Q 01/05

Together with which event is the long jump classed as a 'horizontal' event?

A) The javelin

B) The high jump

C) The triple

D) The pole vault

Answer · why

C) The triple

The triple jump is the other 'horizontal jump', and it crowned the first champion of the modern Olympics: James Connolly, who walked out of Harvard to...

Q 02/05

Which post-war Games staged the first women's Olympic long jump?

A) London

B) Helsinki

C) Melbourne

D) Rome

Answer · why

A) London

London staged it in 1948, but the world record holder never jumped: limited to three individual events, she chose the sprints and hurdles and won four...

Q 03/05

Why did leader Meyer Prinstein sit out the 1900 Olympic long jump final?

A) He was injured in qualifying

B) He had sailed for home

C) It fell on a Sunday

D) He had turned professional

Answer · why

C) It fell on a Sunday

It fell on a Sunday, and Prinstein did not jump, though he was Jewish himself; his rival Alvin Kraenzlein turned up anyway and narrowly beat his quali...

Q 04/05

What material is traditionally laid just past the long jump board to show when a jumper oversteps?

A) Wet sand

B) Plasticine

C) Chalk dust

D) Talcum powder

Answer · why

B) Plasticine

Plasticine takes a dent from any shoe that crosses the line, which counts as proof of a foul; at elite meets a high-resolution camera on the take-off ...

Q 05/05

A long jump is measured from the take-off line to which point?

A) The farthest mark in the sand

B) Where the jumper came to rest

C) The nearest mark in the sand

D) The middle of the landing mark

Answer · why

C) The nearest mark in the sand

The nearest mark in the sand counts, whichever part of the body made it, so a jumper who lands well and then falls back loses distance, which is why t...