Track and Field, British Style Quiz

Answer: 1924, Paris

They were both double medal winners at the Paris Olympics in 1924. Harold Abrahams won gold in the 100 metres sprint and silver in the 4 x 400 m relay, and Eric Liddell won his gold medal in the 400 metres together with bronze in the 200 metres.

Harold Abrahams later captained the British Olympic team in Amsterdam in 1928. He always maintained a lifelong interest in sport, becoming a sports journalist and commentator for BBC radio. Scottish athlete Eric Liddell later returned to China, where he had been born and his parents had been missionaries, as a missionary himself. He died in the Japanese WWII internment camp Weihsien in February 1945 aged only 43.

In 'Chariots of Fire' (1981) Harold Abrahams was portrayed by actor Ben Cross and Eric Liddell by Ian Charleson. The film won four Academy Awards.

Answer: neurology

On 6 May 1954 Sir Roger Bannister ran the first-ever sub-four-minute mile at Oxford's Iffley Road Track, with fellow athletes Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher running as pacemakers, in a winning time of 3 min 59.4 seconds. He was spurred on by having narrowly missed out on a medal in the 1500 metres at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, although he had set a new British record.

He subsequently went on to win two gold medals in 1954; for the mile at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver and for the 1500 metres in the European Championships held in Bern. Sir Roger Bannister had a distinguished career in neurology and retired in 1993.

He was knighted in 1975 for his services to sports.

Answer: javelin

Fatima Whitbread won the bronze medal for the UK at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 followed by silver at the next Olympics in Seoul in 1988. Her gold medal came in the World Championships in Rome in 1987. Tessa Sanderson competed in an astonishing six consecutive Olympic Games. Among her many triumphs was the gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Apart from the natural rivalry between the two British athletes, the other prominent woman javelin thrower during the 1980s was Petra Felke representing East Germany, who won gold in Seoul in 1988.

Answer: decathlon

Decathlete Daley Thompson CBE won gold at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 and again in Los Angeles in 1984. He also won three gold medals in the Commonwealth Games, two in the European Championships and one in the World Championships between 1978-1986, before having to retire due to injury in 1992. He was honoured with winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 1982.

The decathlon comprises the ten events: the 100, 400 and 1500 metre runs, long jump, shot put, discus and javelin throws, high jump, pole vault and 110 metres hurdles. Competitors are awarded points for each event, the athlete with the most combined points being declared the winner.

Answer: hurdling

Sally Gunnell won several medals at major sporting events during her career including five Commonwealth gold medals (for 100m and 400m distances) and one Olympic gold, which she achieved with her win in the 400m hurdles at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, a wonderful Olympics for her in which she also won bronze as part of the British 4 x 400m hurdles relay team. She retired from sport in 1997 and worked for a time at the BBC as a sports presenter, as well as participating in other television programes.

Colin Jackson also won many medals during his career, including two consecutive gold medals for the 110m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in 1990 and 1994. He also won silver for the same distance at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. He retired from sport in 2003 and has since had a successful television career as a sports presenter.

Answer: Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards became the world record holder in the triple jump in 1995. He also won Gold for the British team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney with a jump of 17.71 metres. Greg Rutherford is a British long jumper who won the Gold Medal at the London Olympics in 2012. Steve Ovett is a former middle-distance runner who won the 800 metres gold and 1500 metres bronze medals at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and Steve Backley is a retired British javelin thrower and former world record holder.

Answer: Kelly Holmes

All are, or were, British middle- and long-distance runners, but it was Dame Kelly Holmes who achieved double gold at the Athens Olympics with wins in both the 800 and 1500 metres events. Her many other triumphs include two Commonwealth gold medals, both for the 1500 metres, won in 1994 and again in 2002.

She was awarded the MBE in 1998, which was followed by the DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2005.

Answer: seven

Jessica Ennis from Sheffield (Ennis-Hill since her marriage in 2013) won the gold medal for the women's heptathlon at the 2012 Olympics in London in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. The seven events which make up a heptathlon are 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin throw and 800 metres.

The women's heptathlon takes place over two days. It is a comparatively recent event which first appeared in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, although the men's heptathlon has been around much longer. The men's heptathlon is an indoor event comprising different disciplines from the women's, and is not part of the Olympic Games, where men participate instead in the ten challenges of the decathlon.

Answer: 5,000 m

Mo Farah won gold medals in both the 10,000 and the 5,000 metres at the London Olympics in 2012. His 10000 metres win on 4 August was the first time ever that a British runner had won at that distance in the Olympics, and he followed up his win in style with a further gold in the 5000 metres a week later.

4 August 2012 was Britain's most successful day at the modern Olympic Games for over a hundred years; as well as Mo Farah's win in the 10,000 metres, Jessica Ennis won the heptathlon and Greg Rutherford won the long jump. A further gold medal in cycling and two gold and one silver in rowing had also been won earlier in the day.

Mo Farah also won double gold in the same two distances at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow in 2013. He was honoured with the CBE the same year.

Answer: 1500 m

As Sebastian Coe, he won the 1500 metres at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and again in 1984 in Los Angeles. In addition to many other medals during his career he again won gold at the European Athletics Championships held in Stuttgart in 1986 for the distance of 800 metres. He and his two main rivals Steve Ovett and Steve Cram were among the most prominent middle-distance runners in the 1980s.

Since retiring from athletics, Lord Coe served as a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party for five years before becoming a Life Peer in 2000.