And Then You Run Trivia Quiz

Answer: The home straight

On any 400 metres track, the 100 metre dash is always held on the home straight. To ensure that all competitors run in a completely straight line for this short and thrilling event, the beginning of the race starts on lines extended out past the normal 400 metre standard track.

Incredibly so, while women still had to beat the ten second barrier for this event at the beginning of 2015, that barrier has now been broken by men.

Answer: A ten pound weight

The long jump is the only original jumping sport played today that was also played way back in the ancient Olympics as well. Based on training for warfare, the purpose of the long jump was to enable soldiers to jumps streams and other obstacles. Because they carried weapons whilst doing so, this was emulated in the ancient sport with competitors having to carry a weight of approximately 10 pounds in each hand, and swing their arms through with the jump. Far from being cruel, however, those weights gave athletes the ability to jump further.

Answer: Middle Ages

Again based on the military, the shot put's origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages (5th to the 15th centuries) when soldiers entertained one another between periods of war by holding competitions to see how far each could hurl a cannonball. As it evolved into a true sport, the shot put was first recorded as that sport in Scotland at the beginning of the 18th century.

By the mid nineteenth century it had become part of the British Amateur Championships. A shot put today weighs 16.1 pounds for men and 8.8 pounds for women.

Answer: Scissors jump

The high jump is marked as a fail if the bar over which the jumpers hurl themselves is dislodged during the jump. Over time, different approaches to leaping that bar have been used by athletes, one of which was the scissors method. That was where an athlete first threw the inner leg over the bar before quickly following with the other. With the advent of the nice soft padded landing areas in use for athletes today however, most use the Fosbury Flop method, taking off over the bar backwards. Prior to the incorporation of those landing sites into the sport, that particular jump and subsequent landing method would have broken necks or backs.

Answer: It is exactly one full circuit on a standard outdoor track

On a standard outdoor track used today, that is. Included in every summer Olympics since they first began in 1896, the 400 metres was once known as the 440 yard dash, or the quarter mile, called such because a full mile measures 1760 yards. All tracks were built accordingly on that 440 yard base.

The 400 metre distance run today on the newer metric tracks would measure 437.445 yards before this change was ushered in. The old 440 yard dash converted to metric then would have measured 402.336 meters. One could really argue that athletes today are running approximately seven feet less when achieving the startling times that they now achieve.

Answer: Only if every hurdle was left standing

The length of the 110 metres hurdles has varied slightly over time depending on whether or not the metric system was used, but today this race is set at that 110 metres distance, and with ten light weight hurdles set at specific heights of 1.067 metres or 42 inches. Women only race 100 metres distances for their same event in the decathlon. Up until 1935, any runner in the men's distance was disqualified if he knocked down more than three hurdles during the course of the race, and any records set during the event were only recognised if all hurdles remained in place.

Answer: False

The second event on day two of the mighty decathlon is the discus throw. The hammer throw is an event on its own. The discus throw dates back to the fifth century BC when it was part of the ancient Olympics pentathlon. Today hurling that heavy discus as far as possible is not part of the modern pentathlon, but the decathlon instead.

A discus throwing athlete has become an icon of poetical grace associated with the Olympics dating right back to ancient times. For men today the discus weighs 4.4 pounds or two kilograms, and this weight is halved for the women.

Answer: Vaulting over marshy grounds and narrow streams

That's quite remarkable really. Instead of getting soaked to the skin in those cold northern climates when wishing to cross small streams, canals and patches of marshy grounds, or going the long way round, fit travellers began to use long poles to vault across instead. For that purpose, stacks of poles were kept at every house along those areas. That very prosaic, and probably quite dangerous, beginning was behind the origins of the sport of pole vaulting today.

This is such an exciting event to watch, thrilling and graceful. One tends to hold the breath until the vaulters are over the bar and safely on the way down to their nice soft landing areas on the other side.

Answer: No

Absolutely not. This is one sport in particular that has very specific rules as to how the javelin should be thrown, too detailed to go into here. Javelin throwing, like many other events, has its roots in war. This was a reasonably light weapon that could be hurled over longer distances to impale enemies, as opposed to the spear which was used more for thrusting at closer distances.

The military ones of course were heaver than those used in the sporting event. The purpose of the sport of javelin thrown is to be the competitor who has successfully thrown his javelin the longest distance, rather than demolishing hapless officials.

Answer: 1500 metres

The 1500 metres run is described as the foremost middle distance run in all the track events in the games. It's an event that combines, strength, athleticism and perhaps, most of all, strategy. Knowing when to hold back, know which rivals to watch, knowing how to pace oneself, and knowing when to put in that final glorious burst of speed all play a part in this event. And when all points are totalled in this most demanding of sports, the ultimate victor of the mighty decathlon can finally take his more than well earned place on the winners podium.