Sport Facts

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Football (soccer) is the most attended or watched sport in the world.

The Major League Baseball teams use about 850,000 balls per season.

Volleyball was invented by William George Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895.

The very first Olympic race, held in 776 BC, was won by Corubus, a chef.

Basketball and rugby balls are made from synthetic material. Earlier, pigs’ bladders were used as rugby balls.

Jean Genevieve Garnerin was the first female parachutists, jumping from a hot air balloon in 1799.

In 1898, one of the first programmes to be broadcasted on radio was a yacht race that took place in British waters.

A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches, a cricket ball has between 65 and 70 stitches.

Bill Klem served the most seasons as major league umpire – 37 years, starting in 1905. He also officated 18 World Series.

Ferenc Szisz from Romania, driving a Renault, won the first Formula One Grand Prix held at Le Mans, France in 1906.

In 1975 Junko Tabei from Japan became the first woman to reach the top of Everest.

The first instance of global electronic communications took place in 1871 when news of the Derby winner was telegraphed from London to Calcutta in under 5 minutes.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. There were 311 male but no female competitors.

Korfball is the only sport played with mixed teams, consisting of 4 men and 4 women.

The oldest continuous trophy in sports is the America’s Cup. It started in 1851, with Americans winning for a straight 132 years until Australia took the Cup in 1983.

The record for the most major league baseball career innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings.

In his time, Michael Schumacher was the highest paid sportsman, ahead of Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer. (Not including sponsorship endorsements.)

A soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels, held together by 642 stitches.

Golf the only sport played on the moon – on 6 February 1971 Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.

The record for the most Olympic medals ever won is held by Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. Competing in three Olympics, between 1956 and 1964, she won 18 medals.

The high jump method of jumping head first and landing on the back is called the Fosbury Flop.

Gymnasiums were introduced in 900BC and Greek athletes practiced in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They also performed naked at the Olympic Games.

About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus 650 matches in the Wimbledon Championship.

Sports command the biggest television audiences, led by the summer Olympics, World Cup Football and Formula One racing.