Ditch The Discus Trivia Quiz

Answer: Al Oerter

Al Oerter was born on September 19th 1936 in New York, USA. He started throwing the discus at age 15 and achieved success very quickly. He won the gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, defeating fellow Americans Fortune Gordien (silver) and Desmond Koch (bronze). He would go on to win the gold medal at the next three Summer Olympics (1960 in Rome, 1964 in Tokyo and 1968 in Mexico City), setting a record for consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same event.

Oerter retired shortly after the 1968 Summer Olympics. He held the world record four times in his career. After some time of illness, he died in October 2007 as a result of a cardiovascular disease.

Answer: Gerd Kanter

Gerd Kanter was born on May 6th 1979 in Tallinn, Estonia. He was the 2007 World Champion in Osaka, defeating Robert Harting of Germany (silver) and Rutger Smith of the Netherlands (bronze). A year later Kanter won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the first Estonian athlete achieving this. His fellow Estonian Aleksander Tammert had previously won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Kanter also qualified for the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He won the bronze medal. In 2012 and 2013 he also won the Diamond League, a series of fourteen events in track and field.

Answer: Lars Riedel

Lars Riedel was born on the 28th of June 1967 in Zwickau, Germany. At the start of his career he competed for East Germany, later for Germany (after the unification of East and West Germany). In 1991 he first won the World Championships in Tokyo. He would win four times more: 1993 in Stuttgart, 1995 in Gothenburg, 1997 in Athens and 2001 in Edmonton.

His biggest achievement was winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, defeating two discus throwers from Belarus: Vladimir Dubrovshchik (silver) and Vasily Kaptyukh (bronze). In 2012 he also competed in the fifth season of the German Let's Dance.

Answer: Virgilijus Alekna

Virgilijus Alekna was born on the 13th of February in Terpeikiai, Lithuania. In 2000 he won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He was the second Lithuanian athlete to do so after Romas Ubartas at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Alekna would succesfully defend his Olympic title at the 2004 Olympics in Athens (only after the initial winner was disqualified).

Alekna twice won gold at the World Championships, in 2003 in Paris and in 2005 in Helsinki. He is married to a long jumper, Kristina Sablovskytë-Aleknienë.

Answer: Robert Harting

Robert Harting was born on the 18th of October in Cottbus, Germany. One of his first bigger titles was winning the 2009 World Championship in Berlin. He also was world champion in 2011 in Daegu and in 2013 in Moscow.

In 2012 Harting won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in London. In the qualifications he achieved the second result behind Gerd Kanter from Estonia. In the final he defeated Ehsan Haddadi from Iran (silver) and Gerd Kanter from Estonia (bronze). Harting achieved his winning throw on the fifth attempt.

Answer: Mac Wilkins

Maurice Wilkins (nicknamed Mac) was born on November 15th 1950 in Eugene, USA. He won the gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal defeating Wolfgang Schmidt of East Germany (silver) and his fellow American John Powell (bronze). At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he won bronze losing to Rolf Danneberg of West Germany.

Wilkins also won the gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, defeating Bradley Cooper of the Bahamas (silver) and Luis Delis of Cuba (bronze). He is inducted to the Sports Hall of Fame of his home state of Oregon.

Answer: Robert Fazekas

Robert Fazekas was born on the 18th of August 1975 in Szombathely, Hungary. He won gold at the 2002 European Championships in Munich. At the 2003 World Championships in Paris he was second. His biggest victory seemed to come at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when he had the best performance. He failed to provide a urine sample however and was disqualified. The gold went to Virgilijus Alekna from Lithuania. Fellow Hungarian Gabor Mate was fourth in the end.

Just before the 2012 Olympics Fazekas failed a drugs test and was suspended for 8 years. As a result he was barred from the Hungarian Olympic Team.

Answer: Jürgen Schult

Jürgen Schult was born on May 11th 1960 in Amt Neuhaus, Germany. He won the gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul for East Germany defeating Romas Ubartas of Lithuania (silver) and Rolf Danneberg of West Germany (bronze). Four years later he won silver now for Germany (after the unification of West and East Germany) at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, losing to Romas Ubartas this time.

Schult also won the World Championships in Rome in 1987, defeating John Powell of the USA (silver) and Luis Delis of Cuba (bronze). He was the 1990 European Champion in Split.

Answer: Piotr Malachowski

Piotr Malachowski was born on June 7th 1983 in Zuromin, Poland. At the 2008 Summer Olympics he won silver, losing to Gerd Kanter of Estonia. Four years later he was fifth at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, while Robert Harting of Germany won the gold medal.

Malachowski won the gold medal at the European Championships in Barcelona in 2010, defeating Robert Harting of Germany (silver) and Robert Fazekas of Hungary (bronze). Malachowski had only qualified in seventh position for the final.

Answer: Imrich Bugar

Imrich Bugar was born on the 14th of April 1955 in Ohrady, located at the time in Czechoslovakia (in Slovakia after the country was split in Czech Republic and Slovakia}. He won the silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow losing to Viktor Rashchupkin of the Soviet Union. Luis Delis of Cuba won bronze.

In 1983 Bugar won the gold medal at the World Championships in Helsinki. Luis Delis of Cuba won silver and Gejza Valent won bronze for Czechoslovakia.