Sports Facts for Kids
Fun facts from the world of sports
Hurling, the traditional Irish sport, is considered the fastest field sport in the world. Players can strike the small leather ball at speeds exceeding 150 km/h (93 mph) using a wooden stick called a hurley, and they can catch it in one hand while running at full speed.
Lawn bowls has been played in England for over 700 years. Legend has it that Sir Francis Drake insisted on finishing his game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe in 1588 before setting sail to defeat the Spanish Armada.
When basketball was invented in 1891, the first games were played using a soccer ball. The first dedicated basketball was not manufactured until 1894, and early basketballs were laced together like a football and much larger than today's version.
Formula 1 racing tyres can wear out in as few as 10 to 50 laps depending on the type of tyre and track conditions. During a race, each F1 car generates enough heat in its brakes to melt steel — reaching temperatures over 1,000°C!
American gymnast Simone Biles is so talented that four gymnastics moves have been officially named after her — one on floor, one on beam, and two in the vault. She is the most decorated US gymnast in history.
In snooker, a '147' — potting all 15 red balls each followed by the black ball, then all six coloured balls — is the maximum possible break and one of sport's rarest feats. It requires pocketing 36 consecutive balls without a single mistake.
Olympic wrestlers must weigh in the day before their competition, and if they are even slightly over the weight limit they are disqualified. Some wrestlers lose several kilograms of water weight just before the weigh-in by wearing heavy clothes and sweating.
Women competed in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1900 in Paris, which was only the second modern Olympics. They were allowed to participate in just five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian, and golf.
Ice hockey pucks are frozen before every NHL game to reduce bouncing on the ice. An unfrozen rubber puck would bounce unpredictably and be much harder to control. Frozen pucks are also harder and can reach speeds of over 160 km/h.
The modern triathlon was invented in San Diego, California in 1974 as a way to train for multiple sports at once. It became an Olympic sport in 2000 at the Sydney Games. Competitors swim, cycle, and run three different distances back to back without stopping.