Brothers in Sport Trivia Quiz

Answer: Triathlon

Jonny won the bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games and the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Elder brother Alistair did even better, winning Olympic gold at both of these events.

The brothers are well remembered for the final race of the 2016 World Triathlon Series, held in Cozumel, Mexico, when Jonny began to show the effects of heat exhaustion while leading the 10 km run from brother Alistair. As he entered the final kilometre, he was close to collapsing and weaving all over the course, until Alistair gave up on his chance of winning the race to push his brother over the finish line for a second place finish, coming in third himself.

Answer: Tennis

Andy is by far the better known of the Murray brothers, winning the US Open in 2012 as well as Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, but Jamie is no slouch on the courts. In 2016, with partner Bruno Soares, Jamie won the men's doubles at the US Open and the Australian Open.

He has also won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon twice and the US Open three times with partners Jelena Jankovic, Martina Hingis and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Answer: Alpine Skiing

Skiing is certainly in the blood of Canadian brothers Erik and Jeffrey Read as their father Ken was one of the much admired group of skiers from the 1970s known as the Crazy Canucks.

Erik specialises in the slalom and giant slalom, while younger brother Jeffrey competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G and was a part of the Canadian team that took gold in the Junior Word Championships of 2017, held in Are, Sweden. Erik is also a medal winner, helping the national team to silver in the Men's World Championships in Beaver Creek, USA in 2015.

Answer: Formula One

Michael enjoyed a successful career in F1, winning seven Driver's World Championships between 1994 and 2004, while driving for Benetton and Ferrari.
Younger brother Ralf may have only started 180 grands prix compared to Michael's 306, but like his elder brother, he gave it his all when behind the wheel, winning six races during his career, all while driving for Williams, helping the team to second places and a third place in the constructor's championship between 2001 and 2003.

Answer: Baseball

Both Mark and Al Leiter were pitchers, with younger brother Al being the more successful, having 1,974 strikeouts compared to Mark's 892 and making the grade for two MLB All Star games. Between them, the brothers played for 11 different teams between 1987 and 2005, but never played on the same team.

The closest they came was in 1990 when right hander Mark broke through into the New York Yankees team, just a year after left hander Al had been traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Answer: Boxing

What an amazing pair of sporting brothers the Klitschko's were. Vitali lost just two out of 47 professional fights and Wladimir lost only five out of 69. From 2008 the brothers ruled the heavyweight division with Vitali holding the WBC title and Wladimir being IBF, WBO, and IBO champion. Vitali retired as champion in 2012, and following his boxing career turned to politics becoming mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kyiv in 2014. Wladimir retired in 2017, following his defeat by Great Britain's Anthony Joshua, and throughout their long domination of boxing the brothers never fought each other professionally as their mother made them promise to never do so.

Answer: Cricket

Ian Chappell made his Test debut for Australia in 1964 and was a formidable number three batsman for the side as well as being a very decent slip fielder.
Younger brother Greg played his first Test in 1970 and was one of the finest all rounders the game has seen, possessing both batting and bowling skills as well as being a fine fielder.

There was also a third Chappell brother, Trevor, who played far fewer Test matches, managing just three compared to Greg's 87 and Ian's 75, but was nonetheless a decent bowler, although he is best remembered now for bowling underarm against New Zealand in 1981.

Answer: Ice Hockey

Daniel and Henrik are not just brothers, but are twins and formed a formidable attack line with the Vancouver Canucks for whom they played their entire NHL careers. Daniel played on the left wing, while Henrik played centre and their tandem attack saw them retire in 2018 as the Canucks highest (Henrik) and second highest (Daniel) points scorers.

In all, Henrik amassed 1070 points and Daniel 1041, with Daniel leading the scoring tally between them 393 to 240 and Henrik registering more assists at 830 to 648.

Answer: Motorcycle Racing

Northern Irish motorcycling brothers Robert and Joey Dunlop oozed talent along with a desire to ride better and go faster than anyone else. Between 1976 and 2000, Joey won 26 of his 102 starts in the Isle of Man TT races, while younger brother Robert won 5 from his 23 starts.

Both were taken too soon by the sport they loved, Joey aged 48 in 2000, when while racing in Estonia he lost control and collided with trees and Robert aged 47 in 2008 after crashing during a practice session at the North West 200 in Northern Ireland. Sadly Robert's son William also died after following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, when he crashed at a practice session at the Skerries 100 in Dublin in 2018.

Answer: Weightlifting

Of the two Japanese powerhouses, Yoshinobu was the more successful winning Olympic gold in the 60 kg class at the 1964 and 1968 games, lifting just shy of 400kg both times. He also won a silver medal at the 1960 Olympics while younger brother Yoshiyuki won a bronze medal in the same class at the 1968 games. Yoshiyuki also managed to pass his talent on as his daughter Hiromi won silver in the 48kg category at the 2012 London Olympics.

Answer: Rallying

Colin McRae was not only a World Rally Champion, but also the face of the hugely successful video game series that bore his name. He first entered the WRC in 1987 but had to wait until 1993 for his first win, when he took the honours in the New Zealand rally, driving for Subaru. It was with Subaru that he would go on to become champion in 1995 and in his later career he also drove for Ford, Citroen and Skoda. Colin died along with his five year old son Johnny when the helicopter he was piloting crashed near his home in 2007.

Alister McRae never matched the successes of older brother Colin but had decent stints with Hyundai and Mitsubishi, especially considering that in 2002, when he joined Mitsubishi, the Japanese WRC giants found themselves with an uncompetitive car for once. The feats of both McRae brothers are dwarfed by those of their father Jimmy, however, who was British Rally Champion five times between 1981 and 1988.

Answer: Rowing

The O'Donovan brothers are viewed as heroes in their native Ireland following their silver medal in the lightweight double sculls class at the 2016 Olympics. This was the first medal ever won by Ireland in a rowing event and inspired many young people to try their hand at the sport. The brothers are both an interviewer's nightmare and delight as their thick Irish accent means much of what they say is unintelligible to many people, but their complete joie de vivre makes their interviews entertaining.

When asked about their strategy for the Olympic race, their reply was "Strategy? It isn't too complex really, just A to B as fast as you can go. Close the eyes and pull like a dog." and they also gave the most wonderful Irish answer ever when asked about their chances before a race with, "Sure, what happens, happens and we will have to settle for that then."

Answer: Sailing

Torben is a five time Olympic medal winner, including two golds in the Star Class, won at the 1996 and 2004 games. Brother Lars competes in the Tornado Class and also has Olympic medals to show off, having won bronze at both the 1988 Seoul and 1996 Atlanta games.

Another example of passing the knowledge on is shown by Torben's daughter Martine who won Olympic gold at the 2019 Rio Olympics in the 49er FX class.

Answer: Rugby Union

English rugby union wouldn't be the same without these magnificent brothers. Billy was born in Australia and Mako in New Zealand, but both grew up in Wales after their Tongan father, Feʻao Vunipola signed to play for Pontypool rugby club in 1998. The family moved to Thornbury in Gloucestershire when the boys were in their early teens and it is through their long residency in England that they qualify for the English rugby union team. Mako joined Saracens in 2011 and Billy joined him there in 2013 and the pair helped the club win the Premiership in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 as well as the European Champions Cup in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Bonus info - the brothers have adapted their names slightly to make it easier for English fans, with Billy's actual name being Viliami and Mako's full name being Makovina Wanangarua I Whanga Nui-Atara.

Answer: Australian Rules Football

Striking fear into the hearts of many an opponent were Brisbane Lions defensive brothers Chris and Brad Scott, who were nicknamed "The Kray Brothers" due to their forceful and unwavering style of play. Both played in the 2001 and 2002 AFL Grand Finals which saw the Lions emerge victorious, beating Essendon Bombers 15.18 (108) to 12.10 (82) in 2001 followed by a score of 10.15 (75) to 9.12 (66) when they beat Collingwood the following year. Following their retirement from playing, both brothers moved into coaching, Brad with North Melbourne and Chris with Geelong where he guided the team to victory in the 2011 AFL Grand Final.