2000 Olympics gold medal winner, swimmer Antony Ervin decided to retire at 22. It didn’t go so well, as he begun abusing drugs. However, in 2011 he got back into swimming, and at the 2016 Olympics became the oldest swimmer to win a gold medal.
sports
Some marathon runners elect…
Some marathon runners elect to have their toenails permanently removed. Their level of running causes friction on the toes and results in toenails routinely becoming damaged and detached. To circumvent chronic nail wounds, some people just get rid of them entirely.
A maximum-security prison…
A maximum-security prison in Uganda has a soccer league (run and played by prisoners), with an annual soccer tournament. The tournament is taken very seriously; they have a uniforms, referees, cleats, and a 30-page constitution. The winning team gets prizes such as soap, sugar, and a goat.
When the 1980 US hockey team…
When the 1980 US hockey team was playing the USSR in a pre-Olympics exhibition, it was revealed during the game that a Soviet player had a gun under his jersey. The “player” was a KGB agent used to prevent players from defecting to the West.
Italian cyclist Alfredo Binda…
Italian cyclist Alfredo Binda was so overwhelmingly dominating his sport, that he was payed by the organizers of the Giro d’Italia not to race. The sum he received was equivalent to that awarded to the winner.
During the 1936 Berlin Olympics….
During the 1936 Berlin Olympics, two Japanese pole vaulters who tied for second place refused to participate in a tie-breaker. Upon returning to Japan, they cut their medals in half and fused them to one another so each athlete ended up with a half-silver, half-bronze medal.
Pittsburgh is the only city…
Pittsburgh is the only city where all the major sports teams (Steelers, Pirates, Penguins) all share the same colors, as black and gold represent the ingredients to make steel (coal and iron ore).
A high school basketball coach…
A high school basketball coach was fired after his team won 100-0 because the Catholic school he worked for thought that winning by such a wide margin did not show a “Christlike and honourable approach to competition”.
The Miwok (N California) played…
Photo by Flickr
The Miwok (North California) played a game similar to soccer. Played by both sexes, girls were allowed to do anything, including kicking the ball & picking it up & running with it, while boys were only allowed to use their feet, but if a girl was holding the ball he could pick her up and carry her.
In the 1800s, one of the most…
In the 1800s, one of the most popular sports in the world was distance walking which attracted huge crowds and gambling. Thousands of spectators would turn up to watch challenges such as walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours.