Crossing the Finish Line Trivia Quiz

Answer: Abebe Bikila

Abebe Bikila was added to the Ethiopian team for the Rome Olympics at the last minute when a team-mate suffered a broken ankle. When he arrived at the Olympics he could not find any shoes that felt comfortable. He elected to run bare-foot in the same manner he had trained.

His remarkable run culminated in a new World & Olympic record. When asked after the race why he had run barefoot, he answered, "I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism." Team-mate Abebe Wakgira was 7th in the race. Tunisian Ahmed Labidi finished 49th and Liberian Alifu Massaquoi finished dead last in 62nd place. Abebe Bikila returned to Olympic competition for the Tokyo Games in 1964 and re-claimed his Golden title -- this time running in shoes.

Answer: Stefano Baldini

Stefano Baldini ran to a surprise Olympic Gold medal in Athens, Greece in a time of 2:10.55. The early leader from Brazil was attacked by Cornelius Horan, a rogue Irish priest with only 7km left in the race. Baldini would pass the Brazilian athlete in the last few kilometers to earn victory for Italy. Jon Brown from Great Britain finished 4th in the race and Australian, Sisay Bezabeh would finish 60th. Gelindo Bordin of Italy was the 1988 Olympic Champion in a time of 2:10.32.

Answer: Waldemar Cierpinski

A former Steeplechaser, Waldemar Cierpinski was a relative unknown going into the 1976 Montreal Olympic Marathon. Patient running led to a surprise victory over Frank Shorter of the USA. Four years later, Cierpinski duplicated Abebe Bikila's remarkable feat of winning two consecutive Olympic marathons when he triumphed in the Moscow Olympics.

In 1983, Cierpinski earned a Bronze medal at the first edition of the World Athletic Championships in Finland. His bid for an immortal 3rd Olympic gold medal in 1984 was scuppered when the East European countries boycotted the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

In 1976, Mario Cuevas from Mexico finished 18th, Jairo Cubillos of Colombia finished 48th, and Neil Cusack of Ireland finished 55th.

Answer: Djibouti

Hussein Ahmed Salah became a national hero in the little country of Djibouti when he captured a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1988 Olympic Games held in South Korea. He is also best remembered for two consecutive silver medals at the World Championships. His personal best time in the marathon is
2:07.07 achieved in April of 1988 at the Rotterdam Marathon held in the Netherlands.

Answer: Ethiopia

The 1960s was the decade of Ethiopian dominance in the Olympic marathon. Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Rome marathon and the 1964 Tokyo marathon. Mamo Wolde, another truly legendary distance runner, captured the 1968 Olympic Gold medal in Mexico City. Thirty-two years later in Sydney Australia, Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera would become the 4th Ethiopian to win an Olympic Gold medal in the men's marathon.
France and the USA also had three gold medalists, going into the Sydney Olympics in 2000 ( France - 1900, 1928 and 1956; USA - 1904, 1908 and 1972).

Answer: Frank Shorter

Frank Shorter's gold medal revolutionized distance running in the United States and started a distance-running boom. Interestingly, he could have competed for Germany due to having been born there on Halloween in 1947. In the 1972 race, Jack Foster of New Zealand finished 8th, Fernand Kolbeck of France 28th, and Ferenc Szekeres of Hungary 33rd. On a completely unrelated point, I once beat Frank Shorter in a 5km race in Honolulu many years ago.

Answer: Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie has been called by many, the greatest distance runner of all-time. He has held world records from the 5000m through to the marathon. He has won medals at the World Athletics Championships, World Cross-Country Championships, and the Olympic Games.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia he is involved in many service activities including the building of schools for children in poorer areas.

Answer: Johnny Hayes

Johnny Hayes was not the first athlete to cross the finish line at the London Olympics in 1908. Dorando Pietri from Italy entered the stadium first and collapsed to the ground on three separate occasions. He was aided by spectators and crossed the line first. Johnny Hayes would finish second but the Americans protested and the gold medal was awarded to Johnny Hayes for his 2:55.18 run.
Thomas Hicks, also from America won the Olympic Gold medal in 1904. Charles Hefferon of South Africa was the silver medallist in the 1908 race, and Sidney Hatch also of the USA was 14th.
The marathon distance was standardised by the Internatinal Amateur Atghletic Association as the distance run in 1908 Olympics (the 1896 and 1904 marathons were 40km; and 40.26km in 1900).

Answer: Ireland

John Treacy was born in 1957 in Villierstown in Southern Ireland. He is the only Irishman to medal in the Olympic marathon. He represented Ireland in four Olympic Games from 1980 until 1992. Better known for his cross-country running ability, he was the 1978 and 1979 World long-course Cross-Country Champion. In 1988 he did not finish the Olympic marathon and in 1992 he would finish 51st.

Answer: Joan Benoit

Joan Benoit won the historic Los Angeles Olympic Marathon in 2:24.52. In the race she would beat the true legends and pioneers of women's distance running in Grete Waitz, Ingrid Kristiansen, and Rosa Mota. In 1984, she was forced to undergo a minor surgery just 17 days before the Olympic Trials.

However, she still showed up on the start line and qualified to the U.S. team by beating team-mate Julie Brown to the finish line. In 1985 at the Chicago marathon, she set a new American Record of 2:21.21 which stood for 18 years until Deena Kastor broke it at the London Marathon in 2003.

Answer: Kenya

In 2011, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won the historic Boston marathon in a remarkable 2:03.02. Although this was the fastest marathon ever recorded to that date it was not ratified by the IAAF due to rules governing point-to-point elevation. Other truly great Kenyan marathoners include some of the following runners:
Patrick Makau (2:03.38 - Berlin 2011)
Duncan Kibet (2:04.27 - Rotterdam 2009)
James Kwambai (2:04.27 - Rotterdam 2009)
Paul Tergat (2:04.55 - Berlin 2003)
Geoffrey Mutai (2:04.55 - Rotterdam 2010)
Sammy Korir (2:04.56 - Berlin 2003)
Abel Kirui (2:05.04 - Rotterdam 2009)
Samuel Wanjiru (2:05.10 - London 2009)
Vincent Kipruto (2:05.13 - Rotterdam 2010)

Answer: Los Angeles 1984

In 1908 London, the Olympic marathon was won by American Johnny Hayes in 2:55.18. In 1932 Los Angeles, the Olympic marathon was won by Argentine runner Juan Carlos Zabada in an Olympic record of 2:31.36. In 1948 London, the Olympic marathon was won by another Argentine athlete, Delfo Cabrera, in 2:34.51.
The 1984 Los Angeles marathon was won by Carlos Lopes of Portugal in an Olympic Record of 2:09.21. This Olympic Record would remain intact for 24 years until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (won Samuel Kamau Wanjiru from Kenya in 2:06.32).

Answer: Rosa Mota

Rosa Mota of Portugal won the gold medal in 1988 to go with the bronze medal earned four years previously in Los Angeles. Her winning time in Seoul was 2:25.40. A truly inspirational and dedicated athlete, Mota would win the 1987 World Championships Marathon and also marathons in Chicago, Lisbon, London, Rotterdam, Boston, and Tokyo.
In the 1988 marathon Olympic Lisa Martin of Australia finished 2nd, Lorraine Moller finished 33rd, and Rosemarie of Switzerland finished 48th.

Answer: Catherine Ndereba

Catherine Ndereba is a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and truly a legend among female distance runners. Born in Gatunganga in the Nyeri District of Kenya, Ndereba has won medals at every major championship and has earned the nickname in her homeland as Catherine the Great. Possibly her greatest accomplishments were the two silver medals earned in Olympic competition in 2004 and 2008.

In 2004, she was beaten by just 12 seconds by Mizuki Noguschi of Japan. In the same race, Nili Abramski of Israel finished 42nd and Epiphanie Nyirabarame of Rwanda finished 54th. On another completely unrelated note, I had the honor of presenting her medal at the Safaricom Lewa Marathon many years ago in Kenya.

Answer: Osaka

Osaka hosted the 2007 World Athletics Championships. The Marathon event was contested on August 25th in very hot conditions. Temperatures soared to over 30 degrees Celsius; only 57 of the scheduled 87 starters finished the race. The Marathon was won by Kenya's Luke Kibet in a pedestrian time of 2:15.59. Qatar's Mubarak Hassan Shami took the silver medal and Viktor Rothlin of Switzerland the bronze medal. In the team competition, the Japanese athletes packed well together to steal the gold medal from South Korea and Kenya.

Answer: Pheidippides

The birth of the Marathon race has rather morbid beginnings. Pheidippides was a Greek Messenger sent to Athens from the Plains of Marathon to announce that the Persians had been beaten in battle. Legend says he ran the whole way without stopping (a distance of approximately 26 miles), before bursting in on the Athenian Assembly crying "Nikomen" translated as "We have won." He then collapsed and died.

Answer: Paula Radcliffe

Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain stunned the world on 13th April 2003 at the London Marathon. She completed the course in a breath-taking 2:15.25. Although generally accepted as the world's foremost women's road-racer, Radcliffe did not win an Olympic medal -- in 1996 she finished 5th in the 5000m.

In 2000, she just missed a medal with a 4th place finish in the 10,000m but then dropped out of the Marathon. In 2004, she failed to complete the 10,000m or the marathon events. In Beijing in 2008 she could only manage a 23rd place finish in the Marathon.

At the World Championships she has earned two medals, Marathon gold in 2005 and 10,000m silver in 1999.

Answer: Spyridon Louis

Spyridon Louis was the son of a farmer and earned a living by carrying water. He had qualified to run in the Olympic Games by placing 5th in a qualifying race run at the end of March in 1896. On the day of the event, seventeen athletes lined up to compete in the Marathon. Thirteen entrants were from Greece. Greece had failed to earn a medal in any of the track events and thus the marathon was to be their last attempt.

A Frenchman was the early leader and then an Australian. Both athletes struggled with the hot conditions and Spyridon Louis soon found himself in the lead.

He entered the Olympic stadium to a hero's welcome from thousands of his countrymen and the King himself. Spiridon Belokas, another Greek athlete finished 3rd but was later disqualified for taking a ride in a carriage for part of the race. Albin Stenroos was a Finnish athlete who won Olympic Marathon Gold in 1924. Sohn Kee-Chung was a Korean athlete forced to run under the Japanese flag who won Olympic Gold in 1936.

Answer: Paul Tergat

Paul Tergat is one of the true gentlemen of international distance running. His rivalry with Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie is a story of legend in both the Olympic 10,000m event and in the chase for the World Marathon record. Paul Tergat was unbeatable in cross-country winning five consecutive world titles 1995-96-97-98-99.

In 1999 and 2000 he won two World Half-Marathon titles to go with three World Track Championship medals and two Olympic silver medals. On a personal note, I got to race him in Kenya a number of years ago and experienced first-hand the beautiful long and graceful stride pattern of a legend as he ran me into the ground during a half-marathon.

Answer: United States of America

The New York City Marathon ranked as the largest participant marathon in terms of finishers from 2004-2011. In 2011, 46,759 runners completed the 26.2 mile course. Chicago and Boston also regularly experience races with over 35,000 finishers rivaled only by London (36,550 in 2011) and Berlin (35,786 in 2011).

Answer: Vanderlei de Lima

Vanderlei de Lima grew up in a farming family in his native Brazil. An early love of running brought him an opportunity to help his family out of poverty. His first Olympics experience was in 1996 at Atlanta where he finished 47th in the Marathon. In 1997 he moved up to a 23rd place finish at the World Championships in the Marathon.

In 1999 and 2003 he won Gold medals in the Pan-American Games and went to the 2004 Athens Olympics in the best shape of his life. A second-half push found him comfortably out in front at the 35km mark in Athens.

It was then that a rogue Irish ex-priest jumped out of the crowd and tackled him to the ground. A Greek spectator came to Vanderlei's aid but a huge lead was drastically reduced and two athletes would ultimately catch and pass him. Courageously, Vanderlei de Lima held on for the bronze medal. Later during the Olympics he was awarded the Baron Pierre de Courbetain Award for sportsmanship.

Answer: Samuel Wanjiru

Samuel Kamau Wanjiru was born in November of 1986. At the 2012 London Olympics he would have been just 25 and at the prime of his life as a distance runner. At just 18 years of age he shattered the World Record for the half-marathon, and the World Junior Record for 10,000m (26:41.75).

In Beijing he set a new Olympic Record of 2:06.32 in winning the Gold medal. Amazingly, this was the first ever Olympic Marathon gold medal for a Kenyan athlete. He was a multiple winner of the Chicago marathon and in 2009 ran the fastest ever marathon seen on British soil in winning London.

His spectacular career ended prematurely in May 2011 under a cloud when a domestic dispute led to a fall from a balcony at his home in Nyahururu Kenya.

Answer: China

Xue Bai ran a life-time best of 2:25.15 to capture the 2009 World Marathon title in Berlin Germany. Yoshimi Ozaki of Japan finished in Silver medal position just 10 seconds back. The Bronze medal went to Aselefech Merqia of Ethiopia. The Chinese women ran especially well to secure the World team title with Chuxiu Zhou taking 4th and team-mate Xiaolin Zhu picking up 5th place.

Answer: Yonkers

The Yonkers Marathon is second only to the Boston Marathon in terms of longevity and history. It is renowned as one of the toughest and hilliest courses on the East Coast. The first edition of the race was run on Thanksgiving in 1907 and was won by 1908 Olympic Marathon Champion Johnny Hayes.

Answer: Emil Zatopek

Nicknamed the "Czech Locomotive" Emil Zatopek is recognized as one of the greatest distance athletes of the 20th Century. In 1954, he was the first athlete to break 29 minutes for 10,000m. In the London Games of 1948 he won Gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5000m. Four years later in Helsinki he captured the immortal triple of Gold in all three distance races including the Marathon.

At the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 he once again returned to the start line of the Marathon only to finish 6th after sustaining a serious groin injury during training leading up to the Games.