My Sporting Memories! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marcus Adam

Marcus Adam is one of many sports competitors who have excelled in not only their chosen disciplines, but also in secondary sports. Whilst still a teenager he won gold medals in both the 200 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay, at the 1987 European Junior Athletics Championships in Birmingham. This was just the prelude to his achievement at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, he qualified for the final of the 200 metres, where he finished in eighth place with a time of 20.80 seconds. After a lengthy break from the sport, he returned in 1999 to win the 200 metres at the World Indoor Championships.

After retiring from top class athletics, he took up the sport of bobsleigh where his speed proved invaluable as the brakeman. He was selected for the (GBR -1) two man bobsleigh team at the 2002 Winter Olympics where together with Lee Johnston they finished in tenth position.

Answer: Abebe Bikila

Abebe was born in Jato Ethiopia in 1932. During his early years he would often play Gena, a traditional field hockey game popular in the area in which he lived. The game was played between two villages on large fields without defined boundaries, and the goals were often several kilometres apart. Without doubt this would have been ideal preparation for his Olympic glory in later life. In 1952 he joined the Ethiopian imperial guard, where he demonstrated his ability to excel in long distance running exercises during military training. In 1956, Abebe finished second in the Ethiopian Armed Forces Championship, behind Wami Biratu, now known as the 'grandfather' of distance running in Ethiopia.

Prior to the 1960 Rome Olympics he recorded a time of 2:21:23 in his homeland for a marathon run, which was faster than the existing Olympic record held by Emil Zátopek. After his arrival in Rome he purchased a new pair of running shoes, but after preliminary training runs they gave him blisters, so he decided to run barefoot instead! His winning Gold Medal time of 2:15:16.2, was almost half a minute faster than Ben Abdesselam the second runner home, and broke Sergei Popov's world record by eight tenths of a second.

Four years later In 1964 in Tokyo he became the first runner to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title, when he finished with a time of 2:12:11.2, more than four minutes ahead of silver medallist Basil Heatley of Great Britain. On this occasion he did wear running shoes. What an athlete!

Answer: Natalya Lisovskaya

Natalya Lisovskaya's world record throw of 22.63 metres (74 feet 3 inches) recorded in Moscow in June 1987, amazingly remains a world record to this day in 2024. In 1988 at the Summer Olympics held in Seoul, she added to her accomplishments by winning the shot put Gold Medal. When Lisovskaya eventually retired in 2002, she had recorded the three longest throws of all time by a female shot putter.

Valerie Adams represented New Zealand and won numerous competitions including Gold Medals at both the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and then the 2012 Games in London. Claudia Losch was a shot put champion from Germany, and gained the Gold Medal for her country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Marianne Adam represented East Germany during the 1970's. Whilst never winning Olympic Gold, she did hold the world record shot put throw of 21.86 metres from 1975 until 1976. However, none of these women ever managed to throw the shot as far as Natalya Lisovskaya did in June 1987.

Answer: Derek Redmond

Derek Redmond enjoyed considerable success during his athletic career, at one time holding the British record for the 400 metres. He also won Gold Medals in the 4x400 metres relays in 1986 at the European Championships in Stuttgart and then at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.

After progressing to the Olympic 400 metres semi-final in Barcelona, he tore a hamstring shortly after the start of the race. Having trained for so long and so hard to reach the Games he was determined not to cave in. He picked himself up and started limping towards the finish, and was then joined by his father who assisted him around the complete lap towards the finishing line. I clearly remember this spectacle and the spectators rose as one to cheer him home! Owing to the assistance he received, he was disqualified and recorded as "Did Not Finish".

Roger Black, John Regis and Kriss Akabusi were also 400 metres runners, and were part of the Gold Medal winning GB team at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.

Answer: Herb Elliott

It was in August 1958 that he claimed his first world record for the one mile run, with a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds, an improvement of 2.7 seconds on the record previously held by the English runner Derek Ibbotson. Shortly after this he also claimed the world record for the 1500 metres with a run of 3 minutes 36 seconds, knocking 2.1 seconds from the previous record held by Stanislav Jungwirth of Czechoslovakia.

Whilst the one mile race had been regarded by many as the holy grail of middle distance runners for many years, it was not an event included in the Summer Olympics, where it was the slightly shorter distance of 1500 metres that was included in the schedules. At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Herb Elliott duly claimed the Gold Medal for the 1500 metres with yet another world record of 3 minutes 35.6 seconds. Shortly after these Olympics he decided to retire and concentrate on business ventures.

Ron Clarke was also a highly successful Australian distance runner, but his races of choice were usually over the longer 5,000 and 10,000 metres events. Peter Snell was a New Zealand runner who won Olympic Gold medals in Rome 1960 and in Tokyo 1964 over the two lap 800 metres event, and then doubled up with Gold in Tokyo in the 1500 metres. Steve Ovett was a British distance runner who was the Gold Medal winner in the 800 metres at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and who also set several world records over 1500 metres and one mile. He was also undefeated in 45 consecutive races from 1977 to 1980.

Answer: Allyson Felix

Born in California in 1985, Allyson Felix became a student at Los Angeles Baptist High School, and it was there that she came to the attention of Jonathan Patton, the school's sprint coach who was able to nurture her natural talent. Her elder brother Wes was also a notable sprinter having won the 2002 200 metres USA Junior Championships. He later became the agent for Allyson. She said :"For me, my faith is the reason I run. I definitely feel I have this amazing gift that God has blessed me with, and it's all about using it to the best of my ability."

Her Olympic Gold Medals were firstly in 2008 at Beijing for the 4x400 m relay, then in London 2012 for the 200 m individual, and also for both the 4x100 m and 4x400 m relays. In Rio de Janeiro 2016 again for both the 4x100 m and 4x400 m relays, and then in Tokyo for the 4x400 m relay. Her 14 Gold Medals at the World Championship were won initially at Helsinki in 2005 and then at successive meetings in Osaka 2007, Berlin 2009, Daegu 2011, Beijing 2015, London 2017, Doha 2019 and finally Eugene in 2022. In 2012 she was also awarded the IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year title.

Shericka Jackson is a sprinter from Jamaica, who during her career was the fastest woman alive and second fastest woman in history over the 200 m distance. Marie-Josée Ta Lou hails from the Ivory Coast and has been the African Champion over both the 100 m and 200 m distances. Veronica Campbell Brown is another top class runner from Jamaica. During her career she won 3 Olympic and 3 World Championship Gold Medals over the 100 m and 200 m distances.

Answer: Hasely Crawford

Hasely Crawford was born in San Fernando in 1950, and was one of eleven children. However, it was not until 1967 that he began to take a serious interest in athletics. Whilst at Eastern Michigan University he gained considerable success at college level where he was coached by their head coach Bob Parks. His international debut came in 1970 at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he won a bronze medal in the 100 metres. Two years later, he qualified for the 100 metres final at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but pulled a hamstring shortly after starting and failed to finish.

At the Montreal Olympics in 1976 he qualified for both the 100 metres and the 200 metres finals, but in the latter event another mid-race injury meant he was unable to finish. Prior to this in the 100 metres final, and from the inside lane, he won with a time of 10.06 seconds with Don Quarrie of Jamaica in hot pursuit claiming the Silver Medal. Thanks to Hasely Crawford Trinidad and Tobago were in receipt of their first ever Olympic gold medal.

He became something of a celebrity after returning home, with an appearance on postage stamps and also having a stadium named in his honour. He later competed in two further Olympic Games, in 1980 (Russia) and then in 1984 (Los Angeles), but was unable to repeat his earlier success. He was named the Trinidad & Tobago Athlete of the Millennium in the year 2000 and was also elected as a member of the Caribbean Hall of Fame.

Ato Bolden was an athlete who represented Trinidad and Tobago at both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Don Quarrie was a Jamaican track and field athlete, and Gold Medal winner in the 200 metres at the 1976 Olympics. Lennox Miller was also a Jamaican athlete who represented his country at both the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.

Answer: Jonathan Edwards

It was at the 1995 World Athletic Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden that his record breaking leap was recorded, where he twice broke the record during an inspired 20 minute spell of competition. On the first occasion he became the first athlete to break the 18 metre barrier with a leap of 18.16 m (59 feet 7 inches). Shortly afterwards with his second jump he recorded another world record with a distance of 18.29 m, the first-ever in excess of 60 feet.

Owing to his Christian beliefs he initially refused to compete at meetings on a Sunday, which almost certainly cost him earlier success. He said: "My relationship with Jesus and God is fundamental to everything I do. I have made a commitment and dedication in that relationship to serve God in every area of my life." But then in 1993 he relaxed his principles and began to take an active part in such events. He later said (in 2007) "If there is no God, does that mean that life has no purpose? Does it mean that personal existence ends at death? They are thoughts that do my head in. One thing that I can say, however, is that even if I am unable to discover some fundamental purpose to life, this will not give me a reason to return to Christianity. Just because something is unpalatable does not mean that it is not true."

Following the world records he recorded in 1995 he was a strong favourite to claim the Gold Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. However, he was beaten by Kenny Harrison of the USA who took the gold with a jump of 18.09 m. Edwards claimed the Silver Medal with a leap of 17.88 m, which at that time was the longest jump ever recorded not to win gold.

In the year 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, Edwards was not to be denied, and on this occasion he did manage to claim the Gold Medal. In 2002 he was at one time the then-current holder of gold medals for the Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships. In 2003, after the World Championships he retired from the sport, and became a sports television presenter for the BBC.

Kenny Harrison was an athlete from the USA who claimed the triple jump Gold Medal ahead of Edwards in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Christian Olsson is a former Swedish athlete, who broke Sweden's national record when winning Gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Mike Conley was another athlete from the USA. He won the triple jump at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Answer: Bob Beamon

It was not until 1991 that Bob Beamon's record was eventually eclipsed, when Mike Powell also of the USA, jumped 8.95 m (29 ft 4in) at the 1991 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Bob Beamon's world record jump at the 1968 Mexico Olympics was a massive 71 cm (28 in) ahead of the runner up Klaus Beer of East Germany who recorded 8.19 m, whilst another American athlete Ralph Boston won Bronze with a jump of 8.16 m.

When realising that he had broken the previous world record by almost 2 ft, Beamon collapsed to his knees in shock, unable to support himself. A journalist said of Beamon: "he was the man who saw lightning!" He has since been inducted into both the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and also the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.

Carl Lewis is also a former USA track and field athlete. He won a remarkable total of nine Olympic gold medals and one Olympic silver medal, competing in both the 100 m and 200 m sprints and also the long jump at four Olympiads between 1984 and 1996. Lynn Davies was born in Wales and won the long jump Gold Medal representing Great Britain at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Ralph Boston claimed the long jump Gold Medal for the USA at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

Answer: David Rudisha

When David Rudisha won his first 800 m Gold Medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a time of 1:40.91, he became the first athlete to run the distance with a time below 1:41. In 2019 whilst driving his car in Kenya, he collided head on with a bus. Whilst not seriously injured he unfortunately suffered other injuries in training which prevented him from competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and, perhaps, becoming the first person ever to win three consecutive 800 m Gold Medals.

His other achievements over the 800 m distance during his active years in the sport are worthy of special note, some of which are listed here:

World Championships - Gold Medal winner at Daegu in 2011 and also at Beijing in 2015.
-- World Junior Championships: Gold Medal winner at Beijing in 2006.
-- Diamond League winner in both 2010 and 2011.
-- African Championships winner at Addis Ababa in 2008 and also at Nairobi in 2010.
-- Continental Cup winner at Split in 2010.

Tom Fordyce of the BBC once said, "He is the greatest 800m runner of all time and he may also be the nicest man in his sport."

Wilson Kipketer was also born in Kenya, but after visiting Denmark in 1990 as an exchange student he applied for Danish citizenship. He represented Denmark in the 800 m at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, winning Silver and Bronze medals respectively. However, at earlier World Championships he collected Gold Medals at three consecutive meetings in 1995, 1997 and 1999.

Ismail Ahmed Ismail won Sudan's first ever Olympic medal, when winning the 800 m silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Taoufik Makhloufi was a middle distance runner from Algeria, who won Olympic Gold over 1500 m at the 2012 London Olympics.