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  • Fishing (angling) is the biggest participant sports in the world.
  • Football (soccer) is the most attended or watched sport in the world.
  • Boxing became a legal sport in 1901.
  • More than 100 million people hold hunting licences.
  • Jean Genevieve Garnerin was the first female parachutists, jumping from a hot air balloon in 1799.
  • In 1975 Junko Tabei from Japan became the first woman to reach the top of Everest.
  • 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 record for the most major league baseball career innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings.
  • 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.
  • In 1898, one of the first programmes to be broadcasted on radio was a yacht race that took place in British waters.
  • Sports command the biggest television audiences, led by the summer Olympics, World Cup Football and Formula One racing.
  • Gymnasiums were introduced in 900BC and Greek athletes practised in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They also performed naked at the Olympic Games.
  • The very first Olympic race, held in 776 BC, was won by Corubus, a chef.
  • The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. There were 311 male but no female competitors.
  • In his time, Michael Schumacher was the highest paid sportsman, ahead of Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer. (Not including sponsorship endorsements.)
  • The high jump method of jumping head first and landing on the back is called the Fosbury Flop.
  • In 1314, the mayor of London banned football.
  • Korfball is the only sport played with mixed teams, consisting of 4 men and 4 women.
  • The Major League Baseball teams use about 850,000 balls per season.
  • About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus 650 matches in the Wimbledon Championship.
  • A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches, a cricket ball has between 65 and 70 stiches.
  • A soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels, held together by 642 stitches.
  • Basketball and rugby balls are made from synthetic material. Earlier, pigs’ bladders were used as rugby balls.
  • The baseball home plate is 17 inches wide.
  • Golf the only sport played on the moon - on 6 February 1971 Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.
  • Bill Klem served the most seasons as major league umpire - 37 years, starting in 1905. He also officated 18 World Series.
  • 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.
  • Volleyball was invented by William George Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895.
  • A badminton shuttle easily travels 180 km/h (112 mph).
  • Ferenc Szisz from Romania, driving a Renault, won the first Formula One Grand Prix held at Le Mans, France in 1906.

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