Often tested

Star records and famous moments

Story 4 of 8

Britain has produced plenty of world-class athletes. Test questions usually ask what each one was the first to do, or which titles they won. They are listed below in order of birth; for each person, one headline achievement is enough to remember.

Key factssporting stars (in order of birth)

Sir Roger Bannister (1929–2018): in 1954 he became the first runner ever to complete a mile in less than four minutes.
Sir Jackie Stewart (1939–): a former racing driver from Scotland who was Formula 1 world champion three times.
Bobby Moore (1941–93): captain of England's football team when it won the 1966 World Cup.
Sir Ian Botham (1955–): a former England cricket captain who has held several English Test cricket records for both batting and bowling.
Jayne Torvill (1957–) and Christopher Dean (1958–): ice dancing; Olympic gold in 1984, and world champions four years running.
Sir Steve Redgrave (1962–): rowing; won gold at five Olympic Games in a row, and is often called one of Britain's greatest Olympians.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson (1969–): a wheelchair athlete. Across five Paralympic Games she won 16 medals, 11 of them gold. She was London Marathon winner six times and set 30 world records in all.
Dame Kelly Holmes (1970–): took two running golds at the 2004 Olympics, and has held several British and European records.
Dame Ellen MacArthur (1976–): a sailor who, in 2004, set the record for the fastest solo voyage around the world.
Sir Chris Hoy (1976–): a Scottish cyclist with six Olympic golds and one silver, plus 11 world championship titles.
David Weir (1979–): a wheelchair Paralympian who won six gold medals at two Paralympic Games, and the London Marathon six times.
Sir Bradley Wiggins (1980–): cyclist; the first British winner of the Tour de France, in 2012. Eight Olympic medals in total, with a gold at each of the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games.
Sir Mo Farah (1983–): a long-distance runner born in Somalia. He won Olympic gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at two Games in a row, 2012 and 2016. He was also the first Briton to win Olympic gold in the 10,000 metres.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (1986–): in the heptathlon (a contest made up of seven track and field events) she won Olympic gold in 2012 and silver in 2016. She holds several British athletics records.
Sir Andy Murray (1987–): a Scottish tennis player. In 2012 he won the men's singles at the US Open, the first British man since 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title, and took an Olympic gold and an Olympic silver. He won the Wimbledon men's singles in 2013 and 2016, and another Olympic gold in 2016.
Ellie Simmonds (1994–): a Paralympian who won swimming golds at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Paralympics and holds several world records. In 2008 she was the British team's youngest member.

Some of these stars gave us famous moments. Bannister ran his mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds on 6 May 1954, at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, while he was still a medical student; he later became a neurologist (a doctor for the brain and nerves). After his fourth gold in 1996, Redgrave said that anyone who saw him go near a boat again had his permission to shoot him, but he came back anyway and won a fifth in 2000. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Torvill and Dean skated to Boléro, and every judge gave them a perfect 6.0 for artistic impression. And on 4 August 2012, which the British press called "Super Saturday", Ennis (heptathlon), the long jumper Greg Rutherford and Farah (10,000 metres) all won gold in less than an hour.

Quiz

Which British athlete, in 1954, became the first person ever to run one mile in less than four minutes?

Quiz

Which TWO of these athletes each won the London Marathon six times?

Quiz

Which of the following statements is correct?

Quiz

In which TWO years did Andy Murray win the men's singles title at Wimbledon?

Quiz

Is the statement below TRUE or FALSE? Sir Chris Hoy is a Scottish racing driver who was Formula 1 world champion three times.

Chapter contents: Sport