98 Fun Facts About Sports History

Which country won the FIFA World Cup five times between 1958 and 2002?

Brazil won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002; the third title let it keep the Jules Rimet Trophy for good, but the cup was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered.

The NBA championship trophy is named after which former commissioner?

Larry O'Brien chaired the Democratic National Committee when burglars broke into its Watergate offices in 1972; he then ran the NBA from 1975 to 1984, and the trophy took his name that year.

Jackie Robinson broke MLB's color barrier in 1947 with which team?

The Brooklyn Dodgers' Branch Rickey signed Robinson after telling him he wanted a player with guts enough not to fight back against abuse; MLB retired his number 42 for every team in 1997.

The 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' heavyweight title fight took place in which African country?

Zaire's ruler Mobutu Sese Seko bankrolled the fight, hoping a world title bout would bring his young state attention and investment; the country is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Which swimmer won a record 23 Olympic gold medals between 2004 and 2016?

Michael Phelps retired after the 2012 Games, came back two years later and won five more golds in 2016; his 2008 butterfly win had come by one hundredth of a second.

Who won the first Super Bowl, in January 1967?

The Green Bay Packers beat the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in what was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game; about a third of the stadium's seats went unsold.

Which team sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees?

The Boston Red Sox sold Ruth after their 1919 campaign; he went on to hit 714 home runs, while the club waited 86 years for its next World Series title, a drought fans called the Curse of the Bambino.

Which Greek sanctuary hosted ancient games every four years from 776 BC?

Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, hosted them for over a thousand years; a sacred truce let athletes and pilgrims travel to the Games in safety.

In the 1980 'Miracle on Ice', the US Olympic hockey team upset which four-time defending gold medallist?

The US beat the Soviet Union 4-3 in the Lake Placid medal round on February 22, 1980, then beat Finland 4-2 to clinch the gold.

Which sport did Michael Jordan famously leave basketball to play professionally?

Baseball was a detour of barely a year: Jordan batted .202 for the Double-A Birmingham Barons in 1994, then announced his NBA return in March 1995 with a two-word statement, 'I'm back.'

What is the back-first high jump technique that won gold at the 1968 Olympics called?

The Fosbury Flop won Dick Fosbury gold with a 2.24 m leap; landing on the neck and shoulders only became safe once foam mats replaced sand pits, and the flop soon became the dominant style.

Diego Maradona's infamous "Hand of God" goal occurred during which World Cup?

Maradona punched the ball past Peter Shilton in Argentina's 1986 quarter-final against England at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, then scored the 'Goal of the Century' four minutes later.

Which player scored 100 points in a single NBA game in March 1962?

Wilt Chamberlain did it for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania; the game was not televised and no film of it exists, only a radio recording of the fourth quarter.

Which boxer bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 bout?

Mike Tyson bit both of Holyfield's ears in the third round of their 1997 rematch and was disqualified; Nevada then revoked his boxing licence and fined him $3 million.

Which man won his 24th Grand Slam singles title, a men's record, at the 2023 US Open?

Novak Djokovic had passed Rafael Nadal's 22 earlier in 2023; four years before, he had saved two championship points on Roger Federer's serve and still won a major final.

Who founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894?

Pierre de Coubertin later won an Olympic gold medal himself: his poem 'Ode to Sport', entered under a pseudonym, took the literature prize at the 1912 Games.

Who broke Babe Ruth's career home run record in 1974?

Hank Aaron hit number 715 off the Dodgers' Al Downing on April 8, 1974, after a year of hate mail and death threats from people who did not want a Black player to pass Ruth.

Which footballer won three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1970?

Pelé was 17 when he won the first; injury ended his 1962 tournament after two games, and under the rules of the day he had to wait until 2007 to receive that winner's medal.

Which city hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, controversially used as propaganda by the Nazi regime?

Berlin won the vote in 1931, two years before Hitler took power; his regime then turned the Games into a showcase and staged the first Olympic torch relay.

What was the original name of the NBA when it was founded in 1946?

The Basketball Association of America was started in 1946 by owners of big hockey arenas who wanted to fill their empty nights; it took the NBA name after merging with the National Basketball League in 1949.

Which sprinter was stripped of his 1988 Olympic 100m gold medal after testing positive for stanozolol?

Ben Johnson's world-record 9.79 was erased three days later and the gold passed to Carl Lewis, who had run 9.92; the final became known as 'the dirtiest race in history'.

In which event did Al Oerter win the same individual title at four straight Olympics?

Al Oerter won the discus throw at four straight Games from 1956 to 1968, each with an Olympic record; in 1964 he did it wearing a neck brace, days after tearing rib cartilage.

Charlotte Cooper became the first individual female Olympic champion in which sport?

Charlotte Cooper won the women's tennis singles at Paris 1900, the first individual Olympic title won by a woman; sailor Hélène de Pourtalès had won gold earlier as part of a crew.

Which team completed the first perfect season in NFL history, going 17-0 in 1972?

The Miami Dolphins lost quarterback Bob Griese to a broken ankle in week five, so veteran backup Earl Morrall started the rest of the regular season before Griese returned to win Super Bowl VII.

Which cyclist was stripped of seven Tour de France titles due to doping?

Lance Armstrong lost all seven titles, 1999 to 2005, in 2012; cycling's governing body left those Tours with no winner, and he admitted doping in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The ancient Mesoamerican ballgame was played with a solid ball made of which material?

Rubber balls weighing up to about 4 kg were kept in play mainly with the hips; a version of the game called ulama is still played in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

The American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics protested the invasion of which country?

Afghanistan was invaded in December 1979; President Carter set a deadline for withdrawal, and when it passed the American team and dozens of others stayed away from Moscow.

Which athlete won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany?

Jesse Owens won the 100 m, 200 m, long jump and sprint relay; back home he struggled to find work, and at times raced against horses for prize money.

Which player's 56-game hitting streak in 1941 set the MLB record?

Joe DiMaggio hit safely in every Yankees game from May 15 to July 16, 1941; two backhand stops by Cleveland third baseman Ken Keltner finally ended the run at 56.

Who beat Bobby Riggs in the 1973 'Battle of the Sexes' at the Houston Astrodome?

Billie Jean King had declined Riggs's first challenge; after he beat Margaret Court that May she accepted, and won 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in front of 30,472 people.

Which ancient Olympic event mixed wrestling and boxing under just two rules?

Pankration had just two rules, no biting and no eye gouging, which referees enforced with rods; a bout went on until one fighter gave in.

Which player set the MLB career home run record of 762 in 2007, shadowed by the BALCO steroid investigation?

Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run on August 7, 2007, and finished that season with 762; he was indicted in November 2007 for perjury over BALCO grand-jury testimony.

Who won the first women's Olympic marathon, in 1984?

Joan Benoit had arthroscopic knee surgery just 17 days before the US trials and qualified anyway; at the Games she pulled away after three miles and won by more than a minute.

Which race is the third and final leg of the US Triple Crown?

The Belmont Stakes comes last but is the oldest of the three races, first run in 1867, eight years before the Kentucky Derby; normally a mile and a half, it is also the longest, and is nicknamed the Test of the Champion.

Which sport was dropped from the Olympics after the 1936 Games and has never returned?

Polo appeared at five Games between 1900 and 1936; Argentina won the last two tournaments, in 1924 and 1936, and so has been the reigning Olympic champion ever since.

Which college football rivalry, first played in 1897, did ESPN rank in 2000 as North America's greatest sports rivalry?

Ohio State vs Michigan peaked in the 'Ten Year War' of 1969 to 1978, when Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes faced Bo Schembechler, who had once played for him and served as his assistant.

Which boxer refused the draft in 1967, was convicted and stripped of his titles?

Muhammad Ali refused induction in April 1967, was convicted and stripped of his titles; he stayed free on appeal and the Supreme Court overturned the conviction 8-0 in June 1971.

Which sport was the first to be played on the Moon?

Golf reached the Moon in 1971 when Apollo 14's Alan Shepard hit two balls with a six-iron head fixed to a sampling tool; he joked that one went 'miles and miles', but it flew about 40 yards.

Which country won a record fourth Rugby World Cup in 2023?

South Africa missed the first two World Cups because of the apartheid-era sports boycott; in 2023 it won its quarter-final, semi-final and final by a single point each.

Who beat Carl Lewis at the 1991 Tokyo Worlds with an 8.95 m long jump world record?

Mike Powell's 8.95 m broke a world record that had stood since 1968; Carl Lewis jumped a wind-aided 8.91 m in the same final, further than the old record, and still lost.

Which ancient Greek footrace was run wearing a helmet and carrying a shield?

The hoplitodromos joined the Olympic programme in 520 BC; while athletes ran the other races naked, its runners wore a helmet and carried the heavy shield of the hoplite foot soldier.

Who was the first African American to win a Grand Slam tennis title?

Althea Gibson won five major singles titles from 1956 to 1958, then quit amateur tennis because it paid no prize money, and in the 1960s became the first Black player on the LPGA tour.

Which city was chosen to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, its third time as host?

Los Angeles, host in 1932 and 1984, got 2028 in an unusual double award: with only two bidders left, the IOC gave 2024 to Paris and 2028 to Los Angeles at the same 2017 session.

A 19-18 NBA game in 1950 helped bring about which rule change four years later?

The 24-second shot clock ended stalling games like Fort Wayne's 19-18 win over Minneapolis; Syracuse owner Danny Biasone got the number by dividing 2,880 seconds of play by 120 shots.

Whose world record in the long jump at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics stood for 23 years?

Bob Beamon's 8.90 m beat the old record by 55 cm; unused to metric distances, he only grasped what he had done when a teammate put it in feet, and his legs gave way.

Live pigeon shooting was an event at which Olympic Games?

The 1900 Paris Games are the only ones where live animals served as targets: nearly 300 pigeons were killed, and the IOC does not count the contest among its official events.

Which 2010 first-round match lasted 11 hours 5 minutes over three days?

Isner vs Mahut ended 70-68 in the fifth set; the courtside scoreboard froze at 47-47, the highest score it had been programmed to show, and the tournament brought in a final-set tie-break in 2019.

Which Ethiopian runner won the 1960 Olympic marathon while running barefoot through the streets of Rome?

Abebe Bikila kept the title in 1964, this time in shoes, only weeks after having his appendix removed.

Which team won the first Cricket World Cup, in 1975?

The West Indies beat Australia by 17 runs at Lord's after captain Clive Lloyd hit 102 and Viv Richards ran out three batsmen; play did not finish until 8:43 in the evening.

The first Tour de France, in 1903, was created to sell what?

Newspapers: the sports daily L'Auto invented the race to boost its circulation; its first winner, Maurice Garin, won again in 1904 but was stripped of that title for cheating.

Which country hosted and won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930?

Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in Montevideo; the two sides could not agree on a match ball, so FIFA ruled that Argentina's be used in the first half and Uruguay's in the second.

The first Winter Olympics, in 1924, were held in which French resort?

Chamonix's 1924 event was billed as an 'International Winter Sports Week' and only later recognised by the IOC as the first Olympic Winter Games.

Which 14-year-old gymnast scored seven perfect 10s at the 1976 Montreal Olympics?

Nadia Comăneci's first 10.0, on the uneven bars, flashed up as '1.00': the scoreboard had not been programmed to show a 10 because nobody expected one.

At which Olympics did Usain Bolt first win the 100 m?

Beijing 2008 saw Bolt set a world record of 9.69 despite easing up to celebrate before the line; a year later, at the World Championships, he lowered it to 9.58.

Whose career Test batting average was 99.94?

Don Bradman needed just four runs in his final Test innings, at The Oval in 1948, to average exactly 100, and was bowled second ball for nought.

Which Grand Slam was first staged in 1877 by a croquet club?

Wimbledon began as a fundraiser: the club needed money to repair its pony-drawn lawn roller, and about 200 people paid a shilling to watch Spencer Gore win the final.

Which city’s marathon, first held in 1897, is the world’s oldest annual one?

The Boston Marathon, first run on April 19, 1897, was inspired by the marathon at the 1896 Athens Olympics and takes place on Patriots' Day each April.

Which woman did race manager Jock Semple try to shove off the course of a 1967 marathon?

Kathrine Switzer had entered as 'K.V. Switzer' and wore bib 261; when Semple grabbed at it, her boyfriend Tom Miller shoved him to the ground, and she finished the race.

In which sport did Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards compete at the 1988 Olympics?

Ski jumping made Eddie Edwards famous for finishing last in both events; the entry rules were then tightened, a change nicknamed the Eddie the Eagle Rule.

Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 using which device instead of a riding mechanic?

A rear-view mirror on his single-seat Marmon Wasp did the job of the mechanic who normally rode along to warn the driver of cars coming up behind.

Cal Ripken Jr. broke which Yankee's long-standing record for consecutive games played in 1995?

Lou Gehrig's run of 2,130 games ended in 1939, when the disease now named after him forced him out of the lineup; Ripken passed it on September 6, 1995, and went on to 2,632.

The 1919 ‘Black Sox’ were accused of throwing the World Series to which team?

The Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 Series to the Cincinnati Reds five games to three; in 1921 commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned eight players for life despite their acquittal.

Which horse sealed the 1973 Triple Crown with a 31-length win?

Secretariat ended a 25-year wait for a Triple Crown winner; his 2:24 for the mile and a half took more than two seconds off the record, and the race caller said he was moving 'like a tremendous machine'.

Which 1912 double Olympic champion lost his golds for having played semi-pro baseball?

Jim Thorpe had been paid to play minor-league baseball in the Eastern Carolina League in 1909-10; the IOC restored him as co-champion in 1982 and as sole champion in 2022.

What odds did bookmakers offer on Leicester City winning the 2015–16 Premier League?

Bookmakers had offered 5,000-1 on Leicester in August 2015; the title was clinched on May 2, 2016, when Chelsea held Tottenham to a 2-2 draw.

Which group carried out the attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics?

Black September, a Palestinian group, killed eleven Israeli team members on September 5-6, 1972; West Germany founded its GSG 9 counter-terror unit that same month.

Which swimmer won seven golds, each in world-record time, at the 1972 Olympics?

Mark Spitz had predicted six golds at the 1968 Games and won only two, both in relays; four years later he swept all seven of his events and retired at 22.

Who invented basketball in 1891 as an indoor winter game for a rowdy YMCA class?

James Naismith had 14 days to invent a game that would keep the class busy indoors, and used peach baskets as goals; he later coached Kansas and finished with a losing record, 55-60.

Which nation won the first FIFA Women’s World Cup, held in China in 1991?

The United States beat Norway 2-1 in the final, with Michelle Akers scoring both goals; at that first edition matches lasted only 80 minutes instead of 90.

Who became the first Black world heavyweight boxing champion in 1908?

Jack Johnson beat Canadian champion Tommy Burns in Sydney on December 26, 1908, after following him around the world for two years to force the bout.

Which heavyweight champion retired undefeated in 1956 with a record of 49-0?

Rocky Marciano was knocked down in the second round of his last fight, in September 1955, then floored Archie Moore repeatedly and stopped him in the ninth; he retired the next spring at 32.

Who scored the first hat-trick in a World Cup final, for England in 1966?

Geoff Hurst's controversial second goal was awarded after referee Gottfried Dienst consulted linesman Tofiq Bahramov; his third sealed a 4-2 win over West Germany.

The 1882 mock obituary for English cricket that spawned the Ashes appeared in which paper?

The Sporting Times ran the mock obituary after Australia's first Test win in England, at The Oval in August 1882, saying the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

Which Olympics first ran the marathon over 26 miles 385 yards, later adopted as the standard distance?

At London 1908 the route ran 26 miles from Windsor Castle to the stadium, plus 385 yards of track so that the race ended in front of the royal box.

Who set the women's 100 m world record of 10.49 in 1988?

Florence Griffith Joyner ran it at the US Olympic trials, 0.27 seconds inside the old record; the wind gauge read zero on a blustery day, raising doubts about the reading, but the mark was ratified.

Who won the 5,000 m, 10,000 m and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics?

Emil Zátopek, the 'Czech Locomotive', entered the marathon at the last minute and won it in his first attempt at the distance, completing the 1952 triple.

Which team did the Americans beat in the first official Ryder Cup, in 1927?

Great Britain lost 9½-2½ at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts; after decades of American dominance the team was widened to the whole of Europe in 1979.

The Tour de France's yellow jersey is worn by which rider?

The overall leader has officially worn yellow since 1919, when Eugène Christophe was handed the jersey mid-race; he disliked it, complaining that spectators laughed and called him a canary.

Which ‘Flying Finn’ won nine Olympic gold medals in distance running in the 1920s?

Paavo Nurmi won the 1,500 m and 5,000 m finals within two hours of each other in 1924; eight years later he was barred from the Games two days before they opened, over doubts about his amateur status.

Whose 18 Olympic medals stood as the all-time record for 48 years until 2012?

Larisa Latynina won 18 medals, nine of them gold, at three Games; in 1958 she had won five world titles while pregnant, and a swimmer finally passed her total in 2012.

Who won all four tennis majors and Olympic gold in 1988, the first calendar-year 'Golden Slam'?

Steffi Graf won that year's French Open final 6-0, 6-0 in a match timed at 34 minutes, and completed the set by beating Gabriela Sabatini for gold in Seoul.

Which Australian won the calendar-year Grand Slam in singles twice, in 1962 and 1969?

Rod Laver swept all four majors in 1962 as an amateur and again in 1969 as a professional, after five years barred from the majors.

Which 400 m runner lit the cauldron at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, then won gold there?

Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron on September 15, 2000, then won the 400 m ten days later, carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags on her lap of honour.

Who skipped the Sunday 100 m heats at the 1924 Olympics and won the 400 m?

Eric Liddell's story became the film Chariots of Fire; he later served as a missionary in China and died in a Japanese internment camp in 1945.

Which five-time Olympic swimming champion went on to play Tarzan in twelve films?

Johnny Weissmuller beat Duke Kahanamoku for the 100 m freestyle title in 1924, then played Tarzan in twelve films from 1932 to 1948 before starring as Jungle Jim.

Which Norwegian cross-country skier won a record 15 Winter Olympic medals between 2002 and 2018?

Marit Bjørgen won five medals at her last Games in 2018 to reach 15; the final one was gold in the 30 km, raced on the closing day of the Olympics.

Which NASCAR champion died in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500?

Dale Earnhardt died of a basilar skull fracture on the final lap on February 18, 2001; Michael Waltrip, driving for Earnhardt's own team, won the race.

Which Argentine won five F1 world titles in the 1950s, a record that stood 46 years?

Juan Manuel Fangio won his titles with four different teams; in 1958 Cuban rebels kidnapped him in Havana on the eve of a grand prix and released him unharmed a day later.

The first Formula One World Championship race, in May 1950, was held at which circuit?

The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on May 13 opened the championship; Ferrari skipped it in a dispute over appearance money and debuted at Monaco.

Who threw the first perfect game in World Series history, in Game 5 of 1956?

Don Larsen had been pulled in the second inning of Game 2; days later he retired all 27 Dodgers on just 97 pitches, and catcher Yogi Berra leapt into his arms.

Who hit the 1951 ‘Shot Heard ’Round the World’ to win the pennant for the Giants?

Bobby Thomson's three-run homer off Brooklyn's Ralph Branca in the ninth inning on October 3, 1951, turned a game the Giants had trailed 4-1 into a 5-4 win.

The 'Maracanazo', the 1950 World Cup upset, is named after a stadium in which city?

The Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro fell silent at Alcides Ghiggia's late winner; Brazil's white kit took some of the blame for the defeat, and the team later replaced it with the yellow shirt.

Who received the first Ballon d'Or in 1956, at the age of 41?

Stanley Matthews, the Blackpool winger, beat Alfredo Di Stéfano by three points, 47 to 44, and went on playing top-flight football until he was 50.

Which 42-to-1 underdog knocked out Mike Tyson in Tokyo in 1990?

Buster Douglas knocked Tyson out in the tenth round on February 11, 1990, then lost the belts eight months later in his only defense, against Evander Holyfield.

Who in 1960 became the first American woman to win three track and field golds at one Olympics?

Wilma Rudolph swept the 100 m, 200 m and 4 x 100 m relay at Rome 1960, having worn a leg brace as a child after polio.

Which amateur won golf’s four majors of his era in 1930, then retired at 28?

Bobby Jones won the US and British Opens and Amateurs in 1930, then retired from competition at 28; a lawyer by profession, he went on to found Augusta National and co-found the Masters.

Which golf major was first held at Prestwick in 1860?

The Open Championship was created to find a successor to Allan Robertson, regarded as the best golfer of his day, after his death in 1859; eight men played for a leather belt, as the Claret Jug came later.

Which club won the first FA Cup final in 1872, beating Royal Engineers 1–0?

Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 1-0 at Kennington Oval on March 16, 1872; scorer Morton Betts played under the alias 'A. H. Chequer'.