40 Fascinating Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
1. The shortest Olympic event is the men’s 60-meter dash, which takes just six seconds to complete.
2. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team for being too small. He went on to become one of the greatest players in NBA history.
3. In 1978, a baseball pitcher named Tom Singer threw a no-hitter while tripping on LSD.
4. The world’s largest sports stadium is North Korea’s Rungrado May Day Stadium, with a capacity of over 150,000 people.
5. The first person to run a marathon was Pheidippides, who ran from Athens to Sparta in ancient Greece.
6. Golf legend Tiger Woods has won more than $1 billion in prize money during his career.
7. Basketball great Kobe Bryant played all 82 games in the 2005-06 season despite suffering from a broken finger, a sprained ankle, and a torn ligament in his wrist.
8. Tennis star Serena Williams holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles among women with 23.
9. The fastest recorded time for running the mile is three minutes and 43 seconds, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999.
10. Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo once scored five goals in a single match against Spain’s national team.
11. The highest point ever reached by a human without the use of technology or special equipment is Mount Everest’s summit at 29,029 feet above sea level.
12. The longest tennis match in history lasted for 11 hours and 5 minutes, with John Isner defeating Nicolas Mahut in the final set tiebreaker 70-68.
13. The oldest player to win a major golf tournament was Julius Boros, who won the U.S. Senior Open at age 48.
14. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Curie, who received it in physics and chemistry in 1903 and 1911 respectively.
15. Baseball Hall of Fame member Ty Cobb once hit .420 in a single season, still the highest batting average in MLB history.
16. The heaviest weight lifted in competition by a female athlete is 587 pounds, achieved by powerlifter Becca Swanson in 2011.
17. The tallest man ever recorded was Robert Wadlow, who stood at 8 feet and 11 inches before his death in 1940.
18. The smallest country to ever participate in the Olympics is Vatican City, which sent a delegation of four athletes to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
19. The only player to score a goal in every minute of a soccer game was Daniel Sturridge, who did so in a charity exhibition match in 2019.
20. The youngest player to win a professional tennis title was Martina Hingis, who won her first tournament at age 15.
21. The farthest distance ever run nonstop is 153 miles, accomplished by Yiannis Kouros in 1997.
22. The most successful coach in NFL history is Bill Belichick, who has led the New England Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six championships.
23. The highest jump ever recorded by a human is 12 feet and 2.5 inches, achieved by Mike Powell in 1991.
24. The oldest player to win a Grand Slam singles title was Andre Agassi, who won the Australian Open at age 35 in 2003.
25. The highest altitude ever reached by a human without the aid of a spacecraft is 34,449 feet, attained by Chhepal Sherpa in 2019.
26. The most successful Formula One driver of all time is Lewis Hamilton, who has won seven World Drivers’ Championships.
27. The fastest time ever recorded for solving a Rubik’s cube is 3.47 seconds, achieved by Yusheng Du in 2019.
28. The heaviest weight lifted in competition by a male athlete is 1,019 pounds, achieved by strongman Brian Shaw in 2019.
29. The longest winning streak in tennis history is 109 matches, held by Rafael Nadal between 2005 and 2007.
30. The first person to swim across the English Channel was Captain Matthew Webb, who completed the feat in 1875.
31. The highest vertical jump ever recorded is 12 feet and 7.5 inches, achieved by Chris Andersen in 2004.
32. The longest hole in golf is the par-7 seventeenth at the Snake River Sporting Club in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, measuring 851 yards.
33. The most consecutive victories in boxing is 49, held by Rocky Marciano between 1947 and 1951.
34. The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth is -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit, measured at Russia’s Vostok Station in Antarctica in 1983.
35. The highest number of points ever scored in a single NBA game is 100, achieved by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962.
36. The most medals won by any individual athlete in the Winter Olympics is 13, held by Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway.
37. The longest unbeaten streak in MMA history is 20 fights, held by Jon Jones between 2009 and 2016.
38. The most wins by a horse in the Kentucky Derby is five, held by both Secretariat and War Admiral.
39. The highest attendance ever recorded at a sporting event is 173,850, set at the 1958 FIFA World Cup Final in Sweden.
40. The most successful Olympian of all time is Phelps, who won 23 gold medals and 28 overall medals in his career as a swimmer.