I'll have another turn then!!

This athlete won 3 successive Olympic gold medals and is currently the world record holder.

It was because of his sporting ability that he was given a trial with the Atlanta Braves, but his skills didn't convert easily to baseball.

Javelin World Record holder Jan Zelezny

That's it!!

Next????

This sporting legend was the part the first team to reach the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental (bottled) oxygen, also the first to summit Everest solo without bottled oxygen, also
the only person to reach the summit of all 14 of the world's peaks over 8,000 meters (26,250 feet) without bottled oxygen, first person to climb all of the worlds "Seven Summits" (the highest peaks on each of the seven continents) without, guess what, bottled oxygen, and finally the first person to cross the Antarctic continent without the use of dogs or motorized vehicles. Who is this person?

I think it might be either Wally Berg or Bernard Voyer.

I'll settle for the former, but I'm probably wrong on both counts.

izzi, I'm sorry, but neither one of these is correct.
Wanna try again?

Reinhold Messner. Also the title of cheesey piano band Ben Folds Fives album.

Reinhold Messner is the guy. Nice job quogequox!

Next.....

I'll try one, it's easy!

Born Edson Arantes Di Nascimento, this all-time great is known by only one name! Who is he??

The one and only Pele!!

Go again

This Hall of Fame pitcher died as a result of complications brought on by being poisoned with mustard gas while he was serving with the U.S. Army in Europe during WWI. Who is he?

I think I saw something about this recently...was it Christy Mathewson?

Yep, Christy Mathewson is the guy. Widely regarded to be the greatest pitcher in Giants history. Here are a few of his career highlights. 373 wins, 372 with the Giants, one with the Reds. .665 winning percentage with 83 shutouts and 2500 strikeouts. Career era 2.13. Won 20 games in a season 13 times and 30 games 4 times. Was one of the original five players chosen by writers to be in Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1936, along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Honus Wagner.

Mathewson was considered a true gentleman, a real exception to the hard drinking, rough and generally
coarse men who played the game during his era. His military service was voluntary. He wasn't drafted, being past the cutoff age for conscription. The Army didn't want to send him to Europe to fight, they felt he could be better used in some kind of public relations capacity, but he insisted that he felt strongly about the war and wanted to serve as a common soldier. Eventually he did, was gassed on the battlefield, and died seven years later at an early age as a result.

The legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote this about "Big Six". "Christy Mathewson brought something to Baseball that no one else had ever given to the game. He handed the game a touch of class, an indefinable lift in culture, brains and personality".

So let's keep going with him. Name the pitcher who Mathewson started against in his final game in the big leagues. It was also this other player's final game of a long and highly successful career. This other player is thought to be the only pitcher to have had a winning career record head-to-head against Mathewson. Who is he?

Christy Mathewson faced Three Fingered Brown of the Chicago Cubs on September 4th 1916 which was the final game for both pitchers.

Bingo, gillyharold! Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown was the guy. Don't you think that's one of the best baseball names of all time?

Next.....

Born in 1961, the youngest ever Olympic AA champion. Retired at the age of 20 with an impressive medal haul and took up coaching.

Guess:

Nadia Comaneci

Guess or not, you are correct eire.

Nadia's medal haul stands as follows:

Olympics - 5 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze
European Championships - 9 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
World Championships - 2 Gold, 2 Silver
World Cup - 2 Gold, 1 Silver

Quite an achievement!!!

Your turn

[ 05-08-2002, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: izzi ]

This sporting legend held the world pole vault record an astonishing 16 years. He was the first person to ever clear 15 feet in competition, and did it 43 times before anyone else was able to accomplish it. All of this using a bamboo pole. His record wasn't broken until the advent of the metal pole, a clear improvement in equipment. He never competed in the Olympics, missing the 1936 trials because of an abscessed tooth, in 1940 and 1944 there were no games on account of World War II, and by 1948, he was ineligible because of "professional status". He won the Sullivan Award in 1942 as America's top amatuer athlete, and in 2000 was voted "Pole Vaulter of the Century" by USA Track an Field Magazine. Who is this sporting legend?

[ 05-11-2002, 07:17 AM: Message edited by: tim10001 ]

That was Cornelius Warmerdam, 'Dutch' to his mates.

Go again Tim I'm only here on a flyer.

Yep, "Dutch" was the guy. I met him a few times when I was a kid in the 1960's, and he was the head Track and Field coach at Fresno State. I had a friend whose Mom was attending classes at Fresno State on Saturdays and she would take us with her to the campus and just kind of dump us off, and say "Go play, and try not to get into trouble". And so, my friend Phil and I would wander around the campus generally bugging people and trying to find something interesting to do. One day we walked over to the athletic field where Dutch was putting his athletes through their drills and just watched. After a while Dutch started coaching his pole vaulters and did it himself a few times to demonstrate proper technique. He must have been in his mid to late fifties then, and wearing his coaches garb, long pants, a polo shirt and tennis shoes he was still able to clear about 14 feet. It
was amazing! So, on subsequent trips with Phil and his Mom to the campus we would always go and see if the track team was practicing. It got to where he knew us by our first names and always took the time to say hi, and joke around with us a little when we came around. He was a really nice man. And by all accounts, a great coach.

Dutch died last November of Alzheimers disease at the age of 86. I'll never forget him.

[ 05-11-2002, 07:41 AM: Message edited by: tim10001 ]

Sounds like a great guy, Tim. You have some wonderful memories of him.

Who is the only American athlete to have excelled in football, baseball and track & field at both amateur and professional level?

Is it Jim Thorpe you're looking for?

Yes Tim it was, Jim Thorpe was an superb athlete and might even have known 'Dutch'!

No time to play today, so will someone else follow on.

This American track and field athlete won a record 10 golds in Olympic history, although 2 of them are not recognised by the I.O.C.

He competed in 1900, '04, '06 and '08. The three events which he won were discontinued in 1912.

Who was he and which events did he take part in?