How'd You Screw That One Up? Trivia Quiz

Answer: He overslept

Esajas was an 800 metre specialist and his country had high hopes for him. When he didn't appear it was reported that he'd overslept and missed his big day. Esajas denied this and for years his protestations fell on deaf ears. He became bitter about it and walked away from his sport. Turning to study, he earned a diploma in horticulture and became a floriculturist. Eventually he would make a name for himself creating plant barges from recycled old tyres.

He passed away in 2005 but two weeks prior to his death it was revealed that he had not been at fault in the Olympic mishap. Rather, the team's Olympic Committee Secretary General had mistakenly informed him that his heat was scheduled for the afternoon and not the morning. Esajas was presented with a letter of apology from his country and received a plaque honouring him as his country's first Olympian.

Answer: He misses his tap in for par

Slightly peeved that he didn't make the birdie putt Irwin failed to concentrate fully on his tap in for par and completely missed the ball. This meant that he recorded a bogey instead of a certain par. Hale would end up being runner up to Tom Watson, one stroke behind. There's no guarantee that Irwin would have beaten Watson but the missed putt, at least, deprived him of an opportunity to take the game to a play-off. For Irwin this would be his only Top Ten and best finish in the British Open.

Answer: He (Marshall) had run the wrong way

Jim Marshall had a decorated career with the Vikings between 1961 and 1979. He had played 270 games consecutively to establish a record that would eventually be broken by Brett Favre. He also won two Pro Bowl designations in 1968 and 1969. Unfortunately these highlights will forever be dimmed alongside his "wrong way" run.

As he crossed into the (his own) end zone he threw the ball away to celebrate what he thought was a touchdown. The ball went out of bounds providing his opponents, the San Francisco 49ers, with a safety. Fortunately for Marshall, the Vikings would go on to win the game 27-22.

Answer: Mark Spitz

Spitz's bravado was brought about by his claiming of five gold medals at the Pan American games the previous year and the fact that he was the holder of ten world records approaching the dawn of the next Olympics. The boast backfired on him. In the end he failed to win a single individual gold medal at the games.

He was only successful in bringing home gold in the 4x100 and 4x200 metre freestyle relay swims. To add salt to the wound, he was edged out for gold by his fellow countryman Doug Russell in the 100 metre butterfly final.

This then relegated him to being a spectator as his team won the gold medal in the 4x100 metre medley race. Spitz was able to redeem himself four years later at Munich where he secured seven Olympic gold medals, all of them in a world record time.

Answer: He failed to make the weight for his division

To be fair to Thomas, in his first round fight against Chilean boxer Carlos Lillo he lost the bout by a very narrow points margin. It was understandable then that he'd be disappointed at this. It was also understandable that he seek some way to console himself.

He had a passion for food and the Germans had some fine fare to serve up. It was at this point that the officials discovered that one of the judges had incorrectly swapped his point tallies between the two boxers and in rectifying the mistake it made Thomas the victor. Sadly Thomas had stacked on some pounds and despite every effort he was still five pounds over the limit at the weigh in for the second fight.

He was disqualified and the Chilean boxer reinstated.

Answer: The two fieldsmen collide

Truth be known there was still a bit of work required to take the catch and it wasn't quite as straight forward as described above. However, it was a catch that should have been taken. The Australian captain Steve Waugh and their opening bowler Jason Gillespie both converged on the chance from opposite directions. Both men had their eyes fixed on the ball and neither communicated that it was their catch, which resulted in a sickening collision between the two. Waugh managed to walk off the field but required surgery to repair a broken nose.

He was able to return later on in the game. Gillespie however, fared a great deal worse. He had his leg broken, was stretchered off the ground and missed many months of cricket.

Answer: All of these occurred.

In what has become known as "the meltdown," van de Velde decided to be aggressive, rather than conservative, and finish the Championship in style. Instead of the safety of a long iron he chose his driver. He pushed his drive to the right, so far to the right that it ended up in the rough of the 17th hole and not the 18th, the one on which he was playing.

His second shot hit the grandstand. Here his luck deserted him. Had the ball stayed in the grandstand he would have been allowed to take a drop (without penalty) and most likely would have had his ball in a playable lie.

Instead his ball ricocheted back fifty yards from the stands, hit a rock and then bounced into knee deep rough. With the rough reducing his ability to control his next shot his ball flew across the front of the green and into a water hazard.

In a moment of lunacy van de Velde removed his shoes and socks, got into the water and actually contemplated playing his next shot from there. Common sense prevailed and he took a drop. Sadly for Jean the pain did not stop there.

His approach shot found a greenside bunker. From there he pitched safely onto the green and executed a tricky eight foot putt to register a triple bogey. This placed him in a three way playoff with Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard. By this time Jean had lost his momentum and was never a serious threat in the playoff, which was won by Lawrie.

Answer: He head-butted an opponent

The sporting stage does not get much bigger than the final of a FIFA World Cup. In what had been an enthralling contest between France and Italy, the teams found themselves locked at one goal each by the end of regular time. Zidane had scored for France in the seventh minute and a header from him during extra time nearly sealed the victory for his country.

Then, near the end of extra time, came Zidane's brain snap. He head-butted the chest of Italian centre back Marco Materazzi and immediately received his marching orders from referee Elizondo.

The game was decided by a penalty shoot-out which Italy won 5-3. Somehow, I reckon the French would have preferred to have their best penalty shooter on the ground to take one of those shots.

Answer: England won 5-1

This series was overshadowed by the continuing "war" between cricket's establishment and Kerry Packer's breakaway World Series Cricket. Whilst both countries had suffered player losses to the rebel league, Australia was the team more severely handicapped by it. England still had a formidable batting line-up boasting the likes of Gower, Randall, Gooch, and Boycott, but their strength lay with their bowlers of Willis, Old, Edmonds, and the irrepressible Ian Botham. For Australia, their batting collapses came all too frequently and the tone of the losses were severe.

They were thrashed in almost every quarter. Their sole victory, the Third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, came on the back of a gritty century from Graham Wood and some ferocious bowling by Rodney Hogg, who took sets of five wickets in both innings.

Answer: Pole Vault

In 1991 O'Brien had won the decathlon at the World Championships. He was acclaimed as the "world's greatest athlete" and was installed as the red hot favourite to win gold at the Olympics. At the US Olympic trials, he was well ahead of his competitors coming to the eighth event, the pole vault.

He only needed to clear a set height and he would have earned enough points to qualify. He declined to jump at the first setting (Why?). He turned down the offer at the second setting (What?) and the third (Are you serious?) as well as the fourth (No! Say it isn't so).

He decided to take his turn when the height reached a rather challenging fifteen feet and nine inches where he failed at all three attempts. This dropped him from first place to twelfth, a position he could not recover from.

A month after the Olympics had completed he set a new world record of 8,891 points at a decathlon meeting in Talance, France. O'Brien qualified for the US team for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and secured his Olympic gold medal there.