Sporting Quiz Of The Year

TROUBLED TIMES

1 Who got into trouble for saying that playing conditions were such that "I felt like I had smoked 10 joints"?

2 Who saw red in his national stadium but returned less than four weeks later to inspire his country to a historic triumph?

3 Who was sent home from France after claiming that some of his colleagues had become "untouchables"?

4 Who whistled up a storm by pretending to play a flute?

5 Who collected his 12th and 13th yellow cards and his first red in his 44th England match?

RECORD BREAKERS

1 Who needed only 574 attempts to become one of the 24 men of the century?

2 ...and who needed 38 attempts to achieve his century landmark?

3 Whose elevation in March was the quickest in 110 years of history?

4 Which South African No 10 performed a feat equalled only by an Englishman in 1884 and an Australian in 1902?

5 Who got into double figures for the first time in his England career at the age of 32?

THE WEMBLEY WAY

1 On what occasion did no Englishman feature in a match at Wembley which saw one team reach a half-century and their opponents fail to score?

2 Who earned a place at Wembley thanks to a strike by a Liberian?

3 Which Wembley final ended with a British coach guiding a team to victory for the first time since 1986?

4 When was an 18-year-old Englishman upstaged at Wembley by a 23-year- old Chilean?

5 Which Italian helped his side lift a trophy by scoring at Wembley for the second time in 10 months?

WINNERS AND LOSERS

1 Whose limited talent earned them two trophies in the space of 24 hours?

2 Who scored the goal which brought back to London a trophy which his club had last won 27 years ago?

3 Who took 26 seconds off the record for an annual race over four miles and 374 yards?

4 Which Englishman triumphed at English Turn to record his first victory at only his eighth attempt?

5 When did a Tankard fail in a cup?

GROUNDS FOR DEBATE

1 Who headed west after leaving a ground where rugby had been played for more than 130 years?

2 ...and who left a ground which had staged rugby for 112 years to move in with footballing neighbours who promptly won their championship and promotion?

3 Who moved from their inner-city home to a pounds 270m stadium built on a chemically polluted former gasworks site?

4 Why was there a chorus of "Vialli, Vialli" during a match at Goodison Park when Chelsea were playing at Stamford Bridge?

5 Who failed to win at home until the ninth month of the season?

FAME FOR 15 MINUTES

Why did the following make the headlines?

1 Simon Fenn

2 Lleyton Hewitt

3 Giuliano Grazioli

4 Sean Olsson

5 Steve Simonsen

END OF THE LINE

1 Who finally won gold after a sequence of 13 silvers or bronzes?

2 Who prevented a world record by succeeding where 17 teams before them had failed?

3 Which player paid the final penalty for failing at the 14th attempt after 13 successes?

4 Who enjoyed double delight after ending a run of 37 international matches without a goal?

5 Whose major run ended after 37 years and 146 consecutive appearances?

6 ...and whose run ended after 2,632 consecutive returns to base dating back to 1982?

7 Which player from Belarus finally beat her German opponent after 17 unsuccessful attempts?

8 Who cheered hearts by ending a 36-year wait for a trophy?

9 Whose run of 63 consecutive appearances was ended by a bad back?

10 Whose nine-year winning run ended when a Swede and a Norwegian scored goals for a rival firm?

GOLDEN OLDIES

1 Which Czech went Down Under to break his duck at the age of 30?

2 Which 31-year-old kept his bottle in Bordeaux to kick his team to a famous victory?

3 ...and which Australian retired after kicking his team to final glory?

4 Which 37-year-old bucked his own previous form in the event to inspire his team to one of the biggest upsets in his sport's history in San Diego?

5 Which American achieved finally major success at the age of 41?

THE GLOBAL GAME

1 What run dating back over 18 years did the Irishman Denis Hickie end in Paris?

2 Who was the 28-year-old farmer's daughter from Cavan who recorded Ireland's first success in London?

3 What began in Thailand in January and visited Australia, South Africa, Scotland and Dubai before finishing the year in November in Spain?

4 Which three Britons took less than 21 seconds to clean up in Budapest?

5 At which Test match did no more wickets fall after three went down in the first hour?

6 Which 27-year-old became the first Frenchman to triumph in Surrey in June when he held off the challenge of a 42-year-old Ulsterman?

7 Which 22-year-old Scotsman conquered the world for the first time by beating an Irishman in Sheffield?

8 Why did more than 100 million television viewers watch live coverage of a First Division match in the Nationwide League in September?

9 Who spent three weeks racing over 3,711 kilometres to become the first Italian to triumph in Paris for 33 years?

10 Which American, born in Canada of English and German parents, gave up trying to conquer America, moved to Japan, and came within a stroke of conquering Britain?

WHO SAID IT?

1 "I'm going to feel every minute of it this time. I can't remember the last two so it's going to be very nice. We're going to show the French boys how to party."

2 "Coming from Tobago, which is such a small island where football comes second to cricket, it was a dream opportunity to play here."

3 "I don't care whether you're Alan Shearer or The Pope, you don't do things like that."

4 "I just felt in the early stages of the tournament he was not quite there mentally - but he is now."

5 "I went out on a limb for him. I tried so many times to make him see what he needed to do, at the age of 31, to deal with the modern game."

6 "He couldn't talk, but he didn't need to apologise. Everyone could see how he felt. The evidence is there for everyone, for him more than anybody, of how much it hurt him and the team."

7 "I was very nervous, to be honest. I was just trying to focus my mind, trying to stay cool, not to get excited, not to tire myself, not to worry. I knew I needed only to finish second to win the title, but that made me uncomfortable."

8 "I'm a bit of a jammy git. Tom Jenks should have ridden him."

9 "Not going past Sir Don probably saved me from getting stabbed in the street. I reckon I get a minimum of 10 people a day coming up to me and kissing me and telling me how great it was I didn't go past him."

10 "He came up to me after the match to apologise, saying he was sorry that I had been sent off. I felt like punching him then."

SPORTING QUIZ ANSWERS

Answers to sporting quiz of the year from page 18

WHERE IN THE WORLD

(Clockwise, from top left)

1 Royal Birkdale, where 17-year-old Justin Rose finished joint fourth in the Open

2 Silverstone, where Damon Hill spun out of the British Grand Prix

3 Wembley, where England played Saudi Arabia in a World Cup warm-up match

4 Atlantic City, where Lennox Lewis knocked out Shannon Briggs in March to retain his WBC heavyweight title

5 The Bislett Stadium in Oslo, where Britain's Mark Richardson inflicted a rare defeat on Michael Johnson

6 Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, where England's Alec Stewart was among those who suffered because of the dangerous pitch, which led to the abandonment of the first Test against the West Indies

7 (centre) Stade Roland Garros, where Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna won the women's doubles title

1 Adam Hollioake, who was describing the weather in Bangladesh during the England cricket team's defeat by South Africa in the Wills International Cup

2 France's Zinedine Zidane, who was sent off against Saudi Arabia in the Stade de France but went on to score two goals in the World Cup final

3 Faustino Asprilla after being substituted during Colombia's first World Cup game against Romania

4 Paul Gascoigne, whose provocative musical mime angered Celtic fans at the Old Firm match in January

5 Paul Ince, sent off in Sweden after two bookings

RECORD BREAKERS

1 Graeme Hick, who became the 24th cricketer to score 100 first-class centuries. He achieved the mark in his 574th innings, making him the third fastest centurion behind Don Bradman (295) and Denis Compton (552)

2 Mark Ramprakash, who hit his first Test century (after 38 innings) in the fifth Test against West Indies in Barbados

3 Notts County, who secured a place in the Second Division on 29 March, the earliest a club has achieved promotion in the Football League's 110- year history

4 Pat Symcox, who scored the first Test century by a No 10 batsman for 96 years when he hit 108 for South Africa against Pakistan in Johannesburg

5 Angus Fraser, who took his first 10-wicket haul in a Test match against the West Indies in Port of Spain in February

THE WEMBLEY WAY

1 France beat Wales 51-0 at Wembley in rugby union's Five Nations' Championship

2 Arsenal, whose only goal in their FA Cup semi-final against Wolves was scored by the Liberian striker Christopher Wreh

3 Rugby league's Challenge Cup final, in which John Kear's Sheffield side upset the odds by beating Wigan

4 Marcelo Salas scored twice at Wembley in February to give Chile a 2- 0 victory over England, whose team included their youngest player this century, Michael Owen

5 Roberto Di Matteo, who scored for Chelsea in their Coca-Cola Cup triumph over Middlesbrough. He also scored Chelsea's opening goal in last year's FA Cup final

WINNERS AND LOSERS

1 Lancashire, who won two of cricket's limited-overs competitions, the NatWest Trophy and the Axa League, on successive days

2 Gianfranco Zola's goal gave Chelsea victory over VfB Stuttgart in the European Cup-Winners' Cup final. Chelsea had last won the trophy in Athens in 1971

3 Cambridge, who took advantage of advantageous weather conditions to win the 144th Boat Race in record time

4 Lee Westwood, who won the Freeport-McDermott Classic at English Turn, New Orleans, in only his eighth golf tournament in America

5 Port Vale's Allen Tankard missed the final penalty in an FA Cup third round shoot-out against Arsenal

GROUNDS FOR DEBATE

1 Richmond Rugby Club, who left the Athletic Ground to share with Reading Football Club

2 Halifax, who left Thrum Hall in March and moved into The Shay, home of the Conference winners Halifax Town

3 France, who used to play their major matches at the Parc des Princes in Paris, played their first match at the Stade de France in St Denis, venue of the World Cup final, in January

4 Everton fans celebrated Chelsea's 2-0 win over Bolton on the last day of the season, which guaranteed their club's Premiership survival

5 Crystal Palace, who recorded their first home Premiership win of the season on 18 April

FAME FOR 15 MINUTES

1 The London Scottish rugby union player had his ear bitten during a game against Bath in January

2 The 16-year-old Australian became the youngest tennis player to win an ATP event, the Australian men's hardcourt championship in February

3 The Stevenage Borough forward scored the equaliser to earn an FA Cup third round replay against Newcastle United

4 Olsson was the leader of Britain's four-man bobsleigh team, whose bronze was the only British medal success at the Winter Olympics in Nagano

5 Everton made Simonsen the most expensive goalkeeper in English football history when they agreed a pounds 3.3m deal to sign him from Tranmere

END OF THE LINE

1 Tony Jarrett, the British athlete, who won the 110m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games

2 The England rugby union team, who stopped South Africa establishing a world record of 18 consecutive victories by beating them at Twickenham

3 Sunderland's Michael Gray, whose miss gave Charlton a 7-6 victory in the penalty shoot-out at the First Division play-off final

4 Lilian Thuram, who scored both of France's goals in their 2-1 victory over Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals

5 Jack Nicklaus, who missed a major championship for the first time since 1961 when he pulled out of the Open at Royal Birkdale

6 Cal Ripken, who in September was left out of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team - at his own request

7 Natasha Zvereva, who beat Steffi Graf at Wimbledon

8 Heart of Midlothian, who ended years of disappointment for their fans by beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup final

9 Michael Atherton, whose run of consecutive Test appearances ended when he withdrew from the game against Sri Lanka

10 Rangers, whose attempt to win the Scottish championship for the 10th season in succession ended when Celtic beat St Johnstone 2-0 with goals by Henrik Larsson and Harald Brattback

GOLDEN OLDIES

1 Petr Korda, who won his first Grand Slam tennis title at the Australian Open

2 Jon Callard, whose late penalty earned Bath a 19-18 victory over Brive in rugby union's Heineken Cup final

3 Michael Lynagh, whose six successful kicks helped Saracens beat Wasps in rugby union's Tetley's Bitter Cup final

4 John Elway, the Denver Broncos quarterback, led his team to a 31-24 Super Bowl victory over the Green Bay Packers. He had been on the losing side in his three previous Super Bowl appearances

5 Mark O'Meara, who won his first major golf title with his triumph at the US Masters at Augusta in April

THE GLOBAL GAME

1 Hickie's try for Ireland against France was the first scored by Ireland in Paris since 1980

2 Catherina McKiernan, who provided Ireland's first victory in the London Marathon

3 The European golf tour

4 Doug Walker, Doug Turner and Julian Golding, who took the first three places in the men's 200 metres final at the European athletics championships

5 The first Test between West Indies and England in Jamaica was abandoned after 56 minutes because of a dangerous pitch with England on 17 for 3

6 Olivier Peslier, riding High-Rise, held off John Reid, on City Honours, to become the first French jockey to win the Derby at Epsom since 1963

7 John Higgins won the world snooker championship by beating Ken Doherty

8 Crystal Palace's home game against Sheffield United was televised live in China following the signing of two Chinese internationals by Crystal Palace

9 Marco Pantani, winner of the Tour de France

10 Brian Watts, who was beaten by Mark O'Meara in a play-off for the Open at Royal Birkdale. Watts earned success in Japan after failing to secure his US Tour card

WHO SAID IT?

1 Tony Adams, the Arsenal captain, after his team's Premiership triumph

2 Dwight Yorke on his transfer from Aston Villa to Manchester United

3 Martin O'Neill, Leicester City manager, after Shearer's controversial challenge on Neil Lennon in April

4 Glenn Hoddle on David Beckham after his free-kick had helped England beat Colombia 2-0 and qualify for the second round of the World Cup

5 Glenn Hoddle explaining the omission of Paul Gascoigne from England's World Cup squad

6 Glenn Hoddle on David Beckham after the Manchester United player's sending-off against Argentina in the World Cup

7 Mika Hakkinen on pre-race nerves before his Formula One championship- winning triumph in the Japanese Grand Prix

8 Carl Llewellyn, rider of the Grand National winner, Earth Summit

9 Mark Taylor, Australia's cricket captain, on reaction to his decision to declare against Pakistan while he was on 334 not out. It was his career- best total and equalled that of Sir Donald Bradman

10 France's Laurent Blanc on being denied a place in the World Cup final when he was sent off after Croatia's Slaven Bilic had fallen theatrically in the semi-finals