They Won Our Hearts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Eric The Eel

Before coming to the Olympics, Eric had never swum in an Olympic size pool, and had only taken up swimming about eight months earlier. He gained entry without meeting any qualifying standard, on a wildcard designed to encourage developing countries to compete without having expensive training facilities.

His heat time for his first race was 1 minute 52.72 seconds, over a minute slower than the world record, and he actually won it as his two competitors were disqualified for false starts. He came last in the final but received massive cheers and encouragement from the audience.

Answer: Sent out a search party

Before competing in the 50km cross country ski race, Mexican Roberto Alvarez had never gone more than 20km on snow. He was so slow, that concerned officials sent out a search party in case he was lost or injured. He eventually finished the race, in last place more than an hour behind the penultimate racer.

Answer: Haiti

Charles Olemus came last in the 10,000m in a time of 42 minutes 0.11 seconds, which could be beaten by many recreational club runners. Despite pouring rain, he kept going to the finish, winning the admiration of the crowd and being hailed by the press as an "heroic loser". Subsequent events in the stadium were delayed by around 15 minutes while he finished the last six laps on his own.

Answer: Jamaica

The sheer novelty of a Caribbean team in a winter sport made the Jamaican team firm fan favourites at the Calgary Games. They did not finish, as they crashed on one of their four runs and famously got out of the sled and walked it to the finish to massive applause.

They returned to the Olympics in both 1992 and 1994. The 1994 Games marking a change in timing to separate the Summer and Winter Games. Here they astounded their critics by coming 14th, beating the United States, Russia, and France. The 1993 film, "Cool Runnings", is loosely based on their exploits.

Answer: Calgary 1988

Eddie was not a very good ski jumper, although he was the British record holder, and a 55th place at the 1987 World Championships gave him qualification for the Olympics. The worse he did the more popular he became, and by the time of the Games, he was world famous.

He came last in both the 70m and 90m hills, and after Calgary qualification requirements were tightened, making it very hard for another Eddie to come along.

Answer: Dislocated knee

John Akhwari represented Tanzania in the marathon in Mexico. He fell during the race, badly cutting his knee and dislocating the joint. Despite this he did not withdraw, he got up and finished the race, coming last of the 57 competitors who finished out of 75 starters.

When asked later why he carried on he simply said, "My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish". He competed for a further 10 years after the Olympics, finishing fifth in the 1970 Commonwealth Games marathon.

Answer: Zola Budd

After setting world records and winning World Championship gold Mary Decker was the hot favourite for the 3000m title. Zola Budd, a South African born athlete who had been fast tracked into the British team, was inexperienced, ran barefoot, and had a very wide armed, sideways kicking running style.

The pair first clashed at 500 metres due to the wide arms of Budd. At just past 1600 metres, Budd cut in front of Decker who had to chop her stride, catching Budd's leg in the process. Budd swayed in towards Decker, and their legs became entangled. Decker fell, injuring her hip, and was unable to continue.

She always maintained that Budd had cut in when there was no room to do so, and that this coupled with her ungainly running style were to blame.

Answer: Kenya

At the Nagano games of 1998, Philip Boit became the first Kenyan to ever compete in a Winter Olympic Games. He was able to do this as his training in Finland was sponsored by Nike as part of a special project. Taking part in the 10km cross country ski race, he finished 92nd and last, and the presentation ceremony for the medals was held up to allow him to cross the finish line a considerable distance behind the rest of the field.

Answer: 100 metres

With a time of 22.69 seconds, Mr. Zirignon was not only slower than everyone else in the 100 metres, he was also slower than almost every competitor in the 200 metres. He also managed to fall just short of the line and virtually crawled over it to finish. He later blamed his poor performance on a hamstring injury.

Answer: Atlanta 1996

With a time of 4hours, 25 minutes, 17 seconds, Abdul Baser Wasiqi was last of the 111 competitors, but at least he did finish the race. When he reached the stadium around an hour and a half after all the other competitors, all the crowd had gone home and the stadium workers were busy preparing it for the closing ceremony.