Curated playlist
Summer Olympic sports
- CanoeingVerlen Kruger paddled more than 100,000 miles in his lifetime. Guinness lists it as the most miles paddled by anyone.
- KarateIn November 1922, karate master Motobu Choki beat a foreign boxer in Kyoto. Karate soon became known across Japan.
- SurfingIn July 1885, three Hawaiian princes rode redwood boards at Santa Cruz, California.
- Rowing (sport)Rowing's oldest surviving race, Doggett's Coat and Badge, was first contested in 1715.
- TennisTennis began with bare palms instead of rackets. Players in 12th-century northern France hit a ball by hand.
- Swimming (sport)David Berkoff swam most of a 1988 Olympic backstroke race underwater. His dolphin kick broke a world record.
- BreakdancingA teenager threw a back-to-school party in the Bronx in 1973, and breakdancing grew from it.
- BoxingBoxing's modern rules were drafted by a British amateur in 1867. John Graham Chambers wrote them for a London event.
- Association footballFootball's stoppage time exists because of one goalkeeper in 1891. He kicked the ball away to run out the clock.
- Sport of athleticsAt the first Olympics in 776 BC, the only event was one sprint. That race, the stadion, grew into modern athletics.