Extreme Sports Quiz

Question: What is considered the world’s premier triathlon competition, encompassing a 3.8-km swim followed by a 180-km bicycle ride and a 42-km run?

Answer: The triathlon is an endurance contest involving swimming, cycling, and running. It evolved out of a 1970s American craze for long-distance running and fitness and was introduced as an Olympic sport at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia. The triathlon debuted in San Diego, California, on September 25, 1974, when a race organized by local athletes Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan was dubbed a triathlon; in that event 46 competitors swam 460 metres (500 yards), ran 9.6 km (6 miles), and biked 8 km (5 miles). Several years later John Collins, a U.S. Navy officer stationed in Hawaii who had finished 35th in the San Diego race, established the Hawaiian Ironman. That triathlon, later called the Ironman World Championship, begins with a 3.8-km (2.4-mile) swim, followed by a 180-km (112-mile) bicycle ride and a 42-km (26.2-mile) run (the equivalent of a marathon). Only 15 athletes participated in the inaugural Hawaiian Ironman triathlon, but the race quickly gained international attention and became the sport’s premier competition.

Question: Which mountaineer (along with his porter) was the first to climb Mont Blanc, Europe’s tallest peak?

Answer: In 1786 a Chamonix doctor, Michel-Gabriel Paccard, and his porter, Jacques Balmat, made the first ascent of Mont Blanc, Europe’s tallest peak.

Question: In 1999 climbers on Mount Everest discovered the body of which English mountaineer?

Answer: The disappearance of George Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine on Mount Everest on June 8, 1924, became one of the most celebrated mysteries of the 20th century. An expedition set out in 1999 to search for the two. It found Mallory’s body at 26,760 feet (8,155 metres), and it was determined that he had died after a bad fall; Irvine was not found.

Question: Edmund Hillary and what Tibetan mountaineer were the first persons to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest?

Answer: Tibetan mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary of New Zealand were the first persons to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.

Question: In May 1978, which two climbers became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental (bottled) oxygen?

Answer: On May 8, 1978, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first people to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.

Question: In which activity do individuals fly untethered in lightweight unpowered aircraft that can be carried by the pilot?

Answer: Hang gliding is the pastime of flying in lightweight unpowered aircraft which can be carried by the pilot. Takeoff is usually achieved by launching into the air from a cliff or hill.