Cough, Splutter, Choke! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Argentina

During the build-up to the 2004 French Open final, Argentinian Guillermo Coria was so impressive that he was expected to win his first Grand Slam event. On his way to the final he defeated the then number 1, Carlos Moya, in straight sets and Britain's Tim Henman by three sets to one.

It was quite a remarkable year for tennis in Argentina as three of the four semi-finalists at the 2004 French Open represented the South American country. By the end of the semi-finals it was certain that the winner of the competition would be from Argentina and it was considered likely that the winner would be Guillermo Coria. This likelihood was increased massively when Coria took a 2-0 set lead but it was in the third set that he started to fall apart. The match was taken to an incredible fifth and final set and the form that Coria possessed throughout the tournament refused to return and his choke was complete when Gaudio took the final set (8-6) and lifted his first and only trophy at a Grand Slam event.

Answer: 'The Comeback'

'The Comeback' of January 1993 was an NFL playoff match between two wildcard teams, the Houston Oilers and the Buffalo Bills. The crowd at Rich Park were thrilled, bewildered or both at the turn of events that afternoon and announcers in Houston were guilty, understandable as it may be, of writing a team off too early. The Oilers motored to a 35-3 lead mostly due to a brilliant second quarter where they picked up 21 points to Buffalo's zero.

By that point, Buffalo had nothing to lose but they desperately needed to find some inspiration. Inspiration must have been what they found as they went on to score 28 points uninterrupted and the Houston Oilers were well and truly choking. By the end of the third quarter the Buffalo Bills had managed to turn a 32 point deficit into just four points and the momentum was well and truly with the team from New York state.

The final quarter of the match lacked the big scores of the second and third quarters but it was in this quarter that the Bills managed what very few teams ever have by taking the game to overtime after being down by more than 30 points. The comments from an announcer for a Houston radio station earlier in the game were proved to be premature even if they seemed realistic at the time. One such comment which illustrates just how badly the Oilers fell apart is "the lights are on here at Rich Stadium, they've been on since this morning, you could pretty much turn them out on the Bills right now."

Answer: Penalty shootouts

How the English national soccer team fall apart at penalty shootouts is a story that the media have run with for a long time. England's 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign came to an end when they lost to Portugal on penalties. This was the third time they had been eliminated from the world's most prestigious international soccer tournament in that manner.

Answer: Australian Rules Football

At the end of a long league season, the top eight teams in the AFL ladder progress to the finals series where the teams compete against each other to occupy one of the two spots in the AFL Grand Final. Collingwood Football Club made it to the Grand Final eight times in the period 1960-1981 and lost each time.

The greatest example of how Collingwood blew their chances in this period comes from the 1970 Grand Final where Collingwood's opponents, Carlton, defeated them after being more than 40 points behind.

Answer: No

The 2011 Indianapolis 500 took place a hundred years after the inaugural race of 1911, and will always be remembered for J.R. Hildebrand's collision with a wall on the final turn of the very last lap. His car managed to limp down the final stretch of the track but was overtaken metres from the finishing line by British-born Dan Wheldon.

He could not have caught Hildebrand had it not been for the unfortunate collision. Hildebrand's lead before the crash was significant enough for him to finish in second place after slowly navigating his way to the finish.

Answer: Masters Tournament

Rory McIlroy entered the Masters Tournament in Augusta as one of the youngest competitors, and went on to lead the field for a significant period. The par for the course was 72 and McIlroy hit 65, 69 and 70 in the first, second and third rounds respectively which left him in contention for the green jacket going into the final round.

His four-shot lead evaporated after a disastrous performance across the final nine holes, hitting double and triple bogeys. He completed round four in 80 shots and plummeted from first position to tie 15th.

Answer: Pool stages

South Africa made their fourth appearance at the Cricket World Cup in 2003 and in front of a home crowd they posted their worst ever finish. In their first three Cricket World Cups, South Africa reached the semi-finals twice and the quarter finals once which makes their pool stage exit in 2003 all the more of an upset. South Africa co-hosted the event with Zimbabwe and Kenya, and both these teams progressed to the knockout stages in what was a tournament of upsets.

Answer: Liverpool

The 2005 UEFA Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool was simply incredible. The Italian team, AC Milan, effortlessly developed a 3-0 lead at halftime, a lead that was dismantled by Liverpool in just six minutes. The match was level at 3-3 at the end of regular time and no goals were scored in the following 30 minutes of extra time, so the match had to go to a penalty shootout. Liverpool came out on top and completed one of the greatest ever comebacks, so much so that the match would come to be known as the 'Miracle of Istanbul'.

Answer: Buffalo Bills

Losing at the Super Bowl once would be disappointing, twice even more, but to lose four times in a row takes such feelings to an unparalleled high as far as team sports is concerned. The first Super Bowl appearance for the Buffalo Bills in this remarkable period was at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Florida where they lost by just one point. Minneapolis was the host of Super Bowl XXVI and this time the Bills lost somewhat more significantly, the match ending 37-24 to the Washington Redskins.

The next year the Bills lost to the Dallas Cowboys in Pasadena, but it would be at Super Bowl XXVIII that all the records would be broken.

The Bills became the first team in history to reach the Super Bowl four times in a row and by extension, the first team to lose four successive Super Bowls.

Answer: Snooker

Jimmy White reached the final of the World Snooker Championship on six occasions (1984, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994), and fell short of ultimate success in each of those years. The explanation for losing in the final so frequently could be explained by White losing his composure at the critical moments or due to him playing either Steve Davis or Stephen Hendry (who between them have 13 World Championship titles) in five of his six appearances at the final.

The closest he came to winning was during his last appearance in the final of the World Snooker Championship in 1994 when he lost to Scotland's Stephen Hendry in the last frame (18-17). As Jimmy White's spell at the top of the game was coming to an end, Stephen Hendry's career just got better and better. The 1999 World Championship final saw Hendry win the tournament for a seventh time, surpassing the modern era record of Steve Davis and his six successes.