Answer: The home straight
On any 400 metres track, the 100 metre dash is always held on the home straight. To ensure that all competitors run in a completely straight line for this short and thrilling event, the beginning of the race starts on lines extended out past the normal 400 metre standard track. Incredibly so, while women still had to beat the ten second barrier for this event at the beginning of 2015, that barrier has now been broken by men.
From Quiz: And Then You Run
Answer: High jump
Dick Fosbury was one of the most influential high jumpers in modern Olympic history. His technique, known as the "Fosbury Flop", involves the jumper clearing the bar head first and backwards. Until Fosbury introduced his unique style, most jumpers used a straddle technique, the sometimes ended in injury. Fosbury's style was completely innovative, allowed for higher jumps, and is used by almost all high jumpers today.
From Quiz: Running, Jumping, and Throwing
Answer: Al Oerter
Al Oerter was born on September 19th 1936 in New York, USA. He started throwing the discus at age 15 and achieved success very quickly. He won the gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, defeating fellow Americans Fortune Gordien (silver) and Desmond Koch (bronze). He would go on to win the gold medal at the next three Summer Olympics (1960 in Rome, 1964 in Tokyo and 1968 in Mexico City), setting a record for consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same event.
Oerter retired shortly after the 1968 Summer Olympics. He held the world record four times in his career. After some time of illness, he died in October 2007 as a result of a cardiovascular disease.
From Quiz: Ditch The Discus
Answer: Florence Griffith Joyner
Florence Griffith Joyner aka Flo-Jo was a US athlete who in 1988 set world records for both the 100 and 200 metres. Flo-Jo was the wife of triple jumper Al Joyner and sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner Kersee. She died in 1998 as the result of an epileptic seizure aged 38.
From Quiz: Athletics Assortment
Answer: Henry Rono
Born in Kenya Henry Rono, like many other African athletes, attended University in America, in his case Washington State University where he was coached by John Chaplin. In 1978, in the space of 81 days, he broke the world record for the 10,000 metres, 5000 metres, 3000 metres steeplechase and 3000 metres flat. That same year he took gold for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in the 5000 metres and 3000 metres steeplechase. Although he continued competing at top level for the next four years he never again achieved the dominance he had in 1978. He never competed at an Olympics because Kenya boycotted the 1976 and 1980 Games and by 1984 he was too old to compete at that level.
The three incorrect choices are all Kenyan distance runners. Samson Komobwa held the 10,000 metres world record in 1977.
From Quiz: Going The Extra Mile
Answer: 8.13 meters
Jesse Owen's 8.13 meter leap in 1935 was a mighty effort that would stand until 1960, and even then it would only be bested by 8 centimeters. One of the most amazing moments in sport happened in 1968 when Bob Beamon (USA) smashed the record at the time of 8.35 meters with a jaw dropping leap of 8.90 meters. The comment I will always remember is from one of his fellow competitors who said, "This guy just went into orbit. How are we supposed to compete with that?"
From Quiz: World Records from 1950
Answer: Hammer Throw
The name "hammer throw" derived from earlier competitions in which a hammer like implement was thrown. The event uses a ball weighing approximately 7kgs for men and just 4kgs for women.
From Quiz: IAAF Track and Field: Pt 2
Answer: Track And Field
Track events are events like sprints (100m, 200m etc.), Long distance, Hurdles etc. Field events are like jumping and throwing events.
From Quiz: IAAF Track and Field: Pt 1
Answer: Sherone Simpson
She ran 10.82 and 22.00, which makes her the fastest on both the 100 and 200.
From Quiz: Female Athletes
Answer: 10
The standard hurdles races are (for men) 110m and 400m. For women, they are 100m and 400m. 50m, 60m, 80m, 200m, and 300m hurdles are not standard races.
From Quiz: Track and Field
Answer: Florence Griffith Joyner
She started her career at the age of 7.
From Quiz: World Records
Answer: Baton
Batons are light weight, usually aluminum hollow sticks, that are required to remain in the hand of each runner in the relay, during their leg of the race.
From Quiz: Technical Track Things
Answer: Janus Roberts
The 22 year old prodigy, representing South Africa, threw 72'1", the farthest throw in the world in 2001.
From Quiz: Track and Field Throws
Answer: Uwe Hohn
The record was 104.87 meters.
From Quiz: Javelin Knowledge
Answer: 4
100m, 200m, Long Jump and 4x100m relay.
From Quiz: Track and Field
Answer: 9.79 secs
Maurice Greene, the first man to break the 9.80 second barrier.
From Quiz: Track and Field
Answer: Jesse Owens
Considering that those games were held during the Nazi regime in Germany, and Hitler had hopes that German athletes would dominate the events, such a victory by Owens, an African American athlete, is still seen as legendary. A year before, at the Big Ten Track and Field Championship, Jesse also wrote a big page in history, as he broke three world records and equalled another, all in the space of 45 minutes.
From Quiz: With A Spirit Born To Run
Answer: A ten pound weight
The long jump is the only original jumping sport played today that was also played way back in the ancient Olympics as well. Based on training for warfare, the purpose of the long jump was to enable soldiers to jumps streams and other obstacles. Because they carried weapons whilst doing so, this was emulated in the ancient sport with competitors having to carry a weight of approximately 10 pounds in each hand, and swing their arms through with the jump. Far from being cruel, however, those weights gave athletes the ability to jump further.
From Quiz: And Then You Run
Answer: Sand
For men, the sand pit usually starts about 13 meters (42 feet) from the initial takeoff point. Sand is a good absorber of shock on the knees. A harder landing surface wouldn't provide adequate support to mitigate injuries.
From Quiz: Jump Jump Jump - The Triple Jump
Answer: Gerd Kanter
Gerd Kanter was born on May 6th 1979 in Tallinn, Estonia. He was the 2007 World Champion in Osaka, defeating Robert Harting of Germany (silver) and Rutger Smith of the Netherlands (bronze). A year later Kanter won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the first Estonian athlete achieving this. His fellow Estonian Aleksander Tammert had previously won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Kanter also qualified for the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He won the bronze medal. In 2012 and 2013 he also won the Diamond League, a series of fourteen events in track and field.
From Quiz: Ditch The Discus
Answer: Jamaica
Benjamin Sinclair Johnson was born in Falmouth, Jamaica. He won two Olympic bronze medals in the 1984 games (100m and the 4x100m relay) before eventually being disqualified and losing his 1988 Olympic gold medal (100m). After several failed drug tests, Johnson was eventually banned for life from competing internationally. He could technically race in Canada, but nobody would race against him as they could also face suspension.
From Quiz: Young, Gifted, and Black
Answer: Miruts Yifter
Yifter made his Olympic debut at the 1972 Munich Games, where he won a bronze medal in the 10,000 metres. Ethiopia, along with other African countries, boycotted the 1976 games, but he made up for any disappointment this caused him with convincing wins at both distances in 1980. His ability to swiftly change pace to a blistering sprint earned him the nickname "Yifter the Shifter".
The three incorrect choices are all Ethiopian distance runners. Abebe Bikila was the first black African to win Olympic Gold, which he achieved in 1960 for the marathon, which he ran in bare feet.
From Quiz: Going The Extra Mile
Answer: 2.11 meters
Progressing just 34 centimeters in 43 years might not seem very much, but it is very hard to get yourself even a little bit higher off the ground. A lot of the increase in the record for this event is due to the change in technique brought about by Dick Fosbury, with the introduction of the "Fosbury Flop".
From Quiz: World Records from 1950
Answer: 42.195km
Many two main types of ultramarathons are run. The most common is a race over a set length. The winner is the one with the quickest time. Another is where a certain time is set and the winner is the one with the furthest distance covered at that time. Some other ultra-marathons are multi-day races, the 24 hour race, and the double ultra-marathon.
From Quiz: IAAF Track and Field: Pt 2
Answer: 4
The four events are high jump, long jump, triple jump, and pole vault.
From Quiz: IAAF Track and Field: Pt 1
Answer: 200m
She already ran 22.11 when she was 17.
From Quiz: Female Athletes
Answer: 42 inches
Men's sprint hurdles are 42 inches high. If you're under 19 you probably hurdle shorter hurdles.
From Quiz: Track and Field
Answer: Tim Montgomery
He beat Maurice Greene's old world record by 100th of a second.
From Quiz: World Records
Answer: Juergen Schultz
Before Lars broke the Olympic record, Juergen Schultz had both the Olympic and World records.
From Quiz: Track and Field Throws
Answer: Aki Parviainen
Up until the final throw of the 6th round, Aki Parviainen had been in third place and was not expected to pull that one out.
From Quiz: Javelin Knowledge
Answer: 23 Years
From the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, to the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.
From Quiz: Track and Field
Answer: Darren Campbell
He regularly competed in the 100m, but stepped up to the 200m for the Olympics and found his distance.
From Quiz: Track and Field
Answer: Racers-flats
Racers come in all shapes, sizes and colors. There are diferent 'racers' for different track events. For instance they are shaped differently depending on what event you do.
From Quiz: Running
Answer: Middle Ages
Again based on the military, the shot put's origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages (5th to the 15th centuries) when soldiers entertained one another between periods of war by holding competitions to see how far each could hurl a cannonball. As it evolved into a true sport, the shot put was first recorded as that sport in Scotland at the beginning of the 18th century. By the mid nineteenth century it had become part of the British Amateur Championships. A shot put today weighs 16.1 pounds for men and 8.8 pounds for women.
From Quiz: And Then You Run
Answer: Lars Riedel
Lars Riedel was born on the 28th of June 1967 in Zwickau, Germany. At the start of his career he competed for East Germany, later for Germany (after the unification of East and West Germany). In 1991 he first won the World Championships in Tokyo. He would win four times more: 1993 in Stuttgart, 1995 in Gothenburg, 1997 in Athens and 2001 in Edmonton.
His biggest achievement was winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, defeating two discus throwers from Belarus: Vladimir Dubrovshchik (silver) and Vasily Kaptyukh (bronze). In 2012 he also competed in the fifth season of the German Let's Dance.
From Quiz: Ditch The Discus
Answer: British
Jonathan Edwards was born in 1966 in Windsor, England. At one point in 2002 he held the title (gold medals) in the four major athletics championships these being European (1998 Budapest), Olympic (2000 Sydney), World (2001 Edmonton) and Commonwealth (2002 Manchester). He also won gold medals at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg and the 1998 European Indoor Championships in Valencia. He retired in 2003 and became a sports commentator and presenter.
From Quiz: Athletics Assortment
Answer: Long jump
Frederick Carlton Lewis won a total of 10 Olympic medals (with nine of those gold) between 1984 and 1996. He won medals in 100m, 200m, long jump, and the 4x100m relay. His only Olympic silver medal was won in Seoul (1988) for the 200m.
In 1984, Lewis set out to equal Jesse Owens' record of four track and field gold medals at the one Olympic games, which he did amid controversy of his winning of the long jump gold (he forfeited his last four jumps knowing he had won the gold with his first jump).
In oddities, Lewis has been drafted to both the NBA (Chicago Bulls, 1984) and the NFL (Dallas Cowboys, 1984) but didn't play for either team or in either competition.
From Quiz: Young, Gifted, and Black
Answer: Lasse Viren
Lasse Viren and his coach had the knack of coming to peak performance for the Olympics. Although he had broken the 2 mile world record earlier in 1972 he came into the Munich Games very much an unknown quantity. In the 10,000 metres final, he broke Ron Clark's seven year old world record, a feat that is made all the more amazing by the fact that he fell on the twelfth lap and lost some 20/30 metres on the field which he had to make up. He was fairly quiet, racing in very few top level competitions, between 1972 and 1976, but again peaked for the Olympics, taking both golds and achieving the "double double". He retired after the 1980 games where he placed only fifth in the 10,000 metres.
Emil Zatopek, Czechoslovakia, Vladimir Kuts, Russia, and Hannes Kolehmainen, Finland, have also all won double Olympic gold for 5000 and 10,000 metres.
From Quiz: Going The Extra Mile
Answer: hop, step, jump
The most common descriptions of triple jump are 'hop skip jump' and 'hop step jump', but 'step' is a more accurate word than 'skip' to describe the motion.
From Quiz: IAAF Track and Field: Pt 1
Answer: Veronica Campbell
She won the 200m and the 4x100 with Jamaica. She also won bronze at the 100m.
From Quiz: Female Athletes