2. Boxing became a legal sport in 1901.

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

4. 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.

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

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

7. In his time, Michael Schumacher was the highest paid sportsman, ahead of Tiger Woods.

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

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

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

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

12. 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.

13. Volleyball was invented by William George Morgan of Holyoke, Massachu- setts in 1895.

14. A badminton shuttle easily travels 180 km/h.

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