Sports Facts for Kids
Fun facts from the world of sports
The Olympic flag with its five interlocking rings was designed by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, in 1913. It was flown for the first time at the 1920 Antwerp Games. The rings represent the unity of athletes from five continents coming together in peace.
The CrossFit Games, held annually since 2007, crowns the 'Fittest on Earth' through a series of surprise physical challenges that athletes don't know in advance. Events have included swimming in the ocean, lifting heavy objects, running, and even solving a puzzle while exhausted.
Boxing gloves were originally designed to protect the puncher's hands, not the person being hit. Bare-knuckle boxing actually resulted in fewer knock-outs because punchers had to be careful not to break their own hands. Gloves allow harder punches to the head.
The first Super Bowl in 1967 wasn't actually called the Super Bowl — it was officially named the 'AFL-NFL World Championship Game'. The catchy name 'Super Bowl' was only used informally at first and didn't become the official name until the third game in 1969.
The women's heptathlon is one of athletics' greatest challenges, requiring competitors to compete in seven events over two days: the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin, and 800m. Athletes score points in each event and the highest total wins.
The shot put originated in medieval Scotland, where soldiers competed by throwing cannonballs as far as possible. Today's shot is a solid metal ball weighing 7.26 kg (16 lbs) for men and 4 kg (8.8 lbs) for women. The world record is over 23 metres!
The Paralympic Games began in 1948, just three years after the end of World War II, when British neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a small sports competition for wheelchair users at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Today the Paralympics features over 4,400 athletes competing in 22 sports.
Underwater hockey is a real sport where two teams of six players compete to push a weighted puck along the bottom of a swimming pool using small sticks. Players must hold their breath while playing, coming up for air between moves. It was invented in England in 1954.
Rugby Sevens — a faster, shorter version of rugby union with only seven players per side — was introduced to the Olympics at Rio 2016. Fiji won the gold medal in such dominant fashion that players broke down in tears, as it was the country's first ever Olympic medal in any sport.
In the Landes region of south-west France, stilt walking was once a practical skill used by shepherds to walk across the flat, marshy land faster. Today there are competitive stilt races, and top stilters can run at up to 20 km/h on wooden stilts.