She Left The Rest Behind Trivia Quiz

Answer: London, 1948

Fanny Blankers-Koen, competing as a 30 year old mother of two, was the most successful athlete at the London Olympics, where she won gold for the 100m and 200m individual events, as a member of the Dutch 100m relay team and for the 80m hurdles.

Answer: Larisa Latynina

Born in Ukraine, Latynina competed for the USSR at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics. Her Olympic medal haul of 18 medals was finally surpassed by swimmer Michael Phelps in 2012.

Answer: Wilma Rudolph

As a 16 year-old, Rudolph had competed at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, where she won a bronze medal as part of the USA 100 metres relay team. In Rome she won the individual 100m and 200m golds and, with the other three athletes named in the question, won the 100m relay in a world record time.

Answer: Sonja Henie

Competing for Norway, Henie won her first Olympic figure skating title in 1928 at St Moritz at the age of 15. She turned professional following the 1936 Winter Olympics and went to America, where she starred in films such as "One in a Million" (1936) and "Second Fiddle" (1939).

Answer: Concert pianist

Ostermeyer had never picked up a discus until a few weeks before winning the Olympic title. In addition to the golds she also won bronze in the 80 metres hurdles. A great-niece of Victor Hugo, she continued her musical career after retiring from athletics.

Answer: Squash

The winner of the British Open Championships every year from 1962 to 1977 and of the inaugural World Open title in 1979, McKay lost only two of the squash matches she played from 1962 until her retirement in 1981 (she lost a game in 1960 in Australia, an done in England in 1962). She also played field hockey for Australia.

Answer: Fencing

A Foil specialist, Vezzali won individual Olympic gold medals at Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. She also won team golds at the 1996, 2000 and 2012 Olympics. She became a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 2013.

Answer: Birgit Fischer

Fischer first competed in the Moscow Olympics in 1980 and won the last of her eight gold medals in Athens in 2004. Her record might have been even more impressive had East Germany not boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She became both the youngest - and oldest - ever Olympic canoeing champion.

Answer: Alpine skiing

Initially a Giant Slalom specialist, Maze ultimately competed in all five Alpine skiing disciplines. She won the Downhill and Giant Slalom gold medals in Sochi in 2014, having won silver in both events in Vancouver four years earlier.

Answer: Ethiopia

Tirunesh Dibaba won a second 10,000 metres gold in London in 2012, becoming the first woman to win successive Olympic titles in the event. Her home town of Bekoji in Ethiopia has produced a number of world-beating distance runners, including her sister, Olympic 10,000 metres silver medallist Ejegayehu Dibaba, and their cousin, double Olympic champion Derartu Tulu.