Tag: sports history

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Trischa Zorn, The Swimming Great With 55 Paralympic Medals

The benchmark for Paralympic gold: 55 medals by a single athlete, swimmer Trischa Zorn.

When Countries Stayed Out Of The Olympics, They Held Their Own Olympic-Style Games

Several times the Games have been canceled, and at other times, boycotts have led some countries to hold their own alternative competitions.

Germany Schaefer, The Baseball Player Who Stole First Base

Today in 1911, a very strange thing happened in a baseball game: a guy on second base ran backwards and stole first base, the base he'd just been on. Here's his very unusual story.

“Eric The Eel” Won An Olympic Heat With The Slowest Time In The Field

Sometimes the Olympic athletes who don’t win are the ones who make big impressions. Eric Moussambani was a hit at the 2000 Summer Games despite finishing well behind the rest of the competitors in his event.

Women Couldn’t Compete In The Ancient Olympics, So They Held The Heraean Games Instead

In ancient Greece, the Olympics were for men only. But from what we can tell, women representing 16 city-states would come together every four years to weave a robe for Hera, the queen of the gods, and hold a footrace for single women.

Two Olympians Turned A Silver And A Bronze Into “Medals Of Friendship”

Whenever the Olympic Games take place we see athletes giving their all to win gold and glory - but we also see great examples of competitors who show character and kindness toward each other. Here’s the story of two of those athletes, who ended up winning the only half-silver, half-bronze medals in Olympic history.

The 1904 Men’s Marathon Was The Weirdest Olympic Race Ever

The men's marathon at the 1904 Olympics could have won a gold medal for biggest trainwreck in Summer Games history. Here's how dirt, dehydration, dogs and more helped make this as bizarre a run as they get.

Some Olympians Won Medals For Painting And Shooting Cannons

For better or for worse, the Summer Olympics are finally here. We thought it would be a good time to look back at some of the lesser-known events in the history of the Games, like painting and cannon shooting.

It’s The Birthday of “Steady” Ed Headrick, the “Father of Disc Golf”

It's the birthday of the guy who took two sports and fused them into one: Ed Headrick, known today as the Father of Disc Golf. Here's some of his story.

The Time A Golfer Won The US Open While Suffering From Dysentery

The 1934 US Open was a prestigious but kind of strange golf tournament. The guy who won it, Olin Dutra, was sick as a dog the whole time.

In The 1920s There Was A Footrace From Los Angeles To New York

On this day in 1928, the start of the Trans-America Foot Race, aka the "Bunion Derby," in which about 200 runners in Los Angeles set out to run all the way to New York City.

The Canadiens And Maple Leafs Had A Brawl, And A Hockey Game Broke Out

Today in 1953, two NHL teams racked up a then-record 204 penalty minutes, in a game that’s officially 60 minutes long. Hockey is a rough sport.