Art, obsession, and identity
Did you know that the first examples of a team game involving a ball date back 3,000 years to Mesoamerican cultures? The modern game of soccer, or football as it's widely known as, evolved in England in the middle of the 19th century. In 1863, the first football association was formed in Britain. The first official women's game took place in Inverness in Scotland in 1888. Today, soccer is the most popular game in the world. FIFA estimates that a staggering 265 million people—men and women—play football worldwide, and a staggering 3.5 billion consider themselves football fans.
In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. After women joined the ranks of the Olympics and first competed in gymnastics at the Games in 1928, floor exercises were eventually added to routines in 1932.
Based on the traditional skills of swordsmanship, fencing became an increasingly organized competitive sport late in the 19th century. The sport's governing body, the International Fencing Federation (FIE), was founded in 1913, with the French, Italians, and Hungarians dominating most fencing competitions for the first half of the century.
While the roots of the sport can be traced to ancient Greece, the game of badminton in fact originated in Siam, China, over 2,000 years ago. It was introduced to England in 1870, and was initially played somewhat like tennis.
The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896. The grueling foot race, a test of endurance and stamina, is held over a distance of 42.195 km (26.2 mi), a distance allegedly established by British royalty in 1908 during the Summer Olympic Games in London when Queen Alexandra requested the starting line be set on the lawn of Windsor Castle and the finish in front of the royal box at the Olympic Stadium—a distance that's still run today.
They've been racing horses since antiquity, ever since mounted (bareback) races were held at the Olympic Games in Greece over the period of 700–40 BCE. Modern horse racing began in England in the 18th century, with the first race of its kind, the St Leger, held on September 24, 1776.
The men's still rings competition made its debut at the first modern Olympics in 1896. The apparatus was invented in the early 19th century by German gymnastics educator Friedrich Jahn (1778–1852), known as the father of gymnastics.
Introduced as part of the pentathlon in the ancient Olympics of 708 BCE, discus is today part of the decathlon, a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track-and-field events.
Sources: (History) (NPR) (National Geographic) (Olympics) (Historic UK)
Archery is one of the oldest arts still practiced today. The earliest evidence of archery—arrowheads made of flint—dates back to around 20,000 BCE, the use of bow and arrows probably developing in Africa. Archery competitions became fashionable in England during the 1600s, and first featured as an Olympic sport in 1900.
Legend traces the concept of the hammer throw to around 2000 BCE and the Tailteann Games in Tara, Ireland. The hammer was first contested by men at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, while the first global competition for women was the 1999 IAAF World Championships in Seville, Spain.
Rowing was first used as a means of transport in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Modern rowing as a competitive sport can be traced to the early 17th century when tournaments were held on the River Thames in England, notably the Oxford-Cambridge university boat race. Rowing has been staged at all editions of the Olympic Games, except in 1896 in Athens.
Javelin as a sport originated from the spear's everyday use in hunting and fighting. It was added to the ancient Olympic Games as part of the pentathlon in 708 BCE. Throwing a javelin to achieve a world-beating distance requires a combination of strength, power, timing, coordination, and precision.
Developed centuries ago in the British Isles, the first competitions resembling modern shot put occurred in the Middle Ages when soldiers held wagers based on who could hurl a cannon ball the furthest.
The 100-m dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. Along with the marathon, it's also one of the most historical, having been included at the Summer Olympic Games since the first modern Games of 1896 for men, and since 1928 for women.
The dart, a shortened arrow, was often used in close combat by medieval soldiers in place of a knife. In France, small darts known as fléchettes were thrown at a target with concentric rings in a crude version of the modern game, which became popular in English pubs and inns during the late 19th century.
India is the birthplace of snooker, invented by a British army officer in 1875 at a place called Jubbulpore (or Jabalpur, as it is now known). It was then called billiards, its modern name adopted after the habit of calling anybody who missed a shot a "snooker"—a slang term for a first year army cadet, and by extension derogatory in its inference to inferior rank.
It's likely that golf as we know it originated in the 15th century at St Andrews in Scotland. But who exactly invented the game is unclear. There are references to ball and stick games being played in China as far back as the 11th century.
In ancient Greece and Rome, swimming was mandatory martial training for its contribution to physical strength and excellent cardiovascular conditioning. Swimming as a competitive sport emerged in England during the early 1800s. The first swimming championship was a race held in Australia in 1846. It became an Olympic sport in 1896.
Polo is one of the oldest recorded team sports in known history, with the first matches being played in Persia over 2,500 years ago by royalty and the nobility. Polo arrived in India in the 13th century. During the Raj, it was taken up by the British and the "sport of kings" soon became a spectator sport for equestrians and high society. Pictured in the saddle at full gallop are British princes William and Harry.
Cycling has its roots quite literally grounded in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris, where in 1791 the Comte de Sivrac was spotted riding a rigid, two-wheeled contraption called a celerifere. The recreational activity officially began as a sport on May 31, 1868 with a race between the fountains and the entrance of Saint-Cloud Park, near the city center. Cycling's premier sporting competition, the Tour de France, was established in 1903.
Cricket is referenced in England as early as 1597. By the middle of the 17th century, "village cricket"—notably Hambledon Club in Hampshire—developed to the point where "county teams" were being formed. By the 18th century, the game had been exported to other parts of the globe, though it never caught on in Canada or the United States.
The modern game of tennis developed from a 12th-century French handball game called jeu de paume ("game of the palm"). Played in monasteries, the word "tennis" also originates from the period, coined by monks who would shout the word tenez, the French for "to take," while they served the ball. The game arrived in England during the 16th century as real tennis, the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis derives. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club—home to Wimbledon—was established in 1868.
Squash has its origins in the aforementioned real tennis but was only developed as a sport on its own about 150 years ago. It's played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball.
The invention of basketball in 1891 is credited to Canadian-American physical educator James Naismith (1861–1939). Creating a ball game in Springfield, Massachusetts, to keep his students engaged and motivated, Naismith used as goals two half-bushel peach baskets, which gave the sport its name. Basketball is the only major sport strictly of US origin.
Human fist-fighting competitions certainly have their origins in prehistory. Boxing, however, first appeared as a formal event at the ancient Olympic Games, around 688 BCE. In 1867, the Marquess of Queensberry rules were drafted, a code of generally accepted regulations that still govern the sport today. On August 28, 1885, the first heavyweight title fight took place under Queensbury rules, slugged out between John L. Sullivan and Dominick McCaffrey. Sullivan was crowned champion, in a fight that shaped modern boxing.
While Canada is the nation most associated with the sport, ice hockey probably derives from field hockey, started in England in the early 1800s. Indeed, the modern game of ice hockey was developed in Canada, the first indoor competition taking place in Montreal, Quebec, in 1875. In 1920, ice hockey became an Olympic sport.
American football is arguably the most popular sport in the United States. It's descended from rugby football, first played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. The first American football game kicked off on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams. The first Super Bowl, which featured the AFL (Kansas City Chiefs) and NFL champions (Green Bay Packers), was played on January 15, 1967.
The origins of rugby date back to 1823 and to Rugby School in Warwickshire, England. During a game, a pupil named William Webb Ellis broke established rules by caching the ball rather than first placing it on the ground and then playing it forward with his feet. By defying the early conventions of the sport, the errant youngster created the modern game of rugby. The Webb Ellis Cup is presented to the winners of the Rugby World Cup.
Speculation surrounds the origins of baseball. It probably owes its existence to a British game called rounders. Similarly, it might have evolved from cricket. Both games were introduced to North America by colonialists in the 18th century. In September 1845, a group of New York City men founded the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club, and the modern game of baseball was invented.
While the modern era of Formula One began in 1950 with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the first race using the appellation "Grand Prix" was the 1901 French Grand Prix at Le Mans. In fact, the pioneering road races in France in the 1890s set the pace for all future motorsport competitions.
In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle. A few years later, motorbikes were being raced in Europe, and by 1903 in North America. On June 17, 1949, the first ever MotoGP took place, at the Isle of Man TT in Great Britain.
Also designed by Friedrich Jahn, the first recorded use of the balance beam was in 1921 in Leipzig, Germany. In the early days of women's artistic gymnastics, the beam was based more in dance than in tumbling. By the mid 1960s, however, the apparatus was being used as an event for acrobatic skills.
Wrestling represents one of the oldest forms of combat. The first real traces of the development of wrestling date back to the times of the Sumerians, 5,000 years ago. It later held a prominent place in the ancient Olympic Games. Freestyle "grappling" spread rapidly in the United Kingdom and in the United States during the late 1800s. Today, many are familiar with professional wrestling thanks to the WWE which has created celebrities like Hulk Hogan and Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson.
To some degree or another, most of us follow sports and sporting personalities—an individual athlete at the top of their game perhaps, or a club or team of some sorts. And, of course, millions of us take part in sport, either professionally or in a amateur capacity. But have you ever wondered where your preferred sport originates, or how and why it developed?
Click through and find out when your favorite game or competition was invented.
What are the origins of your favorite sport?
How did these games come into existence?
LIFESTYLE History
To some degree or another, most of us follow sports and sporting personalities—an individual athlete at the top of their game perhaps, or a club or team of some sorts. And, of course, millions of us take part in sport, either professionally or in a amateur capacity. But have you ever wondered where your preferred sport originates, or how and why it developed?
Click through and find out when your favorite game or competition was invented.