How The West Was Really Won (Part I) Quiz

Lyn was born in Perth, Western Australia. She was one of Australia's best butterfly swimmers toward the end of the 1960s. She only took up the sport as a way to ease her asthma affliction and, initially, only concentrated on freestyle and backstroke. Her switch to butterfly in 1968 proved to be fortuitous. It enabled her to win the Australian title that year and qualified her for a place on the Olympic team. At the Mexico Summer Games, where she was a rank outsider, she stormed home in the final to win the gold medal in the 100 metre event. She also secured a silver medal as a part of the 4x100 medley relay team.

Lynn would go on to win the Australian titles again in 1969 but, after being disqualified at the 1970 trials and missing selection for the 1970 Commonwealth Games team, she chose to retire from the sport.

Craig Parry turned professional (golfer) in 1985 and won his first tournament two years later at the 1987 New South Wales Open. He would back this up with a win in the Canadian TPC the same year.

In 1991 he finished in a tie for 11th place at the US Open. This qualified him for the US Masters the following year where he managed to get tongues wagging by sharing the lead at the halfway mark. He had them scurrying to learn more about him when he held the lead in his own right on the third day. Unfortunately, he faded on the fourth day and finished in 13th place.

In all, Craig would secure 23 tour victories including three wins in the Australian Masters. He would also top the Australian Order of Merit on three occasions. His best results in the Majors were a third place finish at the US Open in 1993 and a fourth placing at the British Open in 1999.

Shirley de la Hunty (nee Strickland) was born in Pithara, a rural town in Western Australia. She was one of the golden girls of Australian athletics and, in her day, won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running events (seven): three gold medals, a silver and three bronze. She first competed at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London, where she took bronze in both the 100 metre dash and the 80 metre hurdles. As part of the 4x100 metre relay team she took home silver. She became an Olympic champion at Helsinki in 1952, winning the 80 metre hurdles, setting a world record in the process and took home the bronze medal in the 100 metres. She claimed two gold medals at the Melbourne Games in 1956, first in 80 metres hurdles and then as part of the successful 4x100 metre relay team.

After retiring from the competitive side of the sport she was an administrator for the Australian team at the Mexico City (1968) and Montreal (1976) Summer Olympic Games. She also coached the Australian champion Raelene Boyle, who claimed three silver medals in sprint events at the Mexico and Munich (1972) Olympic Games. She would enter politics and ran for several state and federal elections but was never elected.

Born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Bob Marshall was considered a wizard with a cue stick. He was a dominant force in the game of billiards both before and after World War II. He managed to win the world championships on four occasions, the first time in 1936, which he followed up with victories in 1938, 1951 and 1962. He can add to that three times as a runner up; in 1952 and 1954 and, remarkably, in 1985 when he was 75 years old and had made a comeback after being out of the game for 16 years.

Marshall is recognized as one of the most prolific high scorers in the game and a rapid accumulator. He set a world record for a break of 702 in only 37 minutes during the final of the 1953 Australian championships. Needless to say he won the title, an accolade he achieved a record 21 times in all.

As a result of his superb physique, Graham McKenzie was nicknamed "Garth" after the immensely strong comic book character who appeared in the British newspaper Daily Mirror (1943 - 1997). Selected as a raw 19 year old to tour England with Richie Benaud's 1961 Ashes squad, he made his mark immediately, taking five wickets in the second innings of his first Test.

He would become Western Australia's first "regular" Test cricketer, received the distinction of bowling the first delivery when his beloved WACA ground hosted its first ever Test match in 1970 and retired from cricket with 246 Test wickets to his name. At the time this was only two wickets shy of the then Australian record, which was held by Benaud.

Lauren Mitchell was born in Subiaco, a suburb of Perth WA. She made her senior competition debut at the 2007 World Championships and, by 2016, she was able to retire as Australia's most decorated gymnast.

In 2008 she was a part of Australia's best team result at an Olympic event, finishing in sixth place overall. The year 2009 saw her claim two individual silver medals at the World Championships and she would go on to better that result in 2010 and become Australia's first ever gold medalist at the World Championships. That same year she represented her country at the Commonwealth Games and equaled the record for the most gold medals won by a female gymnast at the Games.

You know that you're a special athlete when you can stand up and legitimately say that you engineered a change in the way your sport was being played. Graham "Polly" Farmer is one such sportsman. Today the skillful use of handball in Australian Rules Football is a serious weapon. Back in the 1950s, when Farmer began his league career, it was vastly ignored. Farmer's ability to take the ball out of the ruck and handball to his fleet of small men running past helped all the sides that he played for to win premierships. These included East Perth in 1956, 1958 and 1959, Geelong in 1963 and West Perth in 1969 and 1971.

Farmer is one of Western Australia's most decorated footballers, winning the Sandover Medal (for the fairest and best in WA's league) three times, finishing runner up on a further two occasions. His trophy cabinet also included a Tassie Medal, for best afield at the Australian championships and four Simpson Medals for best afield in a Grand Final (1959) and in three interstate games (1956, 1958 and 1969).

Liam Hendriks, the son of a notable Australian Rules footballer, was signed to the Minnesota Twins as an 18 year old pitcher. The following year he played for the Perth Heat in the Australian league winning both the Rookie of the Year award and selection in the Australian Olympic team.

He would make his Major League Baseball debut for the Twins in 2011 before joining the Toronto Blue Jays. He also featured for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletic before joining the roster of the Chicago White Sox. He is a three time All-Star selection, making the grade in 2019, 2021 and 2022. He was born and raised in Perth WA.

Nicknamed the "Flying Fireman", Bishop became the first Western Australian to win a world cycling championship. This occurred in Zurich in 1983 in the final of the 5,000 metre pursuit. Bishop caught the 1980 Olympic pursuit gold medalist, Switzerland's Robert Dill-Bundi, three laps from the finish... a feat that was relatively unheard of at that level of cycling.

Bishop's list of accolades included being selected, as a 19 year old, for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich where he was a member of the Australian 4,000 pursuit team, he would win 12 Australian professional track titles, including the pursuit eight times, became the first Australian to break the six minute barrier for the 5,000 metre pursuit and, at the culmination of his success in Zurich, promptly retired while sitting at the top of the world in his sport.

Ric Charlesworth was born in Subiaco, a suburb of Perth WA. In the annals of Australian field hockey, Ric Charlesworth is considered a legend. As an inside-forward he was blessed with explosive speed and incredible lateral movement. At the peak of his career he was rated the best hockey player in the world.

Between 1972 and 1988 he would represent his country at five Olympic Games, which would have been six had the Australian hockey not chosen to boycott the 1980 Games in Moscow. At Montreal, in 1976, he was a member of the silver medal winning team. He played 227 games for Australia, which included six Champions Trophy events, winning two gold medals and World Cup events. The crowning glory was the 1986 World Championships, which Australia won. Charlesworth was the tournaments leading scorer, was voted the player of the tournament and was selected in the World XI for a fifth time.

To show his versatility, Ric also represented his state at cricket, playing 47 matches and scoring in excess of 2,000 runs. In 1983 he took on the role as coach of the Australian Women's hockey team and his astute leadership saw the women win Olympic gold in 1996, Commonwealth gold in 1998, three Champions Trophy titles (1993, 1995 and 1997) and two consecutive World Cups (1994 and 1998).