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 physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a particular sport can vary from hundreds of people to a single individual.

Sport competitions may use a team or single person format, and may be open, allowing a broad range of participants, or closed, restricting participation to specific groups or those invited. Competitions may allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure there is only one winner. They also 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. (Full article...)

Selected articles

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  The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

  
  The 2003 Cricket World Cup Final was a One Day International (ODI) match played on 23 March 2003 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. It marked the culmination of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the eighth edition of the tournament. It was the first time these two teams had met at this stage of a World Cup. For defending champions Australia it was their fifth World Cup final, while for India it was the second after their 1983 victory. Australia won the match by 125 runs to claim the title for the third time.
  
  Both teams had progressed through three stages to reach the final. Australia was unbeaten thus far, while India had lost one game—against Australia in the first stage. Australia—led by Ricky Ponting—entered the game as firm favourites. After winning the toss, India captain Sourav Ganguly decided to field first. The Australian opening pair, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, added 105 runs in 14 overs. After their dismissals, Ponting (140 not out) and Damien Martyn (88 not out) were involved in a partnership of 234 runs, then an Australian record, and took the total to 359 runs for 2 at the end of the innings. Harbhajan Singh took two of the Australian wickets, conceding 49 runs. (Full article...)
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  During the 1963–64 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Fourth Division, the fourth tier of the English football league system. It was the 32nd season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 14th since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. Gillingham were undefeated in their first 13 games, the longest such run from the start of the season by any team in the Football League, and by the end of September were top of the league table, where they remained for much of the season, although some fans were unhappy with the team's defensive style of play.
  
  In April, the postponement of several games allowed other teams to overtake Gillingham and push them out of the promotion places, but they moved back up the table as they played the rescheduled games. Going into of the final match of the season, Gillingham were two points behind first-placed Carlisle United, who had already played their last game, meaning that a Gillingham victory would leave the two teams on the same points and the championship would be decided on goal average. Gillingham won their final game and won the Fourth Division championship as their goal average was fractionally better than Carlisle's. It was the club's first Football League divisional championship; Gillingham would not win another until 2013. (Full article...)
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  During the 1983–84 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system. It was the 52nd season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League and the 34th since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. The team started the season poorly and were near the bottom of the league table after six games, but won five times in October to move into the top half, where they remained at the end of 1983. After only playing one league match in January, Gillingham were 10th in the 24-team table at the end of February but were in the advantageous position of having up to four games more to play than the teams above them. During March and April, however, they played 15 games and only won three times to fall out of contention for promotion to the Second Division. After winning three out of four games in May, the team finished the season 8th in the table, missing out on promotion by five places.
  
  Gillingham also competed in three knock-out competitions. They lost in the first round of both the Football League Cup and the Associate Members' Cup but reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, at which stage they held Everton of the First Division, the highest level of English football, to two goalless draws before losing a second replay. The team played 55 competitive matches, winning 23, drawing 12, and losing 20. Dave Mehmet was the club's leading goalscorer, with 17 goals in all competitions. John Leslie made the most appearances, missing only one game. The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 17,817 for the second of the two replays against Everton. (Full article...)
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  McGraw in 1910

  
  John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890s Baltimore Orioles teams, noted for their innovative, aggressive play.
  
  McGraw was born into poverty in Truxton, New York. He found an escape from his hometown and a bad family situation through baseball, beginning a quick rise through the minor leagues that led him to the Orioles at the age of 18. Under the tutelage of manager Ned Hanlon, the Orioles of the 1890s won three National League (NL) pennants; McGraw was one of the stalwarts of the team alongside Wee Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, and Wilbert Robinson. The Orioles perfected the hit and run play and popularized the Baltimore chop; they also sought to win by intimidating the opposing team and the umpire. (Full article...)
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  Hungaroring (GP track)

  
  The 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 ING Magyar Nagydíj 2008) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 August 2008, at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, near Budapest. It was the 11th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. Contested over 70 laps, the race was won by Heikki Kovalainen for the McLaren team, from a second position start. Timo Glock finished second in a Toyota car, with Kimi Räikkönen third in a Ferrari. It was Kovalainen's first Formula One victory, which made him the sport's 100th driver to win a World Championship race, and it was Glock's first podium finish. It also turned out to be the only F1 race Kovalainen ever won.
  
  The majority of the race consisted of a duel between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, who drove for McLaren and Ferrari, respectively. Hamilton started from pole position but was beaten at the first corner by Massa, who passed him around the outside. The two championship rivals began a battle for the lead that was resolved when Hamilton sustained a punctured tyre just over halfway through the race, giving Massa a lead of more than 20 seconds over Kovalainen. The Ferrari's engine, however, failed with three laps remaining, allowing the McLaren driver to win. Räikkönen set the race's fastest lap in the other Ferrari, but was hampered by a poor qualifying performance and was stuck behind Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Glock in turn for almost all of the race. (Full article...)
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  Sedin with the Vancouver Canucks in October 2010

  
  Henrik Lars Sedin (born 26 September 1980) is a Swedish ice hockey executive and former centre who played his entire 17-season National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks from 2000 to 2018. He additionally served as the Canucks' captain from 2010 until his retirement. Born and raised in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, Sedin and his identical twin brother Daniel played together throughout their careers; the pair were renowned for their effectiveness as a tandem. Henrik, a skilled passer, was known as a playmaker (150+ more career NHL assists than Daniel) while Daniel was known as a goal-scorer (150+ more career NHL goals than Henrik). Sedin tallied 240 goals and 830 assists, for 1,070 points, in 1,330 NHL games, ranking him as the Canucks' all-time leading points scorer.
  
  Sedin began his career in the Swedish Hockey League with Modo Hockey in 1997 and was co-recipient, with brother Daniel, of the 1999 Guldpucken as Swedish player of the year. Selected third overall—one pick after brother Daniel—by the Canucks in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Sedin spent his entire NHL career in Vancouver. After four seasons with the club, he became the Canucks' top-scoring centre in 2005–06. He has since won three Cyrus H. McLean Trophies as the team's leading point-scorer (from 2007–08 to 2009–10) and one Cyclone Taylor Award as the team's most valuable player (2010). In 2009–10, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as well as the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player and leading point-scorer, respectively. He was also named to the NHL first All-Star team that year and again in 2010–11, a season that included an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, where Vancouver lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games. That summer, Henrik and Daniel were named co-recipients of the Victoria Scholarship as Swedish athletes of the year. Alongside his brother, Henrik was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022. (Full article...)
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  1945 portrait

  
  George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
  
  Born in 1885, Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and the United States Military Academy at West Point. He studied fencing and designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber, more commonly known as the "Patton Saber." He competed in the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, finishing in fifth place. Patton entered combat during the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916, the United States' first military action using motor vehicles. He fought in World War I as part of the new United States Tank Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces: he commanded the U.S. tank school in France, then led tanks into combat and was wounded near the end of the war. In the interwar period, Patton became a central figure in the development of the army's armored warfare doctrine, serving in numerous staff positions throughout the country. At the United States' entry into World War II, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division. (Full article...)
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  Smith with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1983

  
  Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball. Renowned for his acrobatic athletic ability, Smith is now widely regarded as the greatest defensive player of all time, winning the National League Gold Glove Award for defensive play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons. He was also a 15-time All-Star, accumulated 2,460 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career, and won the National League Silver Slugger Award as the best hitter at shortstop in 1987.
  
  Smith was born in Mobile, Alabama; his family moved to Watts, Los Angeles, when he was six years old. While participating in childhood athletic activities, Smith possessed quick reflexes; he went on to play baseball at Locke High School in Los Angeles, then at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Drafted as an amateur player by the Padres, Smith made his major league debut in 1978. He quickly established himself as an outstanding fielder, and later became known for performing backflips on special occasions while taking his position at the beginning of a game. Smith won his first Gold Glove Award in 1980 and made his first All-Star Game appearance in 1981. (Full article...)
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  Germany's Mario Götze scores the match-winning goal

  
  The 2014 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2014 World Cup, the 20th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 13 July 2014, and was contested by Germany and Argentina. The event comprised hosts Brazil and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Germany finished first in Group G, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Algeria in the round of 16, France in the quarter-final and Brazil, by a score of 7–1, in the semi-final. Argentina finished first in Group F with three wins, before defeating Switzerland in the round of 16, Belgium in the quarter-final and the Netherlands in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-final. The final was witnessed by 74,738 spectators in the stadium, as well as over a billion watching on television, with the referee for the match being Nicola Rizzoli from Italy.
  
  Gonzalo Higuaín missed a chance to score for Argentina in the first half when he was one-on-one with Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, and Benedikt Höwedes failed to give Germany the lead shortly before half-time when his shot struck the goalpost. Lionel Messi had an opportunity to score when he was one-on-one with Neuer shortly after half time, but his low shot went wide of the goal. On 71 minutes, Thomas Müller was through on goal following a build-up involving André Schürrle and Mesut Özil, but he failed to control the ball and lost it to Argentina's goalkeeper, Sergio Romero. With the match goalless after 90 minutes, it went to extra time, in the second period of which Germany broke the deadlock. Mario Götze, who had come on as a substitute shortly before the end of normal time, received Schürrle's cross from the left on his chest before volleying a left-footed shot into the net to secure a 1–0 victory for Germany. (Full article...)
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  The Stadion Crvena Zvezda held the final.

  
  The UEFA Euro 1976 final was the final match of the UEFA Euro 1976, the fifth edition of the European Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. Contested by Czechoslovakia and West Germany, the match was played at Stadion Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on 20 June 1976.
  
  En route to the final, Czechoslovakia finished top of their qualifying group, which included England, Cyprus and Portugal. After beating the Soviet Union 4–2 on aggregate over a two-legged tie in the quarter-finals, they progressed to the final after defeating the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the semi-finals. West Germany also won their qualifying group, which included Greece, Malta and Bulgaria, before beating Spain 3–1 on aggregate in the two-legged quarter-finals and then tournament hosts Yugoslavia 4–2 after extra time in the single-match semi-final. (Full article...)
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  Thorpe at Doha GOALS Forum 2012

  
  Ian James Thorpe AM (born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the second most won by any Australian after fellow swimmer Emma McKeon. With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in his hometown of Sydney.
  
  At the age of 14, Thorpe became the youngest male ever to represent Australia, and his victory in the 400 metre freestyle at the 1998 Perth World Championships made him the youngest-ever individual male World Champion. After that victory, Thorpe dominated the 400 m freestyle, winning the event at every Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships until his break after the 2004 Olympics in Athens. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person to win six gold medals in one World Championship. Aside from 13 individual long-course world records, Thorpe anchored the Australian relay teams, numbering the victories in the 4 × 100 m and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relays in Sydney among his five relay world records. His wins in the 200 m and 400 m and his bronze in the 100 m freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics made him the only male to have won medals in the 100–200–400 combination. He acquired the nickname "Thorpedo" because of his speed in swimming. Thorpe announced his retirement from competitive swimming in November 2006, citing waning motivation; he made a brief comeback in 2011 and 2012. (Full article...)
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  Griffiths in 1991

  
  Terence Martin Griffiths (16 October 1947 – 1 December 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player, coach, and commentator. He won several amateur championships, including the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and consecutive English Amateur Championship titles in 1977 and 1978, before turning professional in 1978 at the age of 30.
  
  Griffiths won the 1979 World Snooker Championship as a qualifier, defeating Alex Higgins in the quarter-finals, Eddie Charlton in the semi-finals, and Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the final. He was only the second qualifier to win the World Championship, after Higgins in 1972; only Shaun Murphy (2005) and Zhao Xintong (2025) have repeated the feat. He reached a second World Championship final in 1988, losing 11–18 to Steve Davis after being level at 8–8. (Full article...)
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  Baldwin photographed in c. 1890

  
  Marcus Elmore Baldwin (October 29, 1863 – November 10, 1929), nicknamed "Fido" and "Baldy", was an American professional baseball player who pitched seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). In 346 career games, he pitched to a 154–165 win–loss record with 295 complete games. Baldwin set the single-season MLB wild pitches record with 83 that still stands today.
  
  Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baldwin made his professional debut for a Cumberland, Maryland, team in 1883. Though signed by Chicago White Stockings president Albert Spalding to pitch against the St. Louis Browns in the 1886 World Series, Baldwin did not play after the Browns objected. He made his MLB debut for the White Stockings in 1887, when a writer for the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern called him the "swiftest pitcher in the National League" (NL). Released by Chicago player–manager Cap Anson, he signed with the Columbus Solons of the American Association (AA) in 1889, where he led the league in innings pitched (513+2⁄3), losses (34), strikeouts (368), and walks (274). (Full article...)
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  Jack Crawford in 1906

  
  John Neville Crawford (1 December 1886 – 2 May 1963) was an English first-class cricketer who played mainly for Surrey County Cricket Club and South Australia. An amateur, he played as an all-rounder. As a right-handed batsman, Crawford had a reputation for scoring quickly and hitting powerful shots. He bowled medium-paced off spin and was noted for his accuracy and his ability to make the ball turn sharply from the pitch. Unusually for a first-class cricketer, Crawford wore spectacles while playing.
  
  Crawford established a reputation as an outstanding cricketer while still a schoolboy. He played Test cricket for England before he was 20 years old, and successfully toured Australia with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1907–08. He played only 12 matches for England, although critics believed he had a great future in the sport and was a potential future England captain. In two successive English seasons, he completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first-class games. (Full article...)
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  Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional association football club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL).
  
  The Mariners were founded in 2004 and are one of the eight original A-League teams. It is the first professional sports club from the Gosford region to compete in a national competition. Despite being one of the smallest clubs in the league, the Central Coast Mariners are one of the most successful clubs in Australian soccer history, having won three A-League Championships from six Grand Final appearances and topped the table to win the A-League Premiership three times. The club has also appeared in the AFC Champions League five times and won the AFC Cup once. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

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  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.
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  Handball-Bundesliga (women)

  Credit: Kuebi

  Mara Friton in a handball match in the German Handball-Bundesliga.
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  Grand Prix motorcycle racing

  Credit: Richard Mushet

  Grand Prix motorcycle racing 125 cc champion Gábor Talmácsi in a road race during the 2007 season.
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  Olympic women's cycling winners, 2012

  Photograph: David Iliff

  The leaders of the women's road race, one of the cycling events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, on 29 July 2012. The eventual medallists (left to right: Lizzie Armitstead (silver), Marianne Vos (gold) and Olga Zabelinskaya (bronze)) were photographed approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the finish line.
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  Muhammad Ali

  Photograph: Ira Rosenberg; restoration: Chris Woodrich

  Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the history of the sport. A controversial and polarizing figure during his early career, Ali is now highly regarded for the skills he displayed in the ring plus the values he exemplified outside of it: religious freedom, racial justice and the triumph of principle over expedience. Ali remains the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion, having won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978.
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  Curling

  Credit: Ralf Roletschek

  Martin Sesaker representing Norway in curling at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.
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  Cross-country skiing

  Credit: Che

  Priit Narusk in the qualification for the Tour de Ski cross-country skiing competition in Prague.
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  Scrum (rugby)

  Credit: PierreSelim

  A rugby football scrum.
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  Tony Estanguet

  Photo: Pavel.rycl

  Tony Estanguet (b. 1978) is a French slalom canoeist who has competed since the mid-1990s. Before announcing his retirement, he competed in four Olympic Games and, with his win at the 2012 London Games, became the first French Olympian to win three gold medals in the same Olympic discipline.
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  1899 Michigan Wolverines football team

  Photograph: Fred Rentschler

  Official portrait of the 1899 Michigan Wolverines football team, an American football team which represented the University of Michigan in the 1899 season. Coached by Gustave Ferbert, the Wolverines opened the season with six consecutive shutouts, outscoring opponents in those six contests by a combined score of 109 to 0. However, they finished the season by going 2–2 in their final four games, losing against the University of Pennsylvania Quakers and a championship game against the Wisconsin Badgers.
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  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.
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  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.
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  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.
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  Quarterback

  Photo credit: Mike Kaplan, USAF

  In gridiron football, the quarterback is the leader of the offensive team. At most levels, but especially at the college and professional level, the quarterback is one of the most visible and important roles on the team, being responsible both for calling plays and making decisions during the play. Shown here is Shea Smith of the Air Force Falcons during the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl.
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  Wayne Gretzky

  Photo credit: Håkan Dahlström

  Ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, as a member of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1997. Gretzky, nicknamed "The Great One", is widely considered the best hockey player of all time. Upon his retirement in 1999, he held forty regular-season records, fifteen playoff records, and six All-Star records. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season—a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 15 NHL seasons, 13 of them consecutively. He is the only player to have his number (99) officially retired by the NHL for all teams.
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  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.
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  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.
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  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.
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  Yekaterina Skudina

  Photograph credit: Platon Shilikov

  Yekaterina Skudina (born 21 March 1981) is a Russian world champion and Olympic sailor. She was awarded the Roy Yamaguchi Memorial Trophy for winning the world championships in the women's Snipe class in 1998, and the bronze medal at the Yngling open world championships in 2007. At the 2011 World Championships, Skudina finished fourth in the Elliott 6m class. In addition, she has competed in three Olympic Games, finishing eighth in the Yngling class in 2004, sixth in the same class in 2008, and fourth in the Elliott 6m class in 2012.
  
  This photograph of Skudina, taken in 2009, is part of a collection of 500 images of Russian sportspeople released to Wikimedia Commons by Bolshoi Sport.
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  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.
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  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.
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  McKayla Maroney

  Photograph: Pete Souza; edit: El Grafo

  US Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney posing with President Barack Obama. They are wearing the "McKayla is not impressed" expression of disappointment which became an internet phenomenon after Maroney made it upon winning a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Yahoo! listed the photograph of Maroney on the podium as the most viral picture of 2012.
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  Elena Runggaldier

  Photograph credit: Ailura; edited by Chris Woodrich

  Elena Runggaldier (born 10 July 1990) is an Italian ski jumper and Nordic-combined skier. She won a silver medal at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011, and has taken part in four FIS Ski Jumping World Cups and represented Italy in ski jumping in two Winter Olympic Games. This photograph shows Runggaldier in Hinzenbach, Austria, where she competed in the 2014–15 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup.
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  Pacu jawi

  Photograph credit: Rodney Ee

  The pacu jawi is a traditional bull race in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, Indonesia. In the race, a jockey stands holding on to a pair of loosely tied bulls while the bulls run across a muddy track in a rice field. Recently, it has become a tourist attraction supported by the government, and the subject of multiple award-winning photographs. Dramatic high-speed action, mud splashing, and the jockeys' distinctive facial expressions add to its aesthetic value.

Did you know...

• ...that in 1962, the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club was forced to win an overtime game for a second time because a sudden death goal was scored during a television timeout?
• ...that Ruth Riley, an all-star center in the Women's National Basketball Association, also wrote a children's book?
• ...that Australian swimmer Fanny Durack was considered to be the world's greatest female swimmer from 1910 until 1918?
• ...that Italo Santelli (pictured, left) is widely considered to be the "father of modern sabre fencing"?
• ...that Lee McClung, a College Football Hall of Famer, also served as Treasurer of the United States, advocating the withdrawal of worn, dirty banknotes on sanitary grounds?

Selected quote

Selected athlete

Sid Barnes

Sidney George Barnes (5 June 1916 – 16 December 1973) was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen, averaging 63.05 over 19 innings in a career that, like those of most of his contemporaries, was interrupted by the Second World War.

Barnes helped create an enduring record when scoring 234 in the second Test against England at Sydney in December 1946; exactly the same score as his captain, Don Bradman, in the process setting a world-record 405 run fifth wicket partnership.

He made his first-class début at the end of the 1936–37 season when selected for New South Wales and was later included in the team for the 1938 Australian tour of England, making his Test début in the final international of the series.

On the resumption of Test cricket after the war, Barnes was picked as the opening partner to Arthur Morris. He was a member of The Invincibles, the 1948 Australian team that toured England without losing a single match. Retiring from cricket at the end of that tour, Barnes attempted a comeback to Test cricket in the 1951–52 season that was ultimately and controversially unsuccessful.

Barnes was a shrewd businessman who used the opportunities afforded by cricket to supplement his income through trading, journalism and property development. Increasing paranoia brought about by bipolar disorder saw Barnes lose many of the friends he had made through the game, as he sought treatment for his depression. On 16 December 1973, he was found dead at his home in the Sydney suburb of Collaroy; he had ingested barbiturates and bromide in a probable suicide. (Full article...)

More selected biographies

Selected team

The 1906 Youngstown team

The Youngstown Ohio Works baseball team was a minor league club that was known for winning the premier championship of the Ohio–Pennsylvania League in 1905, and for launching the professional career of pitcher Roy Castleton a year later. A training ground for several players and officials who later established careers in Major League Baseball, the team proved a formidable regional competitor and also won the 1906 league championship.

During its brief span of activity, the Ohio Works team faced challenges that reflected common difficulties within the Ohio–Pennsylvania League, including weak financial support for teams. Following a dispute over funding, the team's owners sold the club to outside investors, just a few months before the opening of the 1907 season.

The club's strong record and regional visibility spurred the growth of amateur and minor league baseball in the Youngstown area, and the community's minor league teams produced notable players throughout the first half of the 20th century. The story of the Ohio Works team proved to be an early chapter in Youngstown's long history of amateur and minor league baseball. In the 1930s and 1940s, the city was a frequent host of the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) championship. NABF officials praised the community for the condition of its sandlot baseball diamonds, which they rated as among the best in the country. During the first half of the 20th century, Youngstown-based teams provided experience and exposure to future major league players such as Everett Scott, Floyd Baker, and Johnny Kucab, and played an indirect role in launching the career of Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans. In the late 1990s, this tradition was rekindled, with the establishment of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor league team based in neighboring Niles, Ohio. (Full article...)

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In this month

• December 7–8, 1963 – The inaugural World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships is held in Budapest, Hungary
• December 12, 1959 – The first Southeast Asian Games (2011 opening ceremony pictured), a biennial multi-sport event for the countries in Southeast Asia, opens in Bangkok, Thailand
• December 12, 2010 – The inaugural Asian Para Games, the successor to the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, opens in Guangzhou, China
• December 13, 1993 – Major League Soccer, the highest level association football league in the United States and Canada, is founded
• December 21, 1904 – The governing body of motorcycle racing, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, is founded in Paris, France

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