Fun facts about sports for kids
The Best 61 Sports Facts For Kids
Image ©Steven Lelham via Unsplash.
For sports lovers, budding athletes and curious kids, we hope you're ready for some epic sports facts.
Did you know that the earliest documentation of sports was around 3000 years ago? We've come a long way since then, so let's take a look at some awesome sports facts.
Trivia About Sports
Wondering when the first official sports took place? Curious about the World Cup or Super Bowl? Find out more some fantastic fun sports-related facts that you might not know.
1) According to the World's Sports Encyclopedia, there are over 8000 sports!
2) The first sport as we know it today was most likely wrestling, and it originated in Greece in 776BC.
3) The diameter of a basketball hoop was once almost double the size of a basketball, meaning that two balls could fit in the net side by side! However, this was changed in 2015 and the hoop is now much smaller.
4) Modern swimsuits have become so advanced that some of them move faster in water than human skin. Some people think that the more a swimsuit covers your body, the greater your advantage when swimming in the water.
5) Sheffield FC is the world's oldest football club, founded in 1857.
6) A badminton shuttlecock weighs approximately 0.17 oz (5 g).
7) Tennis strings were traditionally made from the intestines of goats, cows, or sheep. Fibres were extracted from the intestines which contain collagen, responsible for the strings' elasticity. Nowadays they are mostly made from nylon.
Image © Ben Hershey via Unsplash
Unusual Sports Facts
These fun facts about sports will definitely appeal to fans of the weird and wonderful.
8) Olympic Gold Medals are made, mostly, of sterling silver, not gold. In fact, they haven't been made of pure gold since 1912!
9) Golf balls have around 336 dimples.
That's the average, but there's no limit to the number of dimples. There can be between 300 and 500. Their purpose is to make them travel further in the air.
10) Ski ballet was once a competitive sport. It was even a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1922 Winter Olympic games.
11) Major League Baseball umpires are obliged to wear black underwear during games, in case their trousers split!
12) The average lifespan of a Minor League Baseball ball is five to seven pitches.
13) Tug Of War used to be an Olympic sport between 1900 and 1920!
14) Until 1850, golf balls were made from leather, stuffed with feathers.
15) The phrase about winning 'hands down' was initially in reference to a jockey, who would win a race without pulling the reins of his horse or whipping his horse.
16) The average distance a person walks in their lifetime is four times around the whole world.
17) There are only eighteen minutes of action in the average baseball game.
18) The grass at Wimbledon used to be around 5cm long until an English player was bitten by a snake in 1949. Now, it's 8mm long.
19) Sports have been played in outer space - yes, a golf ball was hit by Alan Shephard, and a javelin thrown by Edgar Mitchell on the moon, in 1971.
20) In the 1928 Olympics, Australian rower Bobby Pearce won his race against eight others, even though he stopped to let ducks pass him during the race.
21) It is customary for jockeys to be paid in coins, no matter how much they win!
22) The Stanley cup was originally two storeys tall before people realised it was a bit too difficult to transport.
Image ©Jason Abrams via Unsplash
Origins Of Sports
You'd be surprised by these sports facts - often the country that a sport is most popular in isn't the country that it originated in!
23) The first rugby club was created in 1843.
Guy's Hospital Rugby club was formed in London, by boys from Rugby School.
24) In 1895, volleyball was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA.
25) Orienteering was invented in Sweden.
26) The Green Bay Packers won the first-ever Super Bowl, which took place in 1967. There have since been 52 Super Bowl championships and the Packers have won three more since.
27) Bowling was invented around 3200BC in Egypt.
28) The oldest sports in the world are thought to be wrestling, running, javelin throwing, polo and hockey.
29) The most dangerous sports in the world are thought to be running, scuba diving, canoeing, Grand Prix racing, and extreme mountain climbing.
Sports Records
30) The fastest hat trick in National Hockey League history took 21 seconds. Bill Mosienko set the record in 1952.
31) The longest golf putt recorded on TV was by Sir Terry Wogan in 1981, an amazing 60.
96 metres!
32) The most points ever scored in a basketball player's career is 38,387, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the United States.
33) The world record for the most consecutive push-ups is 10, 507. It was set by Minoru Yoshida from Japan in 1980.
34) Ben Smith holds the world record for the most consecutive marathons, having run 401 marathons in 401 days, covering 10,506 miles altogether.
35) The longest boxing match in history lasted 110 rounds and went on for over seven hours. It was played in 1893 by Andy Bowen and Jack Burke.
36) The longest tennis match lasted eleven hours and 5 minutes. It was played by John Isner of the USA and Nicolas Mahut from France.
37) The world record for the longest bow and arrow shot us held by Matt Stutzman from the USA, with a distance of 283.464 metres.
38) Michael Jordan holds the record for the most consecutive games played with at least 10 points scored - the record is 866.
39) Grete Waitz has won more New York City Marathons than anyone else. With nine victories under her belt, they were all set between 1978 and 1988.
40) The fastest Mixed Martial Arts knockout of all time only took two seconds! It was set by Ryohei Masuda, and Takahiro Kuroishi received the blow.
41) The Professional Golfer's Association record for the highest score on a Par-4 is 16, and was set in 2011 by Kevin Na, a Korean American professional golfer.
42) The USA's Connecticut Women's basketball team once won 90 games in a row. Not a single game was lost between the start of the 2008-2009 season and the end of 2010.
43) In the year 1959, Pelé scored 127 goals, more than any other football player in a single calendar year.
44) Byron Nelson has won more Professional Golf Association tours back-to-back than any other professional golfer. In 1945, he won 11.
45) Martina Navratilova has won six Wimbledon titles in a row. Unbeaten in this streak, she set the record between 1982 and 1987.
46) Rocky Marciano holds the career heavyweight boxing record, with 49 victories, 43 of them being knockouts. This record was set between 1948 and 1956, without any losses.
Image © Unsplash
Celebrity Sports Facts
47) Sebastien Vettel, the Formula One driver, claims to tuck lucky coins into the shoes he races in.
48) Michael Phelps has more medals than the country of Mexico. With 28 gold medals, he is the most decorated Olympian of all time.
49) The five highest-paid athletes in the world are Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and LeBron James.
50) Famous American Baseball player Yogi Berra won 13 world series in 18 seasons with the New York Yankees baseball team.
Olympic Games Sports Facts
51) The colours of the Olympic rings represent the flags of every country competing at the Olympics in 1912, the year that they were designed.
They were designed by Frenchman and founder of the International Olympic Committee, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
52) The Summer Olympics of 1956 were held in Australia and Stockholm. The main host, Australia, couldn't host the equestrian events because of their tough quarantine laws, so those were held in Sweden, five months early.
53) London, United Kingdom, is the only city to have hosted the Olympics three times.
54) The first modern Olympics were held in Greece in 1986, but the competitors were only men. The first Olympics to feature women athletes were in Paris, in 1900.
55) Before gold, silver and bronze medals, the prizes for winners at the ancient Olympics was a simple Olive branch wreath. Sometimes, it would be sprayed with gold, other times, not.
Image © Pixabay
Longest Standing Sports Records
A record is typically broken in a matter of years, whilst others stand for decades.
Take a look at these incredible records that have been challenged for several years, and find out whether they have been broken or not!
56) The UK's Jonathan Edwards was the first person to jump 18.29m in the triple jump. This record was set in the 1995 World Championships, held in Gothenburg.
Still Standing? Yes, the record has been standing for 25 years.
57) Javier Sotomayor's high jump of 2.45m set a record in 1993. The Cuban was 25 years old at the time when he made the jump - the height of a small elephant!
Still Standing? Yes, the Cuban's record remains unbroken after 27 years.
58) Not only is this the oldest record in women's 800m history, but it's also the oldest record in outdoor athletics history. In 1983, Czechslovakia's Jarmila Kratochvilova's ran 800m in 1 minute, 53 seconds and 28 milliseconds.
Still Standing? Yes, after 37 years!
59) Galina Chistyakova's long jump of 7.
52 metres set a world record on 11th June 1988.
Still Standing? Yes, the record has been standing for 32 years now.
Strange Sports That Actually Exist
60) Extreme Ironing. Extreme ironing involves pressing a shirt in a variety of, you guessed it, extreme settings.
61) Cycle Ball. Think cycling and football. Players must ride around a small court, trying to hit a ball into a gall using the wheels of the bike alone. Their feet can't be on the floor while they play, and there are only two players on each team.
Sport Facts for Kids
Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Association football is one of the most popular sports in the world. In this image, a striker is shooting the ball to score a goal.
Sport is commonly defined as an athletic activity that involves a degree of competition, such as netball or basketball. Some games and many kinds of racing are called sports.
A professional at a sport is called an athlete. Many people play sports with their friends. They need coaches to teach or train teams or individuals how to do better. Sports can be played indoors or outdoors and by individuals or teams.
For children, sports play an extremely important part in their lives by providing all round development of the child, physically, mentally and emotionally. It also helps them to be fit and keep them healthy.
Some people like to watch other people play sports. Those who watch others playing sports are called fans. While some fans watch sports on television, others actually go to stadiums or other places where people pay to watch them in person. These fans are called spectators.
People engage in many kinds of sports, for example:
A shoulder throw at Judo rank graduation, Japan
- Athletics
- Field athletics.
- Triple jump
- Pole vault
- High jump
- Hammer throw
- Discus throw
- Javelin throw
- Shot put
- Track athletics
- Sprint
- Middle distance race
- Long distance race
- Walking race
- Hurdle race
- Relay
- Steeplechase (sport)
- Cross-country race
- Marathon
- Field athletics.
- Acrobatics
- Bodybuilding
- Gymnastics
- Rhythmic gymnastics
- Figure skating
- Boxing
- Fencing
- Judo
- Wrestling
- Motor sports
- Auto racing
- Shooting
- Diving
- Golf
- Rowing
- Sailing (sport)
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Bobsled
- Skiing
- Freestyle skiing
- Ski jumping
- Games
- Tennis
- Baseball
- Softball
- Basketball
- Badminton-game
- Cricket-game
- Association football
- American football
- Australian Football
- Canadian football
- Gaelic football
- Rugby league football
- Rugby union football
- Flag football
- Polo
- Volleyball
- Dance
- Colorguard
- Marching band
- Esports
Related pages
- Exercise
- Healthy lifestyle
- List of water sports
- Physical fitness
- Sports commentator
- Strength training
Images for kids
-
Sport in childhood.
Association football, shown above, is a team sport which also provides opportunities to nurture physical fitness and social interaction skills. -
The International Olympic Committee recognises some board games as sports including chess.
-
Show jumping, an equestrian sport
-
100m race record holder Usain Bolt (in yellow, right) and other runners, Moscow, 2013.
-
Roman bronze reduction of Myron's Discobolos, 2nd century AD.
-
Motorised sports have appeared since the advent of the modern age.
-
Swimmers perform squats as warm-up exercise prior to entering the pool in a U.S. military base, 2011
-
International level female athletes at ISTAF Berlin, 2006
-
A runner gives a friendly tap on the shoulder to a wheelchair racer during the Marathon International de Paris (Paris Marathon) in 2014.
-
Spectators at the 1906 unofficial Olympic Games
-
Women's volleyball team of a U.
S. university. -
These lights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground indicate the decision the third umpire makes following a review.
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Sport Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.
Interesting facts from the world of sports
18.07.2019
Interesting facts from the world of sports
We offer you a selection of the most interesting facts from the world of sports. Sometimes unbelievable, but nevertheless true!
1. There are only 7 variants of the first move in checkers.
2. In the Sea Battle game, ships occupy 22 cells out of 100.
3. The most popular sport in cinema is boxing.
4. Boxing was legalized as a sport only at 1900 year.
5. Approximately 30 percent of NBA players have tattoos on their bodies (on average in America, 4 percent of residents have tattoos).
6. In 1958, Jay Foster won the Jamaican National Table Tennis Championship. At that time he was only 8 years old.
7. Of the 51 matches held by Mike Tyson in the professional ring, he finished 21 by knockout in the first round (40.8%).
8. How many chess knights can be placed on a chessboard so that they are not under attack from each other? Answer: 32. nine0003
9. In the football championship of the State of Vatican such teams as "Telemail", "Guards", "Bank", "Library", "Team of Museums" play.
10. During the 1896 Olympics, gymnastics included: long jump, pole vault, rope climbing, shot put, etc.
11. The slowest speed in sports was recorded on August 12, 1889 - 1.35 km / h. This sport was tug of war.
12. According to research conducted by the Detroit Free Press, 68 percent of professional hockey players have lost at least one tooth on the ice. nine0003
13. The first ever Olympic champion in 776 BC. was a certain cook from Elis named Koreb.
14. The longest recorded game of Monopoly lasted 1680 hours (more than 70 days).
15. A soccer ball consists of 32 panels - 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons.
16. The chess term "gambit" comes from the Italian expression "dare il gambetto" - "trip".
17. Immediately after impact, the speed of a golf ball is 270 km/h. nine0003
18. Bowling pins A deviation of 7.5 degrees is enough for a fall.
19. In 1900 - 1920 tug of war was an Olympic sport.
20. Americans spend about 1,500,000,000 hours a year playing Tetris.
21. The sports term hat-trick comes from a custom in the game of cricket. If the player managed to successfully throw the ball three times, then he was awarded a brand new hat (English hat - hut).
22. Contrary to a well-known misconception, in judo there are not 10, but 12 dans. True, not a single person was awarded the eleventh dan, and the twelfth was awarded to only one person - the founder of judo Dhigaro Kano.
nine0003
23. The oldest person to win an Olympic medal was Oskar Swan, who placed second in the shooting competition at the 1920 Olympics in Sweden. Then he was 72 years old.
24. In a chess game lasting 40 moves, 1.5 by 10 to the 128th degree of game development options are possible. This exceeds the number of atoms in outer space.
25. In 1477 in England, Edward IV banned the game of cricket because it interfered with archery practice. nine0003
26. The final game of the 1976 European Football Championship was Franz Bäckinbauer's 100th game for West Germany.
27. Among the champions in all sports, the age of the champions in billiards is the largest - an average of 35.6 years.
28. For the first time a hockey goalie mask was used in 1936 in Berlin by Japanese goalie Tanaka Hoima.
29. In 1936, at the opening of one of the table tennis tournaments, Pole Alex Enrlich and Romanian Panet Farkas played one ball for 2 hours and 12 minutes.
nine0003
30. At the entrance to the center court of Wimbledon, R. Kipling's lines are written: "... And if you meet with Triumph and misfortune, you will be able to treat deceptions all the same..."
31. Team USA (!) at the XXX Chess Olympiad in Manila: Irina Levitina, Elena Akhmylovskaya, Anna Akhsharumova, Esfir Epshtein. Coach - Alexander Ivanov.
32. In a sumo fight, the winner is the one who makes the opponent touch the floor with any part of the body - knee, arm, head ... or forces him to leave the ring. nine0003
33. The British racehorse "Humorist", who won more than one prize at the derby of the 1920s, it turns out, should not have run at all. An autopsy performed after her death showed that she had only one lung.
34. In the 1979-80 season, at age 19, Wayne Gretzky became the youngest player in NHL history to score 50 or more goals and 100 or more points in a season, and the youngest player to be named "Most Valuable Player in the League."
35.
In June 1963 in Britain, the ball sent from the serve of the English tennis player Michael Sangster flew at a speed of almost 248 km / h. It was the most powerful serve ever recorded in world tennis. nine0003
36. In ancient Greece, if the duel of fisticuffs dragged on, then with the consent of both opponents, the judge appointed ... climax (!) - strengthening. By lot, one of the fighters had to take the blow without hiding. If he survived, then he beat himself, and so on until the complete victory of one of the rivals.
37. Previously, the card suit of spades was called shovels, clubs and wines; the suit of worms - with hooves; the suit of a tambourine - boots and calls, and clubs - acorns.
38. On June 24, 1989 Sarunas Marciulionis became the first Soviet basketball player to sign a 3-year contract with the NBA club (“Golden State Warriors”). nine0003
39. Horse racing rules state that the length of a racing horse's name must not exceed eighteen letters. Names that are too long are cumbersome to record.
40. The charter of an Australian golf club states that if a ball hits a kangaroo, play must continue as if nothing had happened.
41. Hurling is Irish grass hockey.
42. The length of the billiard cue is 142.5 centimeters.
43. Checkers are older than chess.
44. Baseball originated in 1700 in England. nine0003
45. Wembley Football Stadium in England is for games only and training is prohibited.
46. Billiards is the seventh most popular sport in the United States.
47. After being hit by a professional volleyball player, the ball can fly at speeds up to 130 km/h.
48. There are 170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play the first ten moves in chess.
49. The average age of women participating in the Summer Olympic Games is 20 years. nine0003
50. There are two goaltending schools in ice hockey - butterfly and stand-up.
51. The sum of the numbers on opposite sides of a die is always 7.
52. Until 1850, golf balls were made of leather and stuffed with feathers.
53. The number of positions in the game of go is 1076 times greater than in chess.
54. The weight of a table tennis ball is 2.5 grams.
55. The fastest goal in the NHL was scored in the third second of the game. nine0003
56. Only two countries in the world have participated in all the Olympic Games.
57. It takes an average of 48 to 100 turns to solve a Rubik's Cube puzzle.
58. The number of possible combinations of the first four moves in chess is 318,979,564,000.
59. Brazil is the only country to have participated in all the World Cups.
60. Americans spend about $630 million a year on golf balls.
Tags: Schoolchildren
25 facts about sports - "FitOstrov" network of fitness clubs
Sport is a historically established field of human activity, associated with the identification of a winner, sports achievements and results during competitions.
A prerequisite for sport is competition. A competitive result in sports is achieved with highly active motor actions and therefore directly depends on the athlete's capabilities - functional capabilities, physical training and physical development, technical, tactical and psychological readiness. nine0003
Sport has not only its own competitive activity, but also ample opportunities for including a person in interpersonal relationships.
The main criteria for performance in elite sports are victories in international competitions, world records, prizes. According to these criteria, the activities of the athlete, team, coach, staff and sports club are evaluated.
The purpose of practicing various types of amateur sports is to improve health, improve the physical development of a person, strengthen training and give active rest. This is due to the solution of a number of particular tasks: to increase the functionality of individual body systems, to correct the physical development of a person and physique, to increase general and professional performance, to master vital skills and abilities, to spend leisure time pleasantly and usefully, to achieve physical perfection and skills.
nine0003
Sports facts.
1. Badminton is the fastest racket sport: the speed of a shuttle can reach an average of 270 km/h.
2. If you are bowling, don't try to knock down the pins as hard as you can. This is a very tricky moment, because a bowling pin for a fall requires a deflection of only 7.5 degrees.
3. Boxing was only legalized as a sport in 1900. Prior to that, he was considered too cruel and unsuitable for the presence of a possible public. In the 20th century, boxing became the most popular sport in cinema. nine0003
4. Ancient Greek Olympians competed completely naked. All Olympic competitions provided for the complete nakedness of athletes. The very name of the modern word "gymnastics" comes from the ancient Greek "gymos", that is, "naked", "naked". Somehow, they still tried to dress the athletes, but this innovation did not take root at all.
5. Quite remarkable, but the first puck for playing hockey was, you will be surprised - a square shape! There was a certain period when hockey was played with round wooden pucks.
A modern hockey puck is made of vulcanized rubber and weighs only 200 grams. Before the start of the game, it is frozen so that it does not spring. nine0003
6. Did you know? That the first products of the Dassler family, the founders of Adidas, were sleeping slippers.
7. The fastest man in the world is Usain Bolt (Jamaica). Jamaican track and field athlete, specializing in sprint, nine-time Olympic champion and 11-time world champion (a record in the history of these competitions). During his performances, he set 8 world records. World record holder in the 100 - 9.58; and 200 meters - 19.19, as well as in the 4 × 100 meters relay as part of the Jamaican national team - 36.84. nine0003
He is the only athlete to win the 100m and 200m sprints at three consecutive Olympics (Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016). Winner of the most gold Olympic medals in Jamaican sports history. Currently shares 1st place in the number of gold medals with Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi won at the Olympic Games among athletes[4].
The first person in history to win 11 gold medals at the world championships.
8. In the Spanish Second League match between San Isidro and Olimpico Carrante, a few minutes before the end of the game, the players of the two teams, completely dissatisfied with the refereeing, surrounded the referee to explain to him how to referee. And not only with words and gestures. In this critical situation, the referee, keeping complete calm, took out a red card and presented it to all twenty-two participants in the match.
9. Athletes jumping from a springboard on skis should not wish for a fair wind - it only harms them. A headwind is much better, thanks to which an air cushion is created in front of the skier in flight, and he flies further. To start the jump, athletes are given a certain time, during which the coaches try to choose the optimal start time, taking into account the wind. Wind changes during the course of the competition can make the conditions for the participants unequal: if the skier got only a tailwind, his chances for medals, even with the best technique, are sharply reduced.
nine0003
10. Horse racing rules state that the name of a racing horse must not exceed eighteen letters. Names that are too long are cumbersome to record.
11. A standard golf ball has a total of 336 grooves.
12. In the football championship of the State of the Vatican such teams as "Telemail", "Guards", "Bank", "Library", "Team of Museums" play.
13. The FIVB rules forbid classical volleyball competitions at indoor temperatures above +25 and below +16, but for beach volleyball there are no temperature restrictions. nine0003
14. People began to play bowling as early as 3200 BC, as evidenced by a collection of objects found in an Egyptian tomb that resemble primitive bowling implements.
15. The billiard game snooker fell into decline in the middle of the 20th century. However, interest in her again greatly increased after the BBC channel chose her to demonstrate the benefits of color television and began to broadcast all the championships.
The green table and multi-colored snooker balls were perfect for this purpose. nine0003
16. Holland is considered the birthplace of figure skating. It was there, in the 13-14 centuries, that the first iron skates appeared. The appearance of a new type of skates gave a powerful impetus to the development of figure skating, which at that time consisted in the ability to draw intricate figures on the ice and maintain a beautiful pose at the same time.
17. At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, the Japanese marathon runner Shitso Kanaguri felt unbearably thirsty at the thirtieth kilometer. He ran to the nearest house and asked the owner to pour water. nine0003
A Swedish farmer escorted the runner into the room, but when he returned, he saw the guest sound asleep. Kanaguri slept for more than a day. In 1967, a 76-year-old runner was given the opportunity to run the rest of the distance - the total time was 54 years 8 months 6 days 8 hours 32 minutes 20.3 seconds.
18. In classical wrestling there is no draw, the winner must always be determined.
19. On average, a footballer runs 11 kilometers per game, and over the course of his entire playing career, the length of a run can reach 300,000 km. nine0003
20. A billiard ball that has been hit accelerates from 0 to 30 km/h in a fraction of a second, and due to friction between the ball and the table top, the temperature can reach 250 degrees!
21. There is no car number 13 in the Formula 1 peloton, after the 12th, the 14th immediately follows. In total, only five people used the number 13 in the World Cup.
22. In the 19th century, the game of bowls with 9 pins appeared in the USA and gained such popularity that spectators began to place bets. The authorities of some states banned the game, then the players added a tenth pin to bypass the ban and gave the game a new name - bowling. nine0003
23. At the 1904 III Olympiad in St. Louis, American marathon runner Fred Lortz ran about 14 km and got into a waiting car. 2 km before the finish line, the athlete again went to the track and finished first.
