Running, Leaping, Throwing Trivia Quiz

Answer: discus

Al Oerter was an American discus thrower who won Olympic gold in the years indicated, making him the first to win a gold medal in the same event in four consecutive Olympics. He retired after the 1968 Olympics, but later made an attempted comeback. Although he failed to qualify for the US team in 1980 (finishing fourth in the trials), he threw his personal best - 69.46 metres.

In 1984 he carried the Olympic flag at the opening of the Los Angeles games, and in 1996 he carried the Olympic torch into the stadium in Atlanta.

Answer: marathon

One of my first Olympic memories is watching a film of the 1960 Rome Olympics, and seeing this barefoot Ethiopian runner win the marathon, setting a world record. Four years later he became the first person to win two Olympic marathons in a row, once again setting a world record.

He was the first of many East Africans to dominate long distance running in the second half of the 20th century. An automobile accident in 1969 left him paralysed, and led to his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973.

Answer: high jump

In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Dick Fosbury won gold with an exciting new approach to the high jump, known as the Fosbury Flop. Previously, most jumpers would kick one leg over the bar, then sort of roll the rest of their body over, facing the bar as they did so. Fosbury ran up, turned his back to the bar, and dove over headfirst.

His performance (in which he set US and Olympic records, but just missed out on a world record attempt) so impressed observers that in the 1972 Munich Olympics over half the competitors used his technique.

Answer: decathlon

Although younger players may know him/her better as Caitlyn Jenner, the name adopted for gender transition, older players may recall Bruce Jenner's wonderful decathlon win in the 1976 Montreal Games. He produced a Personal Best performance in eight of the ten events, winning gold with a world record score of 8616 points.

After his win, he grabbed an American flag from a spectator and did a victory lap - a tradition which is now common practice.

Answer: 1500 metres

Middle distance running (800m and 1500m) events during the 1980s were dominated by Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram, all British. Sebastian Coe won gold in the 1500m event and silver in the 800m event in both Moscow and Los Angeles. The Moscow 1500m event saw Steve Ovett win bronze, with Steve Cram in eighth place; the 800m event had Ovett first, and Coe second.

In Los Angeles, all three were in the 1500m final, with Coe first, Ovett second, and Cram failing to finish. The Los Angeles 800 m event was the only one of the four that did not see one of the Big Three winning - the gold went to Joaquim Cruz from Brazil.

Answer: diving

In both Los Angeles and Seoul, Greg Louganis won both the 3m springboard diving and the 10m platform diving events, the first male diver to win both events in consecutive games. He had been favorite in the leadup to the 1980 Moscow Games, but the American boycott meant he was unable to participate.

In 1988, he struck his head during a preliminary round of the springboard diving, getting a concussion and suffering a cut that led to him wearing a bandage for the rest of his dives. When it was later announced that he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive six months earlier, there was some controversy about his decision not to make that clear at the time - he had bled into a diving pool shared by a lot of others, and they were considered to have been possibly placed at risk. Nobody did, in fact, acquire an HIV infection, and most experts agree that the risk was incredibly low, but still...

Answer: long jump

It was hard to choose just one event to nominate for this amazing athlete. I chose long jump because his four consecutive victories in that event made him the second male athlete (after Al Oerter 1956-60-64-68 in the discus) to win the same event in four consecutive games.

In Los Angeles, he won four medals (for 100 metres, 200 metres, 4x100 metres relay and long jump); in Seoul he won gold for the 100m and long jump, and silver in the 200m; his Barcelona gold came in the 4x100m relay and the long jump, while only the long jump brought success in Atlanta.

Answer: pole vault

Serhii Nazarovych Bubka is a Ukrainian pole vaulter who represented the USSR in competition at the time of his gold medal in Seoul. He hit the world stage with a gold medal in the 1983 World Championships, and set his first world record in 1984. Unfortunately for him, the USSR boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles games.

In 1985 he became the first person to clear 6.00m (a pole-vaulting barrier akin to the four-minute mile). His career best jump was 6.14m, in 1994. Despite his dominance in the sport, he had little success in the Olympics after his victory in Seoul: in Barcelona he failed to clear the bar in his first three attempts and was eliminated at an early stage; in Atlanta he was forced to withdraw due to a heel injury; in Sydney he made it to the final round, but was eliminated at 5.70m.

He retired from competition in 2001.

Answer: swimming

Well, the event had to be generic for a man who won eight gold medals (setting seven world records and one Olympic record) in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing! In case you missed it, he won: 200m freestyle, 100m and 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley, 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay, and 4x200m medley relay.

When added to the six gold medals (and two measly bronze medals) from Athens (2004) and the four gold and two silver medals he accumulated in London (2012), this gave him a total of 24 medals when he announced his retirement in 2012.

However, a bit of a break brought about a change of heart, and he returned to the sport to claim five gold medals and two silver in Rio de Janeiro (2016), where, at the advanced age of 31 (old for a swimmer, if not for most of us mere observers), he was the flag bearer for the US team in the opening ceremony.

Answer: cycling

"Wiggo" competed in both track and road cycling events, and in 2012 was the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. That year, he also won Olympic gold in London, in the road time trial. This was not his first Olympics success, although the earlier wins were all in track events rather than on the road.

He started in Sydney (2000) with a bronze in the team pursuit. This was followed in Athens by gold in the individual pursuit, silver in the team pursuit and bronze in the Madison. Beijing brought gold in both the individual pursuit and the team pursuit.

In Rio de Janeiro, he was a member of the team that won gold in the team pursuit event.