Kiwi Sporting Legends Trivia Quiz

Answer: Athletics / Track & Field

Yvette won her Olympic gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics when she jumped 6.25 metres in the Long Jump. She held the long jump world record for 18 months in 1954 and 1955 with a distance of 6.29m.

Answer: Butterfly

Anthony Mosse competed in the 1988 Los Angeles and 1998 Seoul Olympics gaining a bronze in 200m butterfly in Seoul. He swam his way to two Commonwealth gold medals, an Olympic bronze and a world championship silver; his success resulted in a massive increase in the amount of people swimming competitively in New Zealand.

Answer: Rugby Union (All Blacks)

30 of Whineray's 32 appearances were made as captain of the All Blacks. Out of those 30 games, he led the way to victory 23 times (4 losses, 3 draws). He played prop, scored two tries in All Black tests and had his test debut against Australia in Sydney on the 25 May 1957. The All Blacks won that game 25 - 11.

Answer: Motorsport

Possum is famous in New Zealand and within motorsport for his success as a rally car driver. Possum tragically died on April 30, 2003 after he was involved in a serious crash 12 days earlier while inspecting the "Race to the Sky" track at Cadrona near Queenstown, NZ.

He earned the nickname Possum when he swerved to avoid a possum and rolled his car as a result when he was a teenager. Possum was a seven-time Australian Rally Champion.

Answer: Equestrian

Mark Todd retired from Equestrian after the 2000 Sydney Olympics with a total of two golds and two bronzes in Eventing. He won the Badminton Horse Trials three times, and Burghley three-day event five times. He was voted "Rider of the 20th Century" by the International Equestrian Federation.

Answer: Yachting

Sir Peter Blake was the only sailor to take part in the first five Whitbread Round the World Races. Blake was syndicate head of Team New Zealand when they won the America's Cup in 1995. He was murdered by pirates on an environmental exploration trip into the Amazon in December 2001(the pirates booty? some watches and an outboard motor).

He was posthumously awarded the Olympic Order by the International Olympic Committee.

Answer: Canoeing / Kayaking

Ian won his three gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles games; he also won gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He partnered Paul MacDonald in the K2, 500m at Seoul and Los Angeles, and this sporting pair are possibly New Zealand's most famous sporting duo of the '80s.

Answer: Cricket

Though he played his last test in 1965, Bert still ranks (in 2005) in the top 10 NZ test batting averages list. He played 42 tests, made 2,727 runs with an average of 40.10 and a highest score of 230 not out against India (this was the sixth highest individual test score for a NZer.

He was a left-handed batsmen and is arguably one of NZ finest cricketers ever. He died in 2001 of emphysema.

Answer: Aviation

Jean Batten broke a number of flying records throughout the 1930s. In 1937, she set the record (5 days, 18hrs, 15 minutes) for flying from Australia to England, and in doing so became the first person to simultaneously hold records for flying both directions between Australia and England.

Despite crashing numerous times, Jean lived to an age of 73 when she died of a dog bite that turned septic while living in Majorca. As the people of Majorca did not know her, they buried her in an unmarked paupers grave and the world did not learn of her death until her publisher launched an investigation as to her whereabouts some five years later.

Answer: Alpine Skiing

Annelise was NZ's first winter olympic medallist. She won her silver in the slalom event.