Monster Sports Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oskana Baiul

The Ukrainian figure skater won, at the age of 16, the Olympic gold medal for women's figure skating at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway. She was the youngest woman to win the title since Sonia Henie won at age 15 at the 1928 Games in St Moritz, Switzerland. Known as the 'Swan of Odessa', Bauil was one of the most graceful and artistically accomplished skaters in the history of the sport.

Answer: six

In individual Olympic events, the award for first place is a gold (silver gilt, with six grams of fine gold) medal, and obviously silver for second and bronze for third.

Answer: Archie Moore

The American boxer was the light heavyweight champion from December 1952 to 1962. He received critical praise for his portrayal of the slave Jim in, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1959)'.

Answer: Rinus Michels

The German association football player is credited with inventing the modern attacking sweeper and hence, 'total football'. Beckenbaur joined Bayern Munich in 1958 and made his first team debut in 1963. As captain from 1971, he helped the Munich club win three European Cup championships (1973-74, 1974-75 and 1975-76), and four national titles.

Answer: Freestyle Skiing

This winter sport combines skiing and acrobatics. There are three freestyle events; acro, aerials, and moguls.

Answer: A card game

Whist belongs to a family that includes bridge whist, auction bridge, and contract bridge, each of which developed in succession from the original game of whist. The essential features of card games in the whist family are, four people usually play with a two against two partnership, a full deck of 52 cards which is dealt to each player handing them 13 each.

The object of play is to win tricks, each trick consisting of one card played by each player.

Answer: Chess

This is a move used by the player using black pieces in chess. The Sicilian Defence is one of the best fighting defences for black. The Soviets devoted attention to this particular strategy.

Answer: Korea

This ia a Korean art of unarmed combat that is based on the earlier form of Korean self defence, known as tae kyon and on karate. The name tae kwon do was officially adopted for this martial art in 1955, after the South Korean general Choi Hong Hi, the principal founder of tae kwon do, had that name submitted.

Answer: Hang Gliding

Deriving from the sailplane or glider, the hang glider was developed in the 1960s from the design of Francis Rogallo, of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This was for a flexible-wing parachute projected for use in steering space vehicles in re-entry. Many variations of his original design followed, both by Rogallo and others.

Answer: Trot

Light and balanced, in the trot the fore and hind diagonal pairs of legs follow each other almost simultaneously, near fore, off hind, off fore, and near hind. Riders can either sit in the saddle and be bumped as the horse springs from one diagonal to the other, or they can rise to the trot, post, by rising out of the saddle slightly, and allowing more of their weight to bear on the stirrups when one or the other of the diagonal pairs of legs leaves the ground. Posting reduces the impact of the trot on both horse and rider.

Answer: William G Morgan

Designed as an indoor sport for businessmen who found the new game of basketball too vigorous, volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G Morgan, physical director of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA.

Answer: Cycling

There are two major types of road races that are team events. The first, called a criterium, is run over a relatively short (4-5km[2.5-3 mile]) closed course; racers ride a predetermined number of laps, the winner being the first to complete that number.

The second type consists of races held on open roads and includes point to point, circuit, and stage events. Point to point and circuit races are generally one day races, varying in distance from roughly 240 to 280km (150 to 175 miles) for professionals, and roughly 180 to 220km (110 to 140 miles) for amateurs.

Answer: Don Budge

The grand slam consists of winning the four major singles championships of the time, Australia, France, GB and USA, in one calender year. Budge did it first in 1938.

Answer: St Petersburg

Shooting at a mark was recorded in 1737, when the empress Anna established a target shooting range at her court. The marks shot at were live birds, and the most proficient marksmen were given gold and diamond studded cups. The royal shooting matches became tradition.

In 1806 the Society of Shooting Amateurs (nicely worded), formed in St.Petersburg, Russia, largely by military officers, had as its chief interest handgun shooting with flintlock pistols. The first shooting range or club was founded, also in St.Petersburg, in 1834 for rifles or handguns, where the public could shoot for a nominal fee.

Answer: Spyridon Louis

The marathon commemorates the legendary feat of a Greek soldier who, in 490BC, is supposed to have run from Marathon to Athens, a distance of 25 miles (40km), to bring news of the Athenian victory over the Persians. Appropriately, the first modern marathon winner in 1896 was a Greek, Spyridon Louis.

Answer: Rocky Marciano

Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, USA, Marciano became world heavyweight boxing champion from Sept 23, 1952, when he knocked out champion Jersey Joe Walcott in 13 rounds in Philadelphia, to April 27 1956, when he retired from the ring. Marciano was undefeated in 49 pro fights, scoring 43 knockouts.

Answer: George Foreman

The American boxer twice was the world heavyweight champion (1973-74, 1994-95). When Foreman regained the title at the age of 45, he became the oldest heavyweight champion ever. His first pro title belt was won by knocking out Joe Frazier in two rounds in Kingston, Jamaica on January 22 1973.

He had won all 40 of his pro fights, including a sequence of 24 consecutive knockouts, until he fell to Muhammed Ali on October 30 1974. He retired from the ring in 1977. Foreman resumed pro boxing in 1987 at the age of 39 and found immediate success, in a heavyweight division that lacked quality fighters.

Despite his age and more than 30 additional pounds, Foreman remained a devastating puncher and captured the world heavyweight title for a second time by knocking out Michael Moorer in 10 rounds at Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 5th 1994.

He resigned his title the following year on June 28 1995.

Answer: John Lawrence Sullivan

The US pro boxer was one of the most popular heavyweight champions, and a symbol of the bare knuckle era of boxing. Although Sullivan generally considered to have been world heavyweight champion, some boxing historians regard him as a US champion only.

Answer: Middlesex

Cycling as a sport officially began with a 1,200metre (1,312 yard) race in Saint Cloud Park, near Paris on May 31 1868. The first English race was held the next day at Hendon, Middlesex.

Answer: Belmont Stakes

Oldest of the three classic American horse races (with the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness) that constitute the Triple Crown of U.S. horse racing. It originated in 1867 and is named after the financier, diplomat, and sportsman, August Belmont. The Belmont has been run at various distances and tracks in its history. Since 1905, however, it has been held at Belmont Park, near New York City; and the course has been about 2,400m (1.5 miles) in length since 1926.

The race is held early in June.

Answer: Grand Circuit

Begun in 1871 by Colonel Billy Edwards, a businessman from Cleveland, Ohio, the circuit, then known as the Quadrilateral Trotting Combination, held its first meetings in 1873 in Cleveland, in Utica and Buffalo, New York, and in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Grand Circuit was the premier American harness attraction, visiting more than 20 tracks in the USA and Canada.

Answer: Golf

The trophy is awarded to the winner of a biennial international amateur competition open to teams of three or four players from all nations. The competition was first held, under sponsorship of the World Amateur Golf Council, in 1958, and the trophy was named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a golf enthusiast.

Answer: Pachisi

Sometimes called the national game of India, there are four players in the game in opposing partnerships of two attempting to move pieces around a cross shaped track. Moves are determined by throws of cowrie shells or dice. Each player has four pieces, which begin at the centre space, move down the middle track nearest the player, and counterclockwise around the outer track of the board.

The partnership whose pieces first complete the course by returning to the centre space is the winner.

Answer: Wood

Golf balls were originally made of wood, but in the early 17th century the feather ball was introduced. It was a slow and expensive process to manufacture these balls, which consisted of boiled feathers compressed into a hole left in a stitched leather cover.

The invention of the cheaper gutta percha ball about 1848, helped make the game more popular. With the emergence of harder rubber balls at the turn of the 20th century came advances in club making, including laminated club heads and seamless steel shafts.

Answer: Putout

To meet the offensive force of the team at bat, the rules provide the fielding team with ways of making putouts. A putout, commonly known as out, removes the player from offensive play until his next turn to bat. The batting teams inning continues until three putouts are made; then it goes into field and the rival team comes to bat. Most putouts are made by either striking out the batter, catching a fly, throwing the batter out, or tagging out a base runner.

The batter is struck out when the pitcher succeeds in preventing him from hitting the ball into fair territory within the limit of three strikes.