Slipstreaming effect

TavCycling, Fact, Motorsport, Swimming

In the sports of running, swimming, motorsports and cycling, slipstreaming can give you a valuable advantage. By cycling in somebody’s slipstream, you use about 30% less energy than the person in front.

The Olympic Sport of Cricket

TavCricket, Fact, Olympics

Cricket was played as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics. Four teams entered the competition, Belgium, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. However, Belgium and the Netherlands pulled out, leaving Great Britain to play France in a straight 2-day final. Neither team was nationally selected. The British side was a touring club, the Devon and Somerset and the French team ... Read More

Heavyweight’s only undefeated champion

TavBoxing, Fact

The only heavyweight boxing champion to finish his career undefeated was nicknamed ‘The Brockton Blockbuster’. Rocky Marciano defended his title six times and finished his career with a record of 49 wins and no defeats.

Baseball player traded for a turkey

TavBaseball, Fact

Baseball team owner, Joe Engel, in 1931 decided to trade his shortstop for a turkey. Johnny Jones was a Chattanooga Lookouts player that, if we are being honest, wasn’t any good. He was such a weak-hitting shortstop that even the press complained about him. Joe Engel decided to trade him to the Charlotte Hornets of the Piedmont League. In return, ... Read More

Just imagine what he might have won?

TavFact, Olympics

Aladár Gerevich might have won more than his seven gold medals in six different Olympics! He was a fencer and he was an expert at the sabre. He won his first in the LA games of 1932 and his last in Rome (1960), we can only imagine what might have happened if the 1940 and 1944 Games of Tokyo and ... Read More

Rugby player misses debut because of a sandwich!

TavFact, Rugby

Because of a sandwich, French rugby player Gaston Vareilles missed his international debut against Scotland in 1910. The team train stopped at Lyon and Vareilles jumped of quickly to buy himself a sandwich. Unfortunately, by the time he returned to the platform, the train had left without him! He was never picked for his country again.

Power or Control in Tennis?

TavFact, Tennis

Most tennis racquets are strung to between 50 and 70 pounds. Rackets with lower tensions give more power to the racket and less control. The opposite is found for higher tensioned rackets with are characterised by more control and less power.

Bleep Test statistics

TavFact, Fitness

To complete the Multi Stage Fitness test, you must run an accumulative 4920m and it will take you 21:56 minutes to do so. You will also complete 247 laps and reach a speed of 18.5km an hour or 11.5 miles per hour.

David Beckham didn’t complete the Bleep Test

TavFact, Fitness

David Beckham did not complete the Multi Stage Fitness Test (Bleep Test). The record (ATOW) is Level 17 Shuttle 1. A few athletes share the record and they are Sebastian Coe of Athletics, football player Lee Gong Dook, Zain Wright from Field hockey and basketball’s Steve Nash.

Painkillers use in sport

TavDrugs, Fact

Painkillers mask athletes’ pain in order to continue competing beyond their usual pain thresholds. They range from common over-the-counter medicines such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen to prescription narcotics such as morphine.

Canoeing or Kayaking

TavCanoe / Kayak, Fact

Canoeing is when the person sits or kneels in a central and forward-facing position. They use a single or double-bladed paddle. Kayaking is when the canoeist sits and uses only a double-bladed paddle.

Snatch or the Clean and Jerk?

TavFact, Weightlifting

The Clean and jerk action lets the athlete raise more weight than with the snatch technique. Athletes generally lift at least twice their own body weight in this discipline of the weight lifting event.

Coxswain or Cox in Rowing

TavEtymology, Fact, Rowing

The word ‘coxswain’ comes from the early 14th century. He was the ‘officer in charge of a ship’s boat and its crew,’ from cock ‘ship’s boat’ + swain ‘boy’, from Old Norse sveinn ‘boy, servant’.

Pits in Motorsport

TavFact, Motorsport

In Formula 1 racing and other motorsport, we often hear about the pits for tyre changing and refuelling. These areas are known as the pits because originally there were actual pits where mechanics could service their vehicles from underneath the cars during races.