Those We Lost in 2024: Sports Edition Quiz

"Der Kaizer", as he was affectionately known, was not only an imperiously dominant presence on the field, whether in defence or midfield, but was also a hugely successful coach and manager. His achievements as a player are almost unmatched, being the first player to captain a side to win the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship and the European Cup (now the Champions League). He appeared in five major finals for West Germany from the 1966 World Cup final to the 1976 European Championship final, and won five Bundesliga titles, four with Bayern Munich and one with Hamburger SV. His brilliance was recognised with two Ballon d'Or wins, four German player of the year awards and selection for numerous all-time XIs including the World Team of the Century selected by football writers in 1998 and the FIFA World Cup Dream Team selected in 2002.

He brought his winning mentality to the dugout once his playing days ended. In 1984, just one year after playing his last season (with the New York Cosmos), Beckenbauer was appointed manager of the West German national team. In his first major campaign he took the team to the World Cup final in Mexico in 1986 where they lost 3-2 to Argentina. After a disappointing failure to win a home European Championship in 1988, they again reached a World Cup final against Argentina in 1990, this time coming out as winners, making Der Kaizer the second man to win the World Cup as both player and manager. The first was Mario Zagallo (Brazil 1958 and 1962 and then as manager 1970).

John Williams, known as JPR to distinguish him from winger John "JJ" Williams, was part of the great Welsh rugby union sides of the 1970s. He made his Welsh debut at the age of just 19 in 1969 and occupied the full back role for more than a decade until his retirement from the international game in 1981. Over those twelve years, he was part of three grand slam-winning sides, with his ferocious defence and attacking panache from full back bringing six tries in 55 appearances for his country, five of them against arch rivals England. He also played in all the test matches in two British Lions series wins in New Zealand and South Africa.

As well as being an outstanding rugby player, Williams had a career as an orthopaedic surgeon, a role he could undertake as rugby union was an amateur sport in his era. He had chosen to play rugby over tennis, a sport in which he was a junior British champion, so that he could concentrate on his medical career.

To the wider public, Carl Weathers was probably most associated with the sport of boxing thanks to his star-making turn as Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" series of movies. But prior to achieving success on the screen, Weathers had a brief career on the football field.

While studying for his degree in theatre arts, Weathers played college football as a defensive end before being signed by the Oakland Raiders as a linebacker. He played one full season for the Raiders, helping them to the AFC Championship game before being released the following season.

After two more years playing pro football in Canada he gave up the game to concentrate full time on his acting career.

The name Fittipaldi is synonymous with motor racing and although Wilson's name may not be as well known as his younger brother Emerson, he still was a very significant figure in the racing world. Wilson Fittipaldi Jr worked his way through Formulas Three and Two before making his debut in Formula One in 1972 with the Brabham team. He had immediate success in gaining a podium place in the Brazilian Grand Prix, his first race, but managed only two points finishes in the remainder of his two seasons with the team.

He left Brabham to set up his own team, Fittipaldi Automotive, for the 1975 season and was their only driver. He stepped down from driving the following season to concentrate on managing the team and his brother, by now a two-time world champion, took over his place in the driver's seat. Though the team never won a race in its eight years in Formula One, it did manage several podiums both for former champion Emerson and for future world champion, Keke Rosberg.
His son Christian also briefly made it to Formula One, driving in four races in the early 1990s.

When "Deadly" Derek Underwood passed away in April 2024 at the age of 78, more than four decades after his retirement from test cricket, he was still the leading all-time test wicket taker among English spinners. He made his first class debut in the county championship for Kent, the county where he would play for his entire career, in 1963, taking over 100 championship wickets that season despite being just 17 years of age.

He made his England test debut in 1966 against the West Indies, the start of a 16-year international career in which for four years between 1969 and 1973, he was rated as the number one bowler in the world. His test career ended with him just three wickets shy of becoming the second Englishman to reach 300 test wickets when he was banned from the England team for three years after choosing to join a rebel tour to South Africa.

Peter Oosterhuis, who died on May 2, the day before his 76th birthday, won 28 golf titles in his career including one PGA Tour victory at the 1981 Canadian Open and seven European Tour titles. He never won a major title but came very close - twice runner-up at the Open Championship, to Gary Player in 1974 and to Tom Watson in 1982, and once third at the US Masters in 1973. He also had a strong record in his six Ryder Cup appearances, winning six of his eight singles matches.

After retiring from playing, Oosterhuis became a popular and respected TV commentator, firstly in his native UK and then for nearly twenty years on CBS in the US.

David Wilkie, who died in May 2024 at the age of 70, came to prominence in 1970 when he broke the British record for the 200 metres breaststroke at the age of just 16. Later that same year he won his first international medal with a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in his home country of Scotland. Two years later, he won a silver medal in the same event at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, again in a record time. That same year he set two more British records in the 100m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.

But it was the Olympic Games four years later in Montreal where Wilkie sealed his sporting immortality by becoming the first British man to win a gold medal in the pool for 68 years and the first Briton of either sex for 16 years. His time in the 200m breaststroke broke the world record by a remarkable three seconds and would stand as the world's best time for six years. He retired soon afterwards with 15 championship medals, eight of them gold, despite being only 22 years of age.

Described by Major League Baseball as "one of the most exciting all-around players in the history of our sport", the death of Willie Mays at the age of 93 in June 2024 was widely mourned in the United States. Though he only won one World Series with the New York Giants in 1954, helped by his famous over-the-shoulder catch on the run in game one, his statistics demonstrated his individual brilliance as a five-tool player (excelling at batting average, home runs, base running, throwing and fielding).

By the time he retired in 1973 after one last appearance in the World Series with the New York Mets, he was the league's all-time record-holder for runs scored, third in home runs and runs batted in and fourth in hits as well as ranking high on many other criteria.

Nicknamed "Dracula" because of his widow's peak hairstyle, Ray Reardon was a much-loved snooker player from the "Pot Black" era when the sport first gained popularity thanks to the UK television show of that name. He had been a very successful amateur player in the 1950s and 60s while working as a coal miner and then a police officer but turned professional in 1967. Three years later he won the first of his six world championship titles, all won in a nine year period (1970 to 1979).

He was ranked number one in the world from when the rankings were introduced in 1976 until 1981 and returned to the top spot in 1983 aged 50.

He died in July 2024, aged 91.

Although he achieved his greatest fame as the World's Strongest Man, a title he first won in 1983, Geoff Capes first made his name as a shot putter. He competed in three Commonwealth Games, twice winning gold, three Olympic Games from 1972-1976-1980 and was a five-time medalist in the European Indoor Championships, winning two golds.

In 1980 he set a British record for the shot put that he still held when he died in October 2024.