42 facts, each with a source
Sports facts
Sports facts from the strangest corners of the rulebook. Barbados once scored an own goal on purpose to win, a 61-year-old potato farmer won an 875 km ultramarathon in wellington boots, and Olympic gold medals are mostly silver. Short, sourced and ready for the group chat.
Olympics
- A gymnast won Olympic gold with a wooden leg.
- The winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon was carried over the line, having been given strychnine and brandy by his handlers.
- One Olympic runner took 54 years to finish his marathon.
- One Olympic Games shot live pigeons for medals.
- Athletes caught cheating at the ancient Olympics were fined, and the money paid for bronze statues of Zeus inscribed with their names.
- The 1900 Olympics were spread over five months inside a Paris trade fair, with no opening ceremony and events listed as sideshows.
- Olympic medals were awarded for painting, sculpture, literature, architecture and music from 1912 to 1948.
- One athlete rewrote the high jump by deciding to go over backwards.
- The first recorded Olympic champion was a cook.
- Olympic gold medals are mostly silver.
- Figure skating was once a Summer Olympic sport.
- Tug of war was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1920.
- The Olympic flame is lit with sunlight and a mirror.
Football
Basketball
Baseball
Soccer
- A 1994 Caribbean Cup rule made golden goals count double, so Barbados deliberately scored an own goal to force extra time.
- A stolen World Cup trophy was found by a dog.
- Goalkeepers facing a penalty save more often by staying in the centre, yet they dive almost every time.
- A football match set off a war.
Endurance
- A 61-year-old potato farmer in wellington boots won Australia's 875 km ultramarathon in 1983.
- Tour de France riders once had to repair their own bikes with no help.
- The Tour de France leader wears yellow because of newsprint.
- Put your face in cold water and your heart rate drops within seconds.
- The marathon is 42.195 km because of the 1908 London route.
Sports History
- A 1939 cricket match in Durban was played with no time limit.
- Golf was banned in Scotland for ruining archery practice.
- The first rugby balls were pig bladders.
- The Stanley Cup has spelling mistakes engraved on it.
- The longest boxing match ran 110 rounds.
- Volleyball was invented as a gentler option than basketball.