Sports Facts for Kids
Fun facts from the world of sports
The first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. Uruguay won the tournament on home soil, beating Argentina 4–2 in the final in front of a crowd of nearly 70,000 people.
Ice hockey pucks are frozen before a match to prevent them from bouncing on the ice. A frozen rubber puck stays harder and slides more predictably, giving players much greater control.
If a cheetah could run the Olympic 100 metres, it would complete it in about 5.8 seconds — nearly four seconds faster than Usain Bolt's world record. Cheetahs can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just three seconds.
Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The scoreboard could not even display the score and showed 1.00 instead of 10.
Polo is one of the world's oldest team sports, originally played in Persia and Central Asia around 2,500 years ago. It was used as training for cavalry units and is often called 'the sport of kings'.
Tennis balls became yellow-green in 1972 because research showed this colour was much easier to see on television. Before that, tennis balls were traditionally white or black.
Archery is one of humanity's oldest skills, used for hunting and warfare for at least 10,000 years. It became a competitive sport in the ancient world and has been part of the modern Olympic Games since 1900.
A standard adult football is a size 5, with a circumference of 68–70 centimetres and a weight of 410–450 grams. Size 5 has been the official FIFA standard for the World Cup since 1970.
The exact marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km) was standardised at the 1908 London Olympics. It was set so the race could start at Windsor Castle and finish in front of the royal box.
Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William Morgan in Massachusetts as a less physically demanding alternative to basketball. He originally called it 'Mintonette' before it was renamed volleyball.