Pat Gibson, the fourth person to win £1 million on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Ian Bayley, Oxford computer scientist and winner of the Brain, Brain of Britain and a champion of champions on Log in onlyand Kevin Ashman, who also received most of these accolades, in addition to setting the record for the highest record of all time. Brain score in 1995 (41 points and no assists).

British quiz fans feature prominently as the International Quizzing Association (IQA), which organises the championships, was founded by a group of British enthusiasts and originally had a Eurocentric orientation.

“The very first one we did was in 2003,” said Jane Allen, chief executive of the IQA. “I think 44 people played. It came from nothing. »

Now the WQC is held in more than 100 locations in over 48 countries, with questions translated into 18 languages.

It’s more like an exam than a pub quiz: candidates answer 240 questions over two hours and the results come in from all over the world.

Groce won the contest earlier this month with 170 correct answers. “I felt a great sense of relief and accomplishment,” she said. “It’s taken years of continuous work to get to this point.”

She trains in the months leading up to a major competition, spending about five hours a day at her home in Pittsburgh learning facts — sometimes just lists of words.

“I use flashcards,” she says. “I reassess the situation every three to six months: is what I’m doing working? What do I want to focus on? I’m always working on something. »

Of all the questions he gets asked, the one about women and quizzes is the hardest. Why did it take so long for a woman to win?

“I hate this topic,” she said. “Because people expect me to actually know why the gender disparity – which exists empirically in high-level quizzes – is there and that’s really not the case.”

According to the IQA, about 10 to 15 percent of WQC participants are women, and Groce estimates that in the quiz world in general, about two-thirds are men.

“I don’t find any of the reasons compelling on their own,” she said. Maybe women have less free time or social pressures keep them away from quizzing. “In primary school, we generally see boys and girls participating and excelling at roughly equal levels. But as we progress, fewer and fewer women stay. Perhaps girls who would be good in this field are socialized and guided into fields like law or medicine. »

Or maybe the world of quizzing isn’t welcoming to women? Other women have mentioned problems, Groce says, although her experience has been generally positive.

“Many women I know have had experiences where their male teammates would talk over them or ignore them when they were sure they knew the answer,” she said.

“A lot of women I know prefer to play on all-women, or mostly women, teams.”

Or could it be that the questions are focused on traditionally male interests? This is something that Jane Allen says the IQA is very aware of.

“We try to avoid what we call old man quizzes,” she said. Pub trivia masters usually write about what they know and many are men. “There are often quite sordid events – there’s always a sporting event. I’ve been in quiz leagues where the questions were about a type of bitter or motorway.

“But we have the brightest people in the world. It can’t be parochial. It has to be something that people all over the world will know about.”

Groce believes there is now plenty of female talent and cites Susannah Brooks, Ezgi Üstündağ and Hannah McIntyre as potential future champions.

For now, Groce took a day off after his victory. “This is the first time in five or six years that I’ve had a day off,” she said.

“I wasn’t sure how I would feel after taking a break. But I’m really looking forward to getting back into it. »

Test your knowledge. . .

Here is a selection of questions of the World Quiz Championships. See how you stack up, then scroll down for the answers.

1. In Uganda, a street wrap sandwich consisting of a vegetable omelette rolled in flatbread has what name, which refers to its ingredients – and a very expensive watch?

2. Iran’s central Korasan Razavi province produces up to 90% of the world’s supply. What culinary spice is the stigma of the crocus sativus flower harvested from?

3. Rushing to buy a limited-edition trading card featuring an image of “Pikachu in a gray felt hat,” Pokémon fans caused chaos in the gift shop of an Amsterdam museum dedicated to the work by which artist?

4. Which is the fifth largest country in the world by area and the largest to have Portuguese as an official language?

5. Jacopo Robusti was a Venetian artist best known by what nickname, derived from the fact that his father was a dyer?

6. Tropical modernism is a term applied to a style of architecture that emerged in the 20th century in postcolonial Africa and Asia. Among the architects closely associated with this style is Geoffrey Bawa (1919–2003), who trained in London but carried out most of his major projects in which South Asian country, notably the Seema Malaka Temple (1978) and the new Parliament building (1982)?

7. The performance of a 1961 orchestral poem by Jón Leifs (1899-1968) involves a 22-person percussion section, four sets of stones struck with hammers, heavy metal chains, anvils, steel plates, sirens and several dozen cannon shots to reproduce the eruption of which volcano in southern Iceland?

8. In the 2023 film “Quiz Lady,” the main character is a young woman obsessed with game shows played by Nora Lum. By what one-word stage name is American actress and rapper Nora Lum known professionally?

9. Known as a master of typography, German graphic designer Jan Tschichold worked from 1947 to 1949 at which British publisher, where he redesigned the company logo and introduced the use of the Gill Sans typeface on the covers of the publisher’s iconic orange and white paperbacks?

ten. Home to the Escondida and Collahuasi mines, Chile is the world’s largest producer of which metal known for its excellent electrical conductivity and essential for green technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines?

11. Saronno, a municipality in the Lombardy region of Italy, is considered the birthplace of what type of almond-flavored liqueur whose name comes from the Italian word for “bitter”?

12. Czech athlete Dana Zátopková (née Ingrová) won the gold medal in which event at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, just minutes after her husband, Emil Zátopek, won the gold medal in the 5,000 metres?

Scroll down for answers

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Answers: 1. Rolex (from “rolled eggs”), 2. Saffron, 3. Van Gogh, 4. Brazil, 5. Tintoretto, 6. Sri Lanka, 7. Hekla, 8. Awkwafina, 9. Penguin, 10. Copper , 11 .Amaretto, 12. Javelin.