Slipstreaming effect
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.
Cricket and baseball are quite unique in major sport
In major sports, both cricket and baseball are unique because it is the defence that controls the ball.
The Olympic Sport of Cricket
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
The Olympic torch and it’s journey
The Olympic torch on route to its host city has travelled in many ways, it is usually carried by runners, I have even carried one! It has also travelled on boats, airplanes (including the now obsolete Concorde), on horseback, on the back of a camel, via radio signal, underwater, in a canoe, it has also been into space!
Heavyweight’s only undefeated champion
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.
Female boxers banned!
After a male boxer died in 1997, the governing Italian boxing association outlawed female boxing!
Basketball was invented to keep students occupied between sporting seasons
James Naismith the inventor of basketball in 1891 devised the game as a way to occupy students between the American football and baseball seasons.
Chances of getting a sports scholarship in the US?
The chances of getting a full scholarship for sports in any American college is just 1%. The sports are really just restricted to American football, tennis, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and track and field.
Baseball’s first free agent
Jim Hunter became baseball’s first free agent. After contractual issues, he was allowed to leave the Oakland A’s.
Baseball player traded for a turkey
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
Roman God of War
Martial as in martial arts dates back the medieval latin word ‘martialis’ meaning ‘of Mars or war.’ Mars, of course is the Roman god of war.
Designed to kick enemy from their horses!
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art. Taekwondo was developed during the 1870’s and has big kicks designed to knock people from their horses.
Just imagine what he might have won?
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
Total number of medals awarded at each Olympic games
More than 1,800 medals are awarded at Olympics games.
Largest ever ice hockey live viewed game
The 2011 collegiate ice hockey game between Michigan and Michigan State, played at the Big House in Ann Arbor had an attendance of 113,411. Making it the largest ever ice hockey live viewed game.
Rugby player misses debut because of a sandwich!
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?
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
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
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.
The balance beam not used by men
It is thought the reason the men do not use the balance beam as an apparatus in gymnastics is quite simply because of them wanting to protect the old Crown jewels.
Painkillers use in sport
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
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?
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
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
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.