The character of Rocky Balboa

Young actor Sylvester Stallone watched the fight at home on television and was inspired to write the script for Rocky, based on Wepner's gutsy challenge. Wepner would later sue Stallone three times (twice unsuccessfully) for a share of the profits. Stallone settled for an undisclosed amount in the third suit, having publicly stated that Wepner was his inspiration for the script.

Canasta

It is believed that Canasta was invented in Montevideo, Uruguay in the early twentieth century. It then spread to Argentina, and then to the United States and the rest of the world. The game was very popular in the 1950s.

Benetton and Ferrari

After winning two championships with Benetton, Schumacher moved to the Ferrari in 1996 and won five consecutive drivers' titles with them.

1916 - Berlin; 1940 - Tokyo then moved to Helsinki; 1944 - London

Before their cancellation, the games of 1940 were retracted from Tokyo by the IOC due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

Soccer

When one student, Charles Wreford Brown, was asked if he'd like to play rugger, he was the first to abbreviate "association rules" (Football Association rules) by answering, "No, soccer." Brown later became an England international and Football Association vice-president.

Zola Budd Pieterse

Sugar Ray Robinson

Robinson is widely considered one of the greatest boxers in history, and has been ranked as the greatest boxer of all time by sportswriters, fellow boxers, and trainers. The phrase "pound for pound", was created by sportswriters for him during his career as a way to compare boxers irrespective of weight, and Hall of Fame fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Leonard have ranked Robinson as the greatest pound for pound boxer in history.

The Boston Celtics, with 21

The Celtics also hold the record for most championships, with 16.

Jules Verne, of course!

The original idea for this competition has been attributed to Yves Le Cornec in 1985. The rules were defined in 1990.

Senet

The oldest remnants of any ancient board game ever unearthed are those of senet, found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, circa 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively. By the time of the New Kingdom in Egypt (1567–1085 BC), it had become a kind of talisman for the journey of the dead. Because of the element of luck in the game and the Egyptian belief in determinism, it was believed that a successful player was under the protection of the major gods of the national pantheon: Ra, Thoth, and sometimes Osiris. Consequently, Senet boards were often placed in the grave.

24 Hours of Le Mans

The race became a major motion picture in 1971 when Steve McQueen released his simply titled Le Mans, starring McQueen as a driver in the 1970 event for the Gulf Porsche team. Likened to other motorsports films such as Grand Prix for Formula One racing and Winning for the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans is the best known film to center on sports car racing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Le_Mans)

Fencing

The World Games

Some of the sports that were on the program of the World Games eventually made it as Olympic sports (such as triathlon) or have been Olympic sports in the past (like tug of war). Some of the sports that are currently held at the World Games are orienteering, body building, powerlifting, finswimming, squash, netball, water skiing, casting, etc. The sports that are included in the World Games are based on the facilities available in the host city, no new facilities may be constructed for the games.

A Baseball card

The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card is a rare baseball card depicting Honus Wagner, a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the finest players of all time. This Wagner card is the most valuable baseball card in history and it last fetched a sale price of $2.8 million.

'Southpaw', meaning a left-hander.

The first use of the term is credited to Finley Peter Dunne. However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists a non-baseball citation for "south paw", meaning a punch with the left hand, as early as 1848, just three years after the first organized baseball game. In boxing, someone who boxes left-handed is frequently referred to as southpaw.

Haka

It is a posture dance with shouted accompaniment, performed by a group. Haka are not exclusively war dances, nor are they only performed by men. Some are performed by women, others by mixed groups, and some simple haka are performed by children.

Tabletennis

Alpine Skiing

In North America, the easiest ski runs are marked by green circles, and are typically fairly flat and smooth. Sometimes known as "bunny slopes", they are usually groomed by specially equipped snowcats every night. A blue square marks slopes of medium difficulty; these blue squares may be steeper or narrower than green circles, or they may be left in a natural state rather than machine-groomed. A black diamond run is yet steeper than a blue square and often involves challenging terrain such as moguls, narrow passes, unmarked obstacles, double fall lines, or gladed sections. A double black diamond is for experts only; these trails are steep, rarely groomed and often left in a completely natural state. There is no standard for these designations, however, and each ski resort determines them relative to their own terrain difficulty.

Monopoly

It is published by Parker Brothers, an imprint of Hasbro. According to Hasbro, since Charles Darrow patented the game in 1935, approximately 750 million people have played the game, making it "the most played [commercial] board game in the world." The 1999 Guinness Book of Records cited Hasbro's previous statistic of 500 million people having played Monopoly. Games Magazine has inducted Monopoly into its Hall of Fame.

Predicting the round in which he would finish opponents

Polo

It is played outdoor on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Riders score by driving a white wooden or plastic ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet.

Mia Hamm

She was named the women's FIFA World Player of the Year the first two times that award was given (in 2001 and 2002), and is listed as one of FIFA's 125 best living players (as chosen by Pelé). Women's Professional Soccer, a professional soccer league that plans to launch in 2009, features Hamm's silhouette in its logo.

The Iditarod

It is an annual race where mushers and teams of dogs cover about 1,151 miles (1,853 km) in eight to fifteen days. Frequently teams race through blizzards causing whiteout conditions, and sub-zero weather and gale-force winds which can cause the wind chill to reach -100 °F (-75 °C). The Iditarod is regarded as a symbolic link to the early history of the state, and is connected to many traditions commemorating the legacy of dog mushing.

The Long Count Fight in which Tunney won

It was said to be the first $1 million gate and the first $2 million gate in entertainment history. Because of a controversial delay offered to Tunney when he was down, it became known as The Long Count Fight.

The Floor Exercise and the Vault

Men compete on Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar, while women compete on Vault, Uneven Bars, Beam, and Floor Exercise.

The House

Two sweepers with brooms accompany each rock and use timing equipment and their best judgement along with direction from their other teammates to help direct the stones to their resting place. The complex nature of stone placement and shot selection has led some to refer to curling as "chess on ice".

Foxhunting

It is a recreational form of hunting in which trained dogs pursue Red Foxes, followed by human hunters who are usually on horses but sometimes on foot. Many animal welfare campaigners object to it as barbaric, while many proponents and participants view it as a crucial part of rural history in England, vital for conservation, and a method of pest control.

Hands down

Tiger Woods

A syllabic abbreviation he coined from Caucasian, Black, (American) Indian, and Asian).

In American roulette, there is a pocket marked 00 that is not present in the European version.

A 'Go Kart'.

Art Ingels is known as 'the father of karting'.

The New York Jets

The team began in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League under the name New York Titans. The Jets later joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger. The Jets hold the distinction of being the first AFL team to defeat an NFL club in an AFL-NFL World Championship Game when they defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

Bill Bradley

In 1969-70, he helped the Knicks win their first NBA championship, followed by a second in 1972-73. The second championship season was Bradley’s best and he made his only All-Star Game appearance that year. Retiring from basketball in 1977, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In 1984 the Knicks retired his number 24 jersey.

The Ruy Lopez

One of the most popular openings, it has such a vast number of variations that in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings all codes from C60 to C99 are assigned to them.

'Snatch' and 'Clean and Jerk'.

A third lift, the "clean and press" or simply "press", was practiced in the Olympics until 1972. The clean and press differs from the clean and jerk, in that the weight is pressed directly up from the chest with the arms only, while remaining standing, while the jerk uses the legs' power to assist the arms part of the way up, followed by the body sinking downward into a split or squat to complete the extension of the arms, before once again standing. The press was eliminated due to the difficulty in judging whether the lift was performed correctly: Lifters were bending so far backward as to turn it into a "standing bench press".

Charles Barkley

Harding became notorious for allegedly conspiring to harm competitor Nancy Kerrigan in an attack, which occurred on January 6, 1994 at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The Boston Marathon

Occuring annually on Patriot's Day, the third Monday of April, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's most prestigious road racing events. It is considered to be one of the more difficult marathon courses because of the infamous Newton, Massachusetts, hills along Washington Street and Commonwealth Avenue, which culminate in Heartbreak Hill near Boston College.

The "vicht" salute

Kroon, 41, along with former No.1 Mats Wilander, held the rights to the salute from 1988 and often used the signal whenever they won a point or game. Broadly meaning "for sure", it is now widely used by athletes from other sports, including swimmer Grant Hackett.

Secretariat, who in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in twenty-five years.

It set new race records in two of the three events in the Series - the Kentucky Derby (1:59 2/5), and the Belmont Stakes (2:24) - records that still stand today. The other two non-humans on the list were also racehorses: Man o' War at 84th and Citation at 97th.

Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia

As a child growing up on a farm in Ethiopia he used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same back every evening. This led to a distinctive running posture, with his left arm crooked as if still holding his schoolbooks.

When the term "World's Championship Series" was first used in the 1880s, baseball was almost exclusively confined to North America, especially the United States, at a high level. Thus it was understood that the winner of the major league championship was the best baseball team in the world. The title of this event was soon shortened to "World's Series" and later to "World Series".

A recent myth has arisen that the "World" in "World Series" came about because the New York World newspaper sponsored it. There is no evidence at all supporting that hypothesis.

The Queensberry rules for the sport of boxing

They were named so because the 9th Marquess of Queensberry publicly endorsed the code. This version persuaded boxers that "you must not fight simply to win; no holds barred is not the way; you must win by the rules".

Trinity College, Cambridge

This race is also depicted in the movie 'Chariots of Fire'. It is a rather difficult challenge and the only people believed to have actually completed the run in time are Lord Burghley in 1927 and Sebastian Coe when he beat Steve Cram in a charity race in October 1988.

A swing that results in the clubhead hitting the ground several inches before the ball, resulting in a large "chunk" of ground being taken as a divot.

Jimmy Connors

Gerulaitis is considered one of the great "might-have beens" of tennis. Some believe that by indulging in a close and perhaps servile friendship with Björn Borg, Gerulaitis may have stifled the aggressive instincts needed to bring a player to the top rank. He is remembered as one of the most pleasing players to watch on court, and a gentleman off court. He died in a tragic carbon monoxide poisoning accident in 1994 at age 40.

Long distance running

The Kalenjin have been called by some "the running tribe." Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honors in international athletics at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin. From 1980 on, about 40% of the top honors available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honors) have been earned by Kalenjin.

London winning the Olympic bid

Bullfighting

Yogi Berra

Years later, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi Bear was possibly named after Berra (the cartoon bear's creators denied it), something Berra did not appreciate after he started being periodically addressed as "Yogi Bear."

Wilma Rudolph

George Balabushka

His full name or last name standing alone is often used to refer to a cue stick made by him. Although already well known and valuable to collectors, Balabushka and his cues became much more so after being prominently featured in Martin Scorsese’s 1986 film 'The Color of Money'.

The overall last-place rider.

Because a red lantern is found at the end of a rail train.

Manchester United Football Club

The club has had the highest average attendance in English football for the past 34 seasons, with the exception of 1987-89. Among European clubs, they have been perennial revenue leaders for the late 1990s and early 2000s, and they are still the fourth richest (in terms of revenue) in the world.

A Boomerang

Each thrower has five attempts. Points are awarded for distance, accuracy and the catch.

Black Power Salute

After completing their 200 metre race, Tommie Smith, who won the race in a then world record time, with Australia's Peter Norman second and John Carlos in third place, went to collect their medals at the podium. The two American athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. After being expelled from the games, Smith and Carlos were largely ostracised by the U.S. sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. In recent years, their stand has been vindicated and San Jose State University honored them with a twenty foot high statue of their protest in 2005.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute)

The Commonwealth Games

Attendance at the Commonwealth Games is typically around 5,000 athletes.

Bela Karolyi

Károlyi has coached nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and six U.S. national champions.

Boxing

In the 1970s, amateurism requirements were dropped from the Olympic Charter, leaving decisions on professional participation to the international federation for each sport. This switch was perhaps best exemplified by the American Dream Team, composed of well-paid NBA stars, which won the Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1992.

The Middle Sunday of the 2-week tournament

However, rain has forced play on the Middle Sunday three times in the Championship's history: in 1991, 1997, and 2004. On each of these occasions, Wimbledon has staged a "People's Sunday", with unreserved seating and readily available, inexpensive tickets.

Eagles

The 12 most used names of four-year college mascots: Eagles (74), Tigers (46), Bulldogs (39), Panthers (33), Knights (32), Lions (31), Bears (30), Hawks (28), Cougars (27), Pioneers (27), Warriors (27) and Wildcats (25).

Kubb

Rules vary from country to country and from region to region, but the ultimate object of the game is to knock the "King" over, before your opponent does. This, combined with the fact that there is a surprising level of strategy that can be used by players, has led some players and kubb fans to nickname the game "Viking Chess." The game can be played on a variety of surfaces such as sand, concrete, grass, or even ice.

Steeplechase (X is a steeple)

The length of the race is usually 3000 m. The number of laps depends on whether the water jump is located to the inside of lane one or to the outside of lane eight or nine. Each runner encounters a total of 28 barriers over the course of the race, as well as 7 water jumps.

Newport, Rhode Island, USA

The US Basketball team at the Olympics, the original 'Dream team'.

The 1992 team consisting of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson is often regarded as the greatest collection of talent on one team in basketball history.

Michael Johnson

His upright stance and very short steps defied the perceived wisdom that a high knee lift was essential for maximum speed. When asked by a reporter, "If you had a usual running technique like other runners do you think you would go faster?" Johnson responded by saying "If I ran like all the other runners, I would be back there with them."

Tug of war

Vijay Singh

He later said that the substance of his interview to an Associated Press reporter was that she would be displacing some other struggling male player, for whom he had his sympathies. However, the media focused on this statement, Golf Digest writing that Singh had become "pro golf's bad guy".

Israel

A number of players condemned the action to not grant Peer a visa, and WTA chief Larry Scott said that he had considered canceling the tournament, but chose not to after consulting Peer. ATP player Andy Roddick chose not to defend his title, with prize money of over $2 million, to protest the UAE's refusal to grant Peer a visa for the event.

Bonneville Speedway

It is part of the 159 sq mile Bonneville salt flat in northwestern Utah. The area is extremely flat and nearly aligned perfectly with the shape of Earth, allowing visitors to see the curvature of the planet by producing an optical illusion that makes many of the mountains within the vicinity appear to be floating in the air since their bases are on the other side of the curve and thus out-of-sight.

Robert Trent Jones Sr

Jones got his first big assignment designing the Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta in collaboration with golf legend Bobby Jones. Despite the similarity of their names, the two men were not related. In fact Robert began using the middle name "Trent" shortly afterward to avoid confusion. Jones courses are noted for their artistic landscaping, innovative use of bunkers, liberal use of water hazards, and deft placement of greens and hazards that encourage a high level of strategy. He believed that golf should be a no risk; no reward sport and his designs encouraged daring play.

The Modern Gymnastics

In particular, Jahn crafted early models of the horizontal bar, the parallel bars (from a horizontal ladder with the rungs removed), and the vaulting horse. By the end of the nineteenth century, men's gymnastics competition was popular enough to be included in the first "modern" Olympic Games in 1896.

Ilie Nastase

Until the computer-generated rankings began in 1973, all previous rankings going back to 1913 had been to at least some degree subjective. Even the "authoritative" end-of-the-year amateur rankings issued by such groups as the United States Lawn Tennis Association were based on judgments made by men and women and not on mathematical formulas assigning points for wins or losses.

Pentecost Island

Between April and June every year, men in the southern part of the island jump from tall towers with vines tied to their feet, in a ritual believed to ensure a good yam harvest. The ritual is also now used to show acceptance into manhood. Land diving was first given international exposure when David Attenborough and a BBC film crew brought back footage of the ritual during the 1950s.

Bocce

The sumo version of an autograph.

Tegata consist of a hand print of the wrestler accompanied by his fighting name written in calligraphic style by the wrestler himself. The ink for the handprint itself can be either red or black. Original tegata can be quite expensive, but printed copies of the most popular wrestlers can be obtained very inexpensively.

Dominos

The name ultimately derives from the Latin dominus, meaning "lord" or "master."

Marcelo Rios

The 50 km Walk

Most people mistakenly assume its the Marathon, which is 42.195 kms or 26 miles, 385 yards.

Alexander Karelin, the Greco-Roman wrestler.

Karelin was famous for his body lift, the "Karelin Lift", where facing the opponent who was lying flat on the mat to keep from being thrown, Karelin was able to lift the opponent from around his waist and throw him all the way over his shoulders, scoring from 2 to 5 points depending on the height of the throw. Karelin's ability to perform this throw against elite opponents weighing as much as 130 kg was amazing to audiences as well as other participants and observers of the sport.

Great Britian

Ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908.

Premier League of English soccer, slighly ahead of NHL

Adjust the position of a piece on its square without the intention of moving it.

Adjustment can only be done when it is the player's move and the adjustment is preceded by speaking I adjust or j'adoube.

Jim Brown

The New York City Marathon

The Barilla Marathon Eve Dinner, an enormous pre-race pasta party on the eve of the marathon, takes place at the Tavern.

Murderer's row

The 1927 Yankees are recognized as one of the best teams in baseball history, alongside the 1939 Yankees, the 1961 Yankees and the 1998 Yankees.

Dick Fosbury (Fosbury Flop)

His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backwards over the bar. As a student at Oregon State University, he won the 1968 NCAA title using his new technique, as well as the US Olympic trials. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, which were held in Mexico City, he took the gold medal and set a new Olympic record (2.24 meters / 7 feet 4.25 inches), displaying the potential of the new technique. Despite the initial skeptical reactions from the high jumping community, the new technique quickly gained popularity, and it is almost exclusively used by modern high jumpers.

Splitting an arrow already lodged in the target with another one.

Steffi Graf

300

Over 56,000 perfect games were recorded by USBC in 2005.

Marat Safin

Ring jousting

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

It is a synonym for a type of cracker known as hardtack.

It is a biscuit made from flour, water, and salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was used during long sea voyages and military campaigns as a primary foodstuff. The name derives from the British seamen's slang for food, "tack", and the fact it is so hard and dry.

En Passant

Historically, en passant is one of the last series of major rule changes in European chess that occurred in the 14th to 15th century, together with the introduction of the two-square first move for pawns, castling, and the unlimited range for queens and bishops. Because of their separation from European chess prior to that period, the Asian chess variants do not feature any of these moves.

John McEnroe