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Soccer -

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.

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Golf -

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.

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Rugby -

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.

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American football -

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.

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Cricket -

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.

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Baseball -

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.

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Tennis -

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.

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Squash -

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.

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Badminton -

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Boxing -

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.

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Formula One -

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.

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Ice hockey -

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.

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MotoGP -

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.

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Basketball -

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.

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Swimming -

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.

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Wrestling -

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.

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Cycling -

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.

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100-m race -

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Marathon -

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Snooker -

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.

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Horse racing -

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Rowing -

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Darts -

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Polo -

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.

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Fencing -

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Archery -

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Men's still rings -

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Balance beam -

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.

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Individual floor -

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Javelin -

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Hammer throw -

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.

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Shot put -

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Discus -

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