Portal:Sports

The Sports Portal

Sport in childhood. Association football, shown above, is a team sport which also provides opportunities to nurture physical fitness and social interaction skills.

Sport is a form of physical activity or game. Often competitive and organized, sports use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills. They also provide enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Many sports exist, with different participant numbers, some are done by a single person with others being done by hundreds. Most sports take place either in teams or competing as individuals. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament format, producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.

Sport is generally recognised as system of activities based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with major competitions admitting only sports meeting this definition. Some organisations, such as the Council of Europe, preclude activities without any physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee who oversee the Olympic Games recognises both chess and bridge as sports. SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports: bridge, chess, draughts, Go and xiangqi. However, they limit the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports. Sport is usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition. Winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first. It can also be determined by judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impression. (Full article...)

Selected articles

• 

  

  
  The 2015 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2015 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament which took place from 18 April to 4 May 2015 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 39th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, and was the final ranking event of the 2014–15 snooker season. Sports betting company Betfred sponsored the event for the first time in three years, having previously done so from 2009 to 2012. The top sixteen players in the snooker world rankings were placed into the draw, and another sixteen players qualified for the event at a tournament taking place from 8 to 15 April 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.
  
  Mark Selby was the defending champion, having defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2014 final. Selby lost 9–13 in the second round to event debutant Anthony McGill, and became the 16th first-time champion unable to defend his title at the venue. Shaun Murphy, the 2005 winner, met Stuart Bingham in the final. Bingham, who was given odds of 50–1 to win the tournament by bookmakers before the start of the tournament, defeated Murphy 18–15 in the final to win the first world title of his 20-year professional career. Aged 38, Bingham became the oldest player to win the title since Ray Reardon in 1978. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Oxbow in the winner's circle at the 2013 Preakness Stakes

  
  Oxbow (foaled March 26, 2010), an American Thoroughbred racehorse, is best known for winning the second jewel in the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, the 2013 Preakness Stakes. A bay colt, sired by a winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic and out of a full sister to another Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Oxbow was sold as a yearling at Keeneland for $250,000 and is owned by Brad Kelley of Calumet Farm. He was trained by D. Wayne Lukas and was ridden in his Triple Crown races by Gary Stevens.
  
  Oxbow had a reputation as a front-runner who was difficult to rate during his races. Plagued with frequent turnover in jockeys prior to the Triple Crown series, and often running from poor starting gate post positions, he had only two wins prior to his victory in the Preakness. That success was Calumet Farm's first win in a Triple Crown race in 45 years and breeder Richard Santulli's first win in a Triple Crown classic race. It also was Stevens' first Triple Crown win since 2001, following his return to riding in early 2013 after a seven-year retirement, and Lukas' first Triple Crown win since 2000. (Full article...)
• 
  During the 1906–07 English football season, New Brompton F.C. (named Gillingham F.C. since 1912) competed in the Southern League Division One. It was the 13th season in which the club competed in the Southern League and the 12th in Division One. The team started the season poorly, with only one win in the first four games, but then won three consecutive games to climb to 9th out of 20 teams in the league table. After another poor run between mid-October and the end of November, during which the team lost five out of six games and dropped to 19th, the directors appointed Steve Smith as player-manager. Although the team won their first game following his appointment, their results in the second half of the season remained inconsistent, with another six-game winless run in February and March. In April, however, New Brompton won four out of six games to finish the season 16th in the table.
  
  New Brompton also competed in the FA Cup, reaching the second round. The team played a total of 42 league and cup matches, winning 13, drawing 11 and losing 18. Dan Cunliffe was the club's top goalscorer with 15 goals. Smith and John Martin made the most appearances; both played in all 42 of the team's competitive games. The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Road, was 7,000 for a game against Portsmouth on 1 April 1907. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Fanny Bullock Workman

  
  Fanny Bullock Workman (January 8, 1859 – January 22, 1925) was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer, notably in the Himalayas. She was one of the first female professional mountaineers; she not only explored but also wrote about her adventures. She set several women's altitude records, published eight travel books with her husband, and championed women's rights and women's suffrage.
  
  Born to a wealthy family, Workman was educated in the finest schools available to women and traveled in Europe. Her marriage to William Hunter Workman cemented these advantages, and, after being introduced to climbing in New Hampshire, Fanny Workman traveled the world with him. They were able to capitalize on their wealth and connections to voyage around Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The couple had two children, but Fanny Workman was not a motherly type; they left their children in schools and with nurses, and Workman saw herself as a New Woman who could equal any man. The Workmans began their travels with bicycle tours of Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Algeria and India. They cycled thousands of miles, sleeping wherever they could find shelter. They wrote books about each trip and Fanny frequently commented on the state of the lives of women that she saw. Their early bicycle tour narratives were better received than their mountaineering books. (Full article...)
• 

  

  Hershiser pitching for the Dodgers in 1993

  
  During the 1988 Major League Baseball season, pitcher Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers set the MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Over 59 consecutive innings, opposing hitters did not score a run against Hershiser. During the streak, he averted numerous high-risk scoring situations. The streak spanned from the sixth inning of an August 30 game against the Montreal Expos to the 10th inning of a September 28 game against the San Diego Padres. The previous record of 58+2⁄3 innings was set by former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale in 1968; as the team's radio announcer, Drysdale called Hershiser's streak as he pursued the new record. Pundits have described the streak as among the greatest records in baseball history, with one pundit ranking it among the greatest individual feats in American sports.
  
  During the streak, the Elias Sports Bureau changed its criteria for the official consecutive scoreless innings record for starting pitchers from including fractional innings in which one or two outs had been recorded to counting only complete scoreless innings. Since the streak was active at the end of the 1988 season, it could have spanned two separate seasons. However, Hershiser yielded a run in his first inning of work in the 1989 season against the Cincinnati Reds, thus ending the streak at 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. The streak includes only innings pitched in the regular season, excluding eight scoreless innings Hershiser pitched to start Game 1 of the 1988 National League Championship Series on October 4 (unofficially extending his streak to 67 combined innings). Although he completed the ninth inning in each start, the streak's final game lasted 16 innings, of which he pitched only the first 10. Thus, Hershiser did not match Drysdale's record of six consecutive complete game shutouts. Like Drysdale's streak, the penultimate game of Hershiser's streak was a Dodgers–Giants game that featured a controversial umpire's ruling that saved the streak. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Portrait by Charles Dana Gibson, c. 1903

  
  Margaret Ives Abbott (June 15, 1878 – June 10, 1955) was an American amateur golfer. She was the first American woman to win an Olympic event: the women's golf tournament at the 1900 Summer Olympics.
  
  Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), British Raj, in 1878, Abbott moved with her family to Chicago in 1884. She joined the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois, where she received coaching from Charles B. Macdonald and H. J. Whigham. In 1899, she traveled with her mother to Paris to study art. The following year, along with her mother, she signed up for a women's golf tournament without realizing that it was the second modern Olympics. Abbott won the tournament with a score of 47 strokes; her mother tied for seventh place. Abbott received a porcelain bowl as a prize. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  O'Reilly in the 1930s

  
  William Joseph O'Reilly OBE (20 December 1905 – 6 October 1992) was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.
  
  O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers ever to play cricket. He delivered the ball from a two-fingered grip at close to medium pace with great accuracy, and could produce leg breaks, googlies, and top spinners, with no discernible change in his action. A tall man for a spinner (around 188 cm, 6 ft 2 in), he whirled his arms to an unusual extent and had a low point of delivery that meant it was very difficult for the batsman to read the flight of the ball out of his hand. When O'Reilly died, Sir Donald Bradman said that he was the greatest bowler he had ever faced or watched. In 1935, Wisden wrote of him: "O'Reilly was one of the best examples in modern cricket of what could be described as a 'hostile' bowler." In 1939, Wisden reflected on Bill O'Reilly's successful 1938 Ashes tour of England: "He is emphatically one of the greatest bowlers of all time." (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Advertisement in Billboard magazine in 1907

  
  How Brown Saw the Baseball Game is an American short silent comedy film produced in 1907 and distributed by the Lubin Manufacturing Company. The film follows a baseball fan named Mr. Brown who overdrinks before a baseball game and becomes so intoxicated that the game appears to him in reverse motion. During production, trick photography was used to achieve this effect.
  
  The film was released in November 1907. It received a positive review in a 1908 issue of The Courier-Journal that reported the film was successful and "truly funny". , it is unclear whether the print of the film has survived. The identities of the film cast and production crew are unknown. (Full article...)
• 
  The 1988 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match contested between Chelsea and Middlesbrough over two legs on 25 May 1988 and 28 May 1988. It was to determine which club would play the next season in the First Division, the top tier of English football. Chelsea had finished the season fourth from bottom in the First Division, while Middlesbrough were third in the Second Division. They were joined in the play-offs by the teams that had finished fourth and fifth in the Second Division: Chelsea defeated Blackburn Rovers in their play-off semi-final, while Middlesbrough beat Bradford City.
  
  The first leg of the final was played at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough, in front of a crowd of 25,531. Trevor Senior and Bernie Slaven scored for Middlesbrough, who won the match 2–0. Three days later, at Stamford Bridge in London, 40,550 fans watched Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 1–0. Gordon Durie scored the only goal of the match, but it was not enough for Chelsea, who lost the tie 2–1 on aggregate. Middlesbrough were promoted to the First Division where they remained for one season before they were relegated. Chelsea won the Second Division the following season and, , remain in the top tier of English football. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  Craig Kieswetter (born 28 November 1987) is an English professional golfer and former cricketer who appeared in 71 matches for the England cricket team between 2010 and 2013. Born and raised in South Africa, Kieswetter moved to England to complete his education, and began playing county cricket for Somerset in 2007. Three years later, he made his international debut in a One Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh. A wicket-keeper batsman, he was considered a one-day specialist, and all his international appearances came in ODIs or Twenty20 Internationals.
  
  Kieswetter played junior cricket for Western Province until the age of 18, but lack of opportunity led him to seek an alternative route in England. He studied at Millfield, where he was noticed by Somerset. The county's lack of a strong wicket-keeper gave Kieswetter his opportunity, and he made his debut for the team early in the 2007 season. Through his Scottish mother, he qualified to play county cricket, and his performances soon generated discussion about his potential to play for England. Around this time, the captain of South Africa, Graeme Smith, invited him to return to play in South Africa but Kieswetter preferred to qualify for England. (Full article...)
• 
  The 2021 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2021 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 45th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible Theatre and the 15th and final ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season. It was organised by the World Snooker Tour. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred and broadcast by the BBC, Eurosport and Matchroom Sport. It featured a total prize fund of £2,395,000 of which the winner received £500,000.
  
  Qualifying for the tournament took place between 5 and 14 April 2021 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. There were 128 participants in the qualifying rounds, consisting of a mix of professional and invited amateur players. The main stage of the tournament featured 32 players: the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings and an additional 16 players from the qualifying rounds. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, having won his sixth world title at the previous year's event, where he defeated Kyren Wilson 18–8 in the final. O'Sullivan lost in the second round to Anthony McGill 12–13. Mark Selby defeated Shaun Murphy 18–15 in the final to win his fourth world title and the 20th ranking title of his career. There were a record 108 century breaks made at the Crucible, with an additional 106 made in qualifying rounds. The tournament's highest break was 144 by Murphy in the second round. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Wembley Stadium, site of the final

  
  The 1987 FA Cup final between Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur on 16 May 1987 at Wembley Stadium, London, England was the 106th Final of the FA Cup, English football's primary cup competition. It was the third final for Tottenham Hotspur in seven years, the team having won the trophy in 1981 and 1982, while Coventry were making their first appearance. Both clubs were in the Football League First Division that season, giving them entry into the competition in the third round. They each won five games en route to the final, with Coventry beating Leeds United 3–2 and Tottenham beating Watford 4–1 in their respective semi-finals. Both clubs recorded songs to commemorate reaching the final. After a December league match between the two sides had finished 4–3 to Coventry, both Tottenham manager David Pleat and Coventry joint-manager John Sillett anticipated an exciting final.
  
  Neil Midgley refereed the match in front of a crowd of 96,000. Within two minutes of the kick-off, Tottenham took the lead. Chris Waddle played in a cross from the right wing and Clive Allen beat defender Trevor Peake to the ball to head it past Steve Ogrizovic in the Coventry goal. The scores were level seven minutes later: a deep cross from Greg Downs was headed on by Keith Houchen to Dave Bennett who rounded Ray Clemence and struck the ball past Steve Hodge into the corner of the Tottenham goal. Coventry's Cyrille Regis had a goal disallowed and then, five minutes before half-time, Tottenham restored their one-goal lead. A free kick from Hoddle was touched on by Gary Mabbutt and bounced into the far corner of the Coventry goal. Midway through the second half, Coventry were level once again, with Houchen converting a Bennett cross with a diving header, which would later be selected as the BBC Goal of the Season. With the game even at full time, extra time was needed to decide the match. The only goal of extra time was scored in its first period when a cross from Lloyd McGrath looped off Mabbutt's left knee and over Clemence for an own goal, making the final score 3–2 to Coventry. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  MacLaren in 1905

  
  Archibald Campbell MacLaren (1 December 1871 – 17 November 1944) was an English cricketer who captained the England cricket team at various times between 1898 and 1909. A right-handed batsman, he played 35 Test matches for England, as captain in 22 of those games, and led the team to defeat in four Ashes series against Australia. An amateur, MacLaren played first-class cricket for Lancashire, captaining that county for most of his career. As a batsman, MacLaren was one of the leading cricketers of his time and had a reputation as a fast-scoring stylist. In 1895, he scored 424 runs in an innings against Somerset which was the highest individual score in first-class cricket until 1923 and remained a record in English cricket until 1994. Opinions were divided over his captaincy. He was a deep thinker on the game and critics believed him to be tactically advanced, but his pessimism, clashes with the selectors and inability to get the best out of his players led most commentators to rate him a poor leader.
  
  After attending public school, MacLaren played intermittently for Lancashire until 1899 as he tried to establish a career outside the sport. Even so, he was appointed county captain in 1894 and was chosen frequently to play for England. An appointment as Lancashire's assistant secretary allowed him to play more regularly from 1900. He first captained England in 1898 as a stand-in, but became captain in his own right in 1899. Under his leadership, England lost to Australia in three consecutive series—1899, 1901–02 and 1902. MacLaren was involved in controversies throughout all three defeats, and was replaced as captain in 1905, although he remained in the team. Business interests kept him out of the game for the following years, but he was invited to lead England once more in 1909. Defeat in that series ended his Test career, and the following year he ceased playing regular first-class cricket. He played occasionally until 1922–23, and had some late successes: in 1921, a team selected and captained by MacLaren defeated a previously unbeaten Australian team, and on his final first-class appearance during a 1922–23 Marylebone Cricket Club tour of New Zealand, he scored 200 runs. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Sounders FC players lift the 2009 and 2010 U.S. Open Cup trophies after repeating as champions by winning the 2010 final.

  
  The 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final was played on October 5, 2010, at Qwest Field (since renamed CenturyLink Field) in Seattle, Washington, United States. The match determined the winner of the 2010 U.S. Open Cup, a tournament open to amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation. This was the 97th edition of the oldest competition in United States soccer. Seattle Sounders FC won the match, defeating the Columbus Crew 2–1 in front of a sellout crowd of 31,311, the highest attendance at a U.S. Open Cup final. Kevin Burns scored first, giving the Columbus Crew an early lead. Sanna Nyassi then scored both goals for Seattle Sounders FC as it became the first team since 1983 to win two consecutive U.S. Open Cup championships.
  
  Both the Columbus Crew and Seattle Sounders FC qualified automatically for the third round of the U.S. Open Cup tournament by finishing among the top six in the 2009 Major League Soccer season standings. Both clubs won three matches in the tournament to advance to the final. Seattle won the bidding process to host the final. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

• 
  Curling

  Credit: Ralf Roletschek

  Martin Sesaker representing Norway in curling at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.
• 
  Cynthia Woodhead

  Photograph credit: Koen Suyk; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Cynthia Woodhead (born February 7, 1964) is an American former competitive swimmer, world champion, Olympic medalist, and former world-record holder. At the age of fourteen, she won three gold medals at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships, and set seven world records during her career.
• 
  Ty Cobb

  Photo: National Photo Company; restoration: Lise Broer; crop: jjron

  Ty Cobb (1886–1961), shown here sliding into third base on August 16, 1924, was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder. He spent twenty-two seasons with the Detroit Tigers, including six as the team's player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. During this time Cobb set ninety MLB records, though his abilities were sometimes overshadowed by his surly temperament and aggressive playing style. In 1936 Cobb was made an inaugural member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and in 1999 editors at the Sporting News ranked him third on their list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players".
• 
  Hurdling

  Photograph credit: Isiwal

  Hurdling is the act of running over an obstacle at high speed or in a sprint. It is a highly specialized form of obstacle racing, and forms part of track and field in the sport of athletics. In hurdling events, barriers known as hurdles are set at precisely measured heights and distances. This photograph shows the Austrian athlete Leon Okafor taking part in the men's 110-metre (120 yd) hurdles at the Leichtathletik Gala in Linz in 2018.
• 
  Motocross

  Credit: Fir0002

  Motocross is form of motorcycle or ATV racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The tracks are often quite large, natural, terrains with very few man made jumps, unlike Supercross, a sport that was originally derived from Motocross and is executed on a smaller track with many more extreme man made obstacles.
• 
  Lauren Mitchell

  Photo: Steven Rasmussen; edit: Keraunoscopia

  Australian artistic gymnast Lauren Mitchell (b. 1991) performing a layout step-out on the balance beam during the 41st World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London, United Kingdom, on 14 October 2009; at the Championships, Mitchell won two silver medals, one for the balance beam and another for floor exercises. Since her first medal in 2007, Mitchell has placed in the World Championships, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games, and competed in two Olympic Games.
• 
  Scrum (rugby)

  Credit: PierreSelim

  A rugby football scrum.
• 
  Handball-Bundesliga (women)

  Credit: Kuebi

  Mara Friton in a handball match in the German Handball-Bundesliga.
• 
  Boxing

  Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo/Wayne Short; editing by Shawnc

  Boxing is a sport where two participants of similar weight attack each other with their fists in a series of one to three-minute intervals called "rounds". Modern boxing began in 1867 with the Marquess of Queensberry rules. Currently, there are two distinct branches of boxing: Professional and Olympic, which have different rules, but are similar in execution.
• 
  Balance beam

  Credit: Fernando Frazão

  The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus, as well as the event performed using the apparatus. Pictured is Daniele Hypólito in the final of the women's artistic gymnastics competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where Brazil finished in 8th place.
• 
  BASE jumping

  Photograph credit: Kontizas Dimitrios

  BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. The acronym stands for four categories of fixed objects from which the jumps can be made: buildings, antennae, spans, and earth (cliffs). In this photograph, a BASE jumper launches himself from the top of the Sapphire Tower in Istanbul, Turkey.
• 
  Horse racing

  Credit: Fir0002

  Horses race on grass at the 2006 Tambo Valley Races in Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia. Horseracing is the third most popular spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost 2 million admissions to the 379 racecourses throughout Australia in 2002–03.
• 
  Personal foul

  Photograph: Carlos Delgado

  Zoran Dragić (right) committing a personal foul on Carl English during a 2013 basketball game between Game Estudiantes and Unicaja Málaga. Personal fouls, defined as illegal personal contact with an opponent which affects gameplay, are the most common type of foul in basketball, but are not always considered unsportsmanlike.
• 
  Sandboarding

  Photo: Steven J. Weber/US Navy

  Sandboarding is a boardsport similar to snowboarding, but competitions take place on sand dunes rather than snow-covered mountains. Here, a member of the US Navy sandboards down a dune in Jebel Ali, Dubai.
• 
  Lawn mower racing

  Photo credit: Fir0002

  Two racers cross the finish line of the 250cc class at the 2007 Swifts Creek lawn mower races. In this motorsport, competitors race modified lawn mowers, usually of the ride-on or self-propelled variety. Original mower engines are retained but blades are removed for safety. Lawn mowers have also been used in kart racing, a different sport.
• 
  Lake Placid, New York

  Restoration: Lise Broer

  A late 1930s Federal Art Project poster advertising the bobsled track in Lake Placid, New York, United States, which had been used in the 1932 Winter Olympics. The village is located in the Adirondack Mountains and is known as a tourist destination for winter sports, mountain climbing, and golf. It is one of the three places to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games and the first location in North America to host two Olympic games.
• 
  Grand Prix motorcycle racing

  Credit: Richard Mushet

  Grand Prix motorcycle racing 125 cc champion Gábor Talmácsi in a road race during the 2007 season.
• 
  Alessandro Martinelli

  Photograph credit: Matteo Brama

  Alessandro Martinelli (born 30 May 1993) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie B club Brescia. Born in Mendrisio, Ticino, he moved south to Italy to begin his professional career in 2009. Martinelli then left the reserve team of Sampdoria in 2012 for Portosummaga. After returning to Sampdoria in 2013, he was signed by Venezia later that year and then by Modena in 2014. Martinelli left for Brescia in 2015 and joined the club on a permanent basis in 2017. From 2008 to 2013, he also played for various Swiss national youth football teams.
  
  This picture, taken in 2015, shows Martinelli playing for Modena in a match against Ternana.
• 
  2013 World Fencing Championships

  Photograph: Marie-Lan Nguyen

  Nikolay Kovalev (R) attacks Áron Szilágyi (L) in the semi-finals of the men's sabre event at the 2013 World Fencing Championships. Although Kovalev won, he lost in the final against Veniamin Reshetnikov.
  
  Held in Budapest, Hungary, from 5 to 12 August, the 2013 Championships saw 827 fencers from 101 countries compete. Russia won the most medals (11), followed by Italy (6) and Ukraine (4).
• 
  Cross-country skiing

  Credit: Che

  Priit Narusk in the qualification for the Tour de Ski cross-country skiing competition in Prague.
• 
  Fencing

  Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen

  Fencing is the sport of fighting with swords; in modern usage the word usually denotes competitive fencing, rather than classical fencing. Here, Fabian Kauter (right) hits Diego Confalonieri (left) with a flèche attack at the final of the Challenge Réseau Ferré de France–Trophée Monal 2012.
• 
  Léon Georget

  Photo: Bain News Service; Restoration: Jujutacular

  Léon Georget (1879–1949) was a racing cyclist from Preuilly-sur-Claise, Indre-et-Loire, France. He was known as The Father of the Bol d'Or, having won the race nine times between 1903 and 1919 in Paris.
• 
  Iris Pruysen at 2014 Athletics Paralympic Meeting

  Photograph: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin

  Iris Pruysen, an athlete with an artificial leg, competes in the long jump at the 2014 Athletics Paralympic Meeting in Stade Sébastien Charléty, Paris, France.
  
  Disabled sports, also known as parasports, are sports played by persons with a permanent or temporary disability, be it physical or intellectual. Many disabled sports are based on existing able bodied sports, modified to meet the needs of persons with a disability. However, several sports have been specifically created for persons with a disability.
• 
  Fredrik Pettersson

  Picture: Krm500

  Fredrik Pettersson (born 1987) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player, pictured while with Frölunda HC and now playing for HC Donbass in the Kontinental Hockey League. A right winger, Pettersson's international record includes a gold at the 2013 IIHF World Championship and bronze in 2010.

Did you know...

• ...that Bobby Pearce (pictured) won the single sculls at the 1928 Summer Olympics despite stopping mid-race for a passing flock of ducks?
• ...that Brian Boitano narrowly won the Battle of the Brians, a 1988 Winter Olympics figure skating rivalry between two elite skaters named Brian?
• ...that the yobidashi serves as a sumo wrestler's handyman, promoter and assistant?
• ...that Estonian Margus Hunt won two gold medals at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics, setting a world junior record in discus throw and a national junior record in shot put?
• ...that at 7'3" (2.21 m), Swede Halbrook became the tallest person to ever play college basketball when he joined the Oregon State Beavers in 1954?

Selected quote

Selected athlete

Waisale Serevi during the 2007 Wellington Sevens

Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968 in Suva, Fiji) is a former Fijian rugby union footballer, and coach. Although he played fifteen-a-side rugby throughout his playing career, Serevi is most notable for his achievements in rugby sevens. He is widely considered one of the greatest rugby players ever, especially in the game of sevens.

In the 15-man game, he played for Fiji 39 times between 1989 and 2003, and scored 376 points. This included representing Fiji in the 1991, 1999, and 2003 Rugby World Cups. He has also played professionally for the Mitsubishi, Leicester, Stade Montois, Stade Bordelais and Staines rugby teams.

His representative sevens career started in 1989 when he played for Fiji at the Hong Kong tournament. With the exception of 2001, 2003 and 2004 he has played at Hong Kong every year since. Serevi has also played in the 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens, winning the World Cup with Fiji in 1997 and 2005. He won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002, and captured bronze in 2006. Serevi has played in the International Rugby Board Sevens Series since its creation in 1999. In 2005 after winning the 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens Serevi was appointed the Fiji Sevens team's coach. He coached Fiji to the 2005/2006 IRB Sevens Series victory – the first time the series was not won by New Zealand.

In 2010 Serevi moved his family to the United States and settled in Seattle, Washington, to run a business with Fijian expatriates. He used his experience in rugby to open a new brand, the Serevi Rugby Nation, to help pool funds for Pacific Islander players and run rugby training workshops for the youth. He also worked with the Old Puget Sound Rugby club, and helped Central Washington University qualify for the Collegiate Rugby Championships. On October 6, 2011, Serevi flew home to Fiji and declared his availability to coach the team in qualifying for the 2013 Sevens World Cup and help the team qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games. (Full article...)

More selected biographies

Selected team

Toronto Raptors players in 2006

The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada. When the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, to become the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canadian team in the NBA. They originally played their home games at the SkyDome, before moving to the Air Canada Centre in 1999.

Like most expansion teams, the Raptors struggled in their early years, but after the acquisition of Vince Carter through a draft day trade in 1998, the team set league attendance records and made the NBA Playoffs in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Carter was instrumental in leading the team to a franchise high 47 wins and their first playoff series win in 2001, where they advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. During the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, they failed to make significant progress and he was traded in 2004 to the New Jersey Nets. After Carter left, Chris Bosh emerged as the team leader, but they continued to struggle. However, with the appointment of Bryan Colangelo as Raptors President and General Manager, the first overall NBA draft selection of Andrea Bargnani, and a revamp of the roster for the 2006–07 season, they qualified for their first playoff berth in five years and captured the Atlantic Division title with 47 wins. In the 2007–08 season, they advanced to the playoffs again but failed to make the playoffs in the following season. Although Colangelo overhauled the team in an effort to keep Bosh after the end of his contract, Bosh signed with the Miami Heat in July 2010, ushering in a new era for the Raptors with Bargnani becoming the new face of the franchise. (Full article...)

More selected teams

In this month

• June 6, 1946 – The Basketball Association of America, a predecessor to the National Basketball Association, is founded
• June 14, 1900 – The only game of Basque pelota (pictured) ever played in the Olympics takes place at the 1900 Summer Olympics
• June 15, 1909 – The international governing body of cricket, the International Cricket Council, is founded
• June 20, 1904 – Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the federation in charge of Formula One and World Rally Championship, is founded
• June 23, 1894 – Pierre, Baron de Coubertin founds the International Olympic Committee, the organizers of the Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games

More selected anniversaries

Topics

Related portals

Categories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

Sports

Sports by continent of origin

Sports by country of origin

Sport by location

Sport by period

Sports by region of origin

Sports by type

Games

Categories by sport

Sports accomplishments

Sports administration

Sports business

Sports colors

Combination events

Sports communication

Comparison of sports

Sports controversies

Criticism of sports

Sports culture

Deaths in sport

Sports deities

Sports equipment

Sport etymologies

Sports events

Extinct sports

Gender and sport

Health and sports

Sport-related lists

Sports museums

Sports management

Military sport

Naming in sports

Numbering in sports

Sports occupations and roles

Sports organizations

People in sports

Sports plays

Politics and sports

Proposals in sports

Religion and sports

Sports rules and regulations

Sports science

Sports seasons

Set index articles on sports

Sports strategy and tactics

Superlatives in sports

Sports techniques

Sports terminology

Sports titles

Sports venues

Western sports

Women and sports

Works about sports

Sports stubs

Things you can do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : missing entries at list of sports and Requested articles/Sports Assess : see Unassessed sports articles Copyedit : see Sports articles needing expert attention Deletion sorting : see WikiProject Deletion sorting/Sports Expand : coverage on women's sports and other sports that are underrepresented on Wikipedia Maintain : WikiProject Sports/Article alerts Photo : see Wikipedia requested images of sports and games Portal : maintain the Sports portal Stubs : see Sports stubs and Stub-Class sports articles Requests : for assistance at WikiProject Sports

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

• 

  Commons
  Free media repository

• 

  Wikibooks
  Free textbooks and manuals

• 

  Wikidata
  Free knowledge base

• 

  Wikinews
  Free-content news

• 

  Wikiquote
  Collection of quotations

• 

  Wikisource
  Free-content library

• 

  Wikiversity
  Free learning tools

• 

  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

Discover Wikipedia using portals

• 

  List of all portals

• 

  The arts portal

• 

  Biography portal

• 

  Current events portal

• 

  Geography portal

• 

  History portal

• 

  Mathematics portal

• 

  Science portal

• 

  Society portal

• 

  Technology portal

• 

  Random portal

• 

  WikiProject Portals