Getting Ahead of Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: Florence Griffith Joyner

Florence Griffith Joyner's record-setting time of 10.49 seconds was run in Indianapolis on July 16, 1988. Her time was .27 seconds faster than the prior world record holder, Evelyn Ashford. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will allow a world record to stand only if the wind speed is measured at less than 2.0 metres/second (m/s) as measured by an anemometer. Controversially Florence Griffith Joyner's anemometer registered a 0.0 m/s wind speed when a nearby event registered a 4.3 m/s wind speed. Even so, Florence Griffith Joyner ran two other times in 1988 that were well below the prior world record that were not controversial due to possible wind assistance.

Answer: Hicham El Guerrouj

Incredibly during the same race in Rome on July 7, 1999 that Hicham El Guerrouj set a world record, Noah Ngeny posted a time just .27 seconds slower which still bested the prior world record by nearly a second. At the 2004 Olympics El Guerrouj became the first man since Paavo Nurmi in 1924 to win both the 1500m and 5000m races.

After El Guerrouj retired in 2006 he became active in humanitarian causes such as becoming a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and an ambassador for Peace and Sport.

Answer: Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky burst onto the international swimming scene as a 15 year old at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Although she qualified third, in the finals of the 800m she won by more than four seconds. She was the youngest participant representing the USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Her 2016 Summer Olympics were even better as she won four gold medals, one silver medal, and set the two aforementioned world records.

Answer: Kenya

Interestingly the three Kenyans set their world records at the same event, the Berlin Marathon, in different years. In fact, from 2003 to 2014 six consecutive men's marathon world records were set at the Berlin Marathon. Dennis Kimetto's time in the 2014 Berlin Marathon was 2:02:57 as he became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours, three minutes. Regarding the women's marathon, in 2003 Paula Radcliffe set a world record in her native country at the London Marathon with a time of 2:15:25.

Answer: Matthew Stafford

Eclipsing 25,000 yards in just 90 games comes out to an average of about 278 yards per game or 4,444 yards over the course of a 16 game regular season. In addition to Stafford, other quarterbacks that have reached 25,000 passing yards in under 100 games include Dan Marino in 92, Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner in 97, Aaron Rodgers in 98, and Matt Ryan in 99.

Answer: Mark McGwire

Mark "Big Mac" Mcgwire was a prolific home run hitter from 1986 to 2001 as he had a career average of just 10.61 at bats per home run. At the time of McGwire's retirement Babe Ruth had the second-highest home run rate at 11.76 at bats per home run. Unfortunately McGwire's legacy was tainted in 2010 after he publicly admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

Answer: Speed Skating

Kulizhnikov became the first person to record a time under 34 seconds in the 500m speed skating event when he accomplished the feat at just 21 years of age. Other accomplished speed skaters include Eric Heiden, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Shani Davis, Bonnie Blair, and Lee Sang-hwa.

Answer: Hat Trick

The term hat trick first appeared in cricket in 1858 to describe taking three wickets in three consecutive deliveries. Hat trick is also used to refer to hitting three home runs in a game of baseball and throwing three consecutive bullseyes in darts.

Incredibly the great Wayne Gretzky recorded 50 hat tricks during his Hall of Fame career. Particularly in ice hockey, fans will commonly throw hats onto the ice when a player scores three goals in a game.

Answer: Phil Jackson

Incredibly Phil Jackson's win percentage was over 70%. During his time coaching the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers his teams won 11 NBA championships. Considered a highly spiritual individual, Jackson was renown for utilizing Zen meditation and pioneering the triangle offense strategy.

Answer: Lance Armstrong

Although he won cycling's Tour de France seven times Lance Armstrong was forced to vacate his wins after an investigation that concluded in 2012 found him guilty of doping. Rather than award the Tour de France title to the second place winners those years, the record books simply show "Results Voided" for 1999 to 2005.

As a comparison, in 1919 Firmin Lambot won the Tour de France with an average speed of just 24.06 kilometers/hr (14.95 miles/hr) due to terrible road conditions after World War I.