The Post Quiz: Xtreme Sportspeople
Created | Updated Jun 5, 2016
What gave these people their sense of freedom?
The Post Quiz: Xtreme Sportspeople
People have all sorts of reasons for doing, and inventing, extreme challenges. Answer these questions to learn more about some real superheroes. (Or lunatics, take your pick.)
- In 1963, 17-year-old Peggy Townsend sat atop a flagpole in Gadsden, Alabama, for 217 days, setting a world record that lasted for 20 years. Peggy was a survivor, having come through the difficult aftermath of being run over by a car. What prize did the radio station offer Peggy for doing this amazing stunt?
- A car
- A lifetime supply of rock'n'roll records
- A diamond ring
- A movie role
- In 1913, Vladimir Ossovski from St Petersburg performed an early BASE jump from a bridge in Rouen, France. What was he testing?
- His parents' patience
- A local law
- A parachute design
- The bridge's structural integrity
- In 1905, the car US President Theodore Roosevelt was riding in was stopped for speeding. How did the traffic cops stop the car?
- By shooting out the tires
- By waving flags
- By using a water cannon
- By pulling it over on bicycles
- In 1896, what illegal sport were 'scorchers' engaged in?
- Riding flaming balloons
- Exceeding bicycle speed limits
- Drag racing early automobiles
- Climbing skyscrapers
- Antoine de Ville (no kin to Cruella) ascended Mount Aiguille in France, marking the beginning of mountain climbing as a sport. What year was this?
- 1492
- 1666
- 1789
- 1840
- In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb did something unusual, and it was the first time anyone did it. What was it?
- Climbed the Matterhorn
- Bungee jumped off the Forth Bridge
- Swam the English Channel
- Travelled by submarine
- In 875, Andalusian poet and inventor Abbas ibn Firnas did something interesting in the sporting line. What was it?
- He invented a new bullfighting manoeuvre.
- He wrote a poem hanging upside down in a tree.
- He experimented with hang gliding.
- He swam from Spain to Morocco.
- In 1944, Betty Magnusson, an American WAC, saw kids doing something intriguing in France. What was it?
- Carjacking abandoned German tanks
- Parachuting hamsters out of windows
- Tossing Frisbees
- Skateboarding
- Which of these sports is real?
- Xtreme hula hooping
- Professional mini golf
- Xpogo
- All of the above
- In the book Twilight Memories: Marking Time in a Culture of Amnesia, Andreas Huyssen writes, '…in our metropolitan centres the flaneur…has been replaced by the marathon runner…' What is extreme about flaneurs?
- Their knowledge
- Their speed
- Their endurance
- Their slowness
Did you know all that? You must be into extreme trivia. If you want the answers, click on the picture.