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Sports Trivia

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Former track champion Grete Waitz won the London Marathon in 1983 and 1986, and the New York marathon a record nine times between 1978 and 1988. She has also been the women's cross-country champion five times.

Four players compete on an equestrian polo team. Seven compete on a water polo team.

Generally, right-handed archers shoot arrows that turn clockwise. Left-handers' arrows generally turn counterclockwise.

Gertrude Ederle was still a teenager when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel on August 6, 1926. Not only did she swim the channel, but she broke the speed record held by a man.

Golf was banned in England and Scotland in 1457 by King James II because he claimed it distracted people from the archery practice necessary for national defense.

Golfer Arnold Palmer was the first person to make $1 million playing golf.

Visitors to Acapulco must make a point of seeing the famed cliff divers, who perform their daily dives at La Quebrada, and have since 1934.

Volleyball was invented in a Holyoke, Massachusetts YMCA in 1895. Its inventor was William George Morgan. The game was first called "mintonette" and was played by hitting a basketball over a rope.

Persons that engage in solitary endurance sports are the ones most likely to be compulsive exercisers — for example, joggers, long-distance swimmers, weight-lifters, and cross-country skiers. Occasionally, devotees of these activities set unrealistic, ambitious goals and then drive themselves mercilessly to reach them. A study of New York marathoners a few years ago found that their divorce rate — male and female — was twice the national average.

Wellington College, which was founded in 1853 and specialized in educating the sons of soldiers, was quick to adopt its own set of colors for its sports teams. Its rugby team played in orange-and-black striped jerseys, while its cricket team sported light-blue caps piped with yellow — colors taken, curiously but appropriately, from the ribbon of the Crimean War medal.

Pheasant hunting is believed to be Iowa's single biggest outdoor sporting event.

Wheaties began its alliance with sports in 1933, nine years after the cereal was introduced. It started with the sponsorship of baseball radio broadcasts.

Pianist Yanni was formally a member of the Greek National Swimming Team.

When playing golf, scraping the golf club along the ground before hitting the ball is called sclaffing.

Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors: black and gold.

When the Superior Dome, at Northern Michigan University, opened in 1991, it boasted the world's largest wooden dome.

Polo may be played outdoors, on a field, or large indoor arenas, such as riding academies or armories. The ball used for outdoor polo may be wood or plastic. If wood, it may be made from ash or bamboo. The ball used indoors is inflated and covered with leather. It is approximately 4½ inches in diameter. It is 3¼ inches in diameter, and weighs between 4¼ and 4½ ounces.

When the World Cup of began in 1930 (formally called the FIFA World Cup), thirteen nations participated. Uruguay won that first competition.

Polo was introduced in the United States in 1876, coming from England. It is believed the game originated in Persia more than 2,000 years ago.

Prize fights prior to the turn of the century lasted up to more than a hundred rounds (rounds were often determined by knockdowns.) The fighters used bare knuckles (no gloves.)

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