Was Olga Korbut ever the all-round women's Olympic gymnastics champion?
Anne Roberts, Gillingham, Kent
THE
JUDGE: No. Her Soviet colleague Lyudmila Turischeva was the all-round
champion in the 1972 Munich Games where the elfin-like 17-year-old Olga
Korbut first captured the public imagination. Olga finished seventh in
the all-round competition following a fall on the asymmetric bars. Four
years later in the Montreal Games the all-round title went to Romanian
Nadia Comaneci, with Nelli Kim and Turischeva second and third. Olga
was fifth.
Has Steve Redgrave won any colour of Olympic medal other than his five golds?
Terry Charlton, Barnet
THE
JUDGE: Sir Steven was a bronze medallist with Andrew Holmes in the
coxed pairs at the 1988 Seoul Games. They fared better with the gold in
the coxless pairs.
How many Olympic boxing champions have gone on to win the professional heavyweight title?
Don Evans, Cardiff
THE
JUDGE: Eight - Floyd Patterson (middleweight gold medallist, Helsinki
1952), Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali (light-heavyweight, Rome 1960),
loe Frazier (heavy weight, Tokyo l964), George Foreman (heavyweight,
Mexico 1968), Michael Spinks (middleweight, Montreal 1976), Leon Spinks
(light-heavyweight, Montreal 1976), Ray Mercer (heavyweight, Seoul
1988), Lennox Lewis (super-heavyweight, Seoul 1988). Riddick Bowe was
runner-up in Seoul in the super-heavyweight division after walking into
Lennox's sledgehammer right, and Ingemar Johansson received his silver
medal 30 years after being disqualified in the 1952 heavyweight final
in Helsinki for allegedly not giving of his best. Ingo claimed all the
time that he was using his runaway tactics to try to lure his American
opponent Ed Sanders on to his right-hand counter (Ingo's Bingo), which
brought him a million-dollar jackpot when he landed it on Floyd
Pattersons's chin in 1959.
Who were the the New Zealand athletes who won gold medals in the Olympic 1500 metres event?
Mark WIlliams, Cambridge
THE
JUDGE: Jack Lovelock (1936), Peter Snell (1964) and John Walker (1976).
Each of them had beaten the world 1500 metres record before striking
gold.
