Extraordinary Women Athletes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee was honored by Sports Illustrated magazine as the top woman athlete of the 20th century. She's also one of the most admired sportswomen in the United States. She was born in 1962 and comes from East St. Louis, Illinois. She overcame exercise-induced asthma, which was a concern for her every time she competed.

Her husband and coach, Bob Kersee, was always close by with an inhaler at the ready, always yelling at her to do better at the same time. She finally retired from competition, after an illustrious career.

Answer: Martina Navratilova

All these women were well-known Czech-born tennis players, but Martina Navratilova was the best. Martina was born in 1956 in Prague. She defected to the United States in 1975, and was the dominant player in women's tennis for most of her career. Her main rival was the U.S. player Chris Evert, and their battles were always wonderful to watch. She finally retired in 1994.

Answer: Speed Skating

Bonnie Blair won five gold medals and one bronze in her Olympic career, competing in the Calgary, Albertville and Lillehammer Winter Games. Bonnie was born in 1964 in New York. She was the top-notch speedskater of her era, and one of the all-time high medal winners in the history of the Winter Olympics.

Answer: Nadia Comaneci

Nadia was 6 when she began gymnastics training in Romania. Her trainers were the famous Bela and Marta Karolyi. Nadia was 16 when she went to the Summer Olympics in Montreal. The public response to her performances was extremely enthusiastic, and she inspired many young girls to become gymnasts.

She received the perfect 10 score seven times at the 1976 Olympics, an amazing feat. When she returned home to Romania, she was received as a national heroine.

Answer: United States

Although soccer was not enormously popular in the United States, the whole country was watching while these women played for the World Championship in 1999, and won it. And who can forget when Brandi Chastain whipped off her jersey after their victory, and waved it over her head? They were a terrific inspiration and role model for young girls in the U.S.

Answer: Peggy Fleming

Peggy Fleming's original skating coach, William Kipp, was killed in a plane crash in 1961. He was on a flight to the World Figure Skating Championships when the plane carrying the entire U.S. skating team crashed, killing everyone on board. The competition was canceled for that year.

It was one of the greatest tragedies in sports history. Peggy went on to work with the Italian coach Carlo Fassi, and under his tutelage she won three World Championships from 1966-68, in addition to her Olympic gold medal.

Answer: True

Joan Benoit was born in Maine in 1957. She began running the marathon as therapy for a broken leg. She ran in the Olympic trials less than three weeks after knee surgery. At that time many people thought women wouldn't be able to complete a marathon, that they lacked the stamina, but Joan Benoit showed them.

She ran the Olympic Women's Marathon race with a time of 2:24.52. She was an inspiration to many women.

Answer: Golf

Kathy Whitworth and Nancy Lopez were both great champions. Annika Sorenstam is a a strong golfer who has competed with men players in several competitions, while Lorena Ochoa is a real up-and-comer.

Answer: Australia

Both of the women appeared on Sports Illustrated's list of all-time great sportswomen, with Court placing `15th, and Goolagong at number 72. Evonne caused quite a stir when in 1971, she won the Women's Singles title at Wimbledon (defeating Margaret Court) and the French Open.

She was born in New South Wales in 1951, and was the first Aboriginal woman to achieve success in any sport. She was great fun to watch, and very charismatic. Margaret Smith Court is from New South Wales as well, born in 1942.

She was one of the all-time greats in women's tennis.

Answer: France

Pérec won the World Championship in the 400 meters in Tokyo in 1991, and then the gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She went on to compete in Atlanta in 1996, and won the 200 and the 400 meters, becoming the first athlete to accomplish this remarkable feat.
She was born in Guadeloupe in 1968, and moved to France as a teenager. Her career took a rather bizarre turn when she was set to compete at the Sydney Olympics, then suddenly departed before the competition began, claiming she had been threatened by someone at her hotel.

Answer: Muhammad Ali

Laila is a fine boxer, and she's even a good trash-talker, just like Muhammed. She was born in Miami Beach in 1977, to Muhammad and Veronica Porshe. In her 24 bouts, she was undefeated (21 by KO). Her opponents included Mavis Frazier, the daughter of Joe Frazier, her father's nemesis.

She also took out Christy Martin in four rounds. Martin was considered her toughest competition, but Laila beat her easily.

Answer: Australia

Dawn Fraser was born in Sydney in 1937. She won a total of eight Olympic medals, including four golds. A sprint swimmer, she was the first woman to swim the 100 meters in under a minute, a record which lasted for eight years. She was in constant hot water with Australian officialdom in her sport, and was eventually banned from swimming for 10 years.

Her offenses included wearing the wrong swimsuit for the opening ceremonies in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and allegedly attempting to steal a Japanese flag after some late-night partying. Sports Illustrated placed her in 21st place on their list of greatest female athletes.

Answer: True

Hassiba Boulmerka was the first woman from an Arabic nation to win a world track championship. Born in Algeria in 1968, met with controversy in her country as a result of her competing bare-legged, contrary to Islamic belief that women should always be completely covered from head to toe. She continued to compete and won a gold medal in the 1500 at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992.
Nouria Merah-Benida was born in Algiers in 1970. She won the gold in the 1500 meter race at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Answer: Street

Picabo was born in Idaho in 1971. She won the silver medal in the Lillehammer Olympics downhill race, and got her gold in the 1998 Nagano Super-G. Picabo was once number 45 on the Sports Illustrated list of top women athletes.

Answer: Florence Griffith Joyner

Rarely has there been more speculation about an athlete's performance. Florence won a silver medal in the 200 meter race at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. She had quit the sport almost entirely, when suddenly came back on the scene and set a world record at the next Olympic trials.

She went on to the Summer Olympics in Seoul, and won three gold medals and one silver in the sprint races. Flo-Jo died in 1998, when she was only 37. The cause of death was determined by the coroner to be a result of a grand mal seizure.

There has been much speculation about that as well, and doubt remains in the minds of many people in the sports world. Some felt the cause of her death can be attributed to steroid use, although that had never been proven.