Looking for sports facts that will amaze you? Then you’ve come to the right place! We’ve compiled a list of sports facts that will astonish and delight you. Plus you can memorise them and use them to impress friends, family and work colleagues!
1. In 1994, Bulgaria had the only soccer team where all players last names ended in ‘OV’
2. Scotland’s Parliament banned golf, along with football, in 1457, as people were playing games when they should have been at military training
3. Cheetahs were once raced at Romford Greyhound Stadium in an attempt to increase the number of attendees during its events
4. Golf was once played on the moon. In 1971, astronaut Alan Shepard hit a golf ball on the surface of the moon using a makeshift 6-iron he had hidden away in the space capsule
5. Formula One Racing Cars generate so much downforce that they can drive upside-down on the roof of a tunnel at 120mph
6. The Wimbledon championship makes use of over 42,000 tennis balls, on average
7. The Olympics stopped using actual gold medals after 1912. Since then all of the gold medals that were given out have been made of silver and given a gold plating
8. The phrase about winning something “hands down” originally referred to a jockey who won a race without whipping his horse or pulling back the reins
9. The world record for the most number of non-stop push-ups is 10,507 by Minoru Yoshida of Japan, which was achieved in October 1980
10. Finland has hosted the official “Wife Carrying World Championship” since 1992. In this competition, men carry their wives as fast as possible over a long obstacle course. In the end, the winner receives his wife’s weight in beer
