Fast Facts - Sport

Fishing is the biggest participant sports in the world.

Football (soccer) is the most attended or watched sport in the world.

Boxing became a legal sport in 1901.

More than 100 million people hold hunting licences.

Jean Genevieve Garnerin was the first female parachutists, jumping from a hot air balloon in 1799.

In 1975 Junko Tabei from Japan became the first woman to reach the top of Everest.

The record for the most Olympic medals ever won is held by Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. Competing in three Olympics, between 1956 and 1964, she won 18 medals.

The record for the most major league baseball career innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings.

The first instance of global electronic communications took place in 1871 when news of the Derby winner was telegraphed from London to Calcutta in under 5 minutes.

In 1898, one of the first programmes to be broadcasted on radio was a yacht race that took place in British waters.

Sports command the biggest television audiences, led by the summer Olympics, World Cup Football and Formula One racing.

Gymnasiums were introduced in 900BC and Greek athletes practised in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They also performed naked at the Olympic Games.

The very first Olympic race, held in 776 BC, was won by Corubus, a chef.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. There were 311 male but no female competitors.

In his time, Michael Schumacher was the highest paid sportsman, ahead of Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer. (Not including sponsorship endorsements.)

The high jump method of jumping head first and landing on the back is called the Fosbury Flop.

Korfball is the only sport played with mixed teams, consisting of 4 men and 4 women.

The Major League Baseball teams use about 850,000 balls per season.

About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus 650 matches in the Wimbledon Championship.

A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches, a cricket ball has between 65 and 70 stiches.

A soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels, held together by 642 stitches.

Basketball and rugby balls are made from synthetic material. Earlier, pigs' bladders were used as rugby balls.

The baseball home plate is 17 inches wide.

Golf the only sport played on the moon - on 6 February 1971 Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.

Bill Klem served the most seasons as major league umpire - 37 years, starting in 1905. He also officated 18 World Series.

The oldest continuous trophy in sports is the America's Cup. It started in 1851, with Americans winning for a straight 132 years until Australia took the Cup in 1983.

Volleyball was invented by William George Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895.

A badminton shuttle easily travels 180 km/h (112 mph).

Ferenc Szisz from Romania, driving a Renault, won the first Formula One Grand Prix held at Le Mans, France in 1906.